[uncommon.name]

Originally Posted by M Kass

I have been feeling like not chiming in on this because of the clap-backs I received with regard to my skeptical posts of late. Some of the clapping is deserved, but I agree with all of the thoughts on 'denial'. My friend is a photographer in town who did the piece for the NYT on Portland recently, and did a week of ride-alongs with PPD. He said that things are so bad that the cops have fully given up on that portion of downtown. There are few prospects for new patrol officers and there are threats (according to him) of mass resignations if they don't get more resources. Sounds a lot like the teachers, too, as an aside. I am not promoting that social collapse is nye, nor that come November things are going to devolve due to another ugly election cycle, but I am not going to deny that things are absolutely frightening in sectors of downtown. Like, really bad. I've raised my kids in inner NE and we have views of the city, but my daughters are coming to the age (12 and 14), where they're wanting to explore their environs, but they have ZERO desire to cross the bridge, not due to my partner and my urging, but by their own common sense. I have waxed nostalgically about the '2018 30+ Crane' days, but honsetly, I don't care if we get another 460 footer, just so long as the city can get their sh*t together enought to elect hard-hitters who can get stuff done and get the working parts of government/law enforcement to take action. The fact that I can't provide the same experience of safe bus riding and MAX for my kids to venture to downtown makes me feel like my whole generation has some explaining to do and some amends to make. I love this town, but things need to change in a hurry. My fear is that it's gotten so bad that people leave en masse. There are a lot of dissatisfied taxpayers and people want their city back. Sorry if that was a ramble. I have a lot of fears, and my faith in governance is being tried on an unprecedented and somewhat embarrassing level.

I would love nothing more than to see the city as vibrant, safe, clean, and comfortable as it was, not-so-long ago.