Portland is gone. I was born here in 1956. From a distance it is still a beautiful city but the closer you get the worse it is. Mega graffiti everywhere. So called 'homeless' encampments and the obligatory huge pile of trash, human waste, needles and rats are all around. It gets worse by the day. The city is gone. Ruined. And it was all easily avoidable. What's the reason? I'd say mostly because of the inept, incompetent, lazy, elitist folks that keep getting elected and the just as clueless electorate that keeps putting them into office. The Portland crime rate including murder has skyrocketed. Police are taking early retirement in droves. It's a sad shame.
Perhaps I am over-reacting? The contrast between the abstractly placed colorful recyclables and the bright green grass reminds me of a field of daisies. The gaily hued tents mirroring the complicated paint schemes of the finest Victorians in Nob Hill, a hat tip to the good old days. And don't think of it as grafitti, think of it as Contemporary Wall Art for the curated modern city. FREE public art ! What more could a citizen wish for? And I bet, with all the rain, the human waste and syringes often get washed away into the river and down to the sea. And Burning Man celebrations every night, not just once a year !
It is hard to understand how such ridiculous ideological groups like the mayors and councils of Portland and Seattle ( another ruined city ) a) get in to power and, b) remain in power. You would think a group of concerned citizens could declare an emergency, and frog-march them out of there. Maybe whatever is left of the police could declare a defunding emergency, and announce they are no longer able to provide protection to the mayor and council's homes and offices.
Whatever the intention of these knuckleheads, it has to be clear by now that their theories have failed. Portland is on FIRE, nightly, but all they do is double down? It makes no sense, so sure, now let's try it on a national level. Definition of insanity.
Home prices are skyrocketing, many realtors have told me the inventory of homes for sale is the lowest in 20 years maybe ever. I see cars with California license plates everywhere. We catch some of the emigration from California ( A ruined state ). The trouble is, THEY leave the state THEY ruined, recognizing that California IS ruined, but then THEY bring their same f- - - -d up voting practices here. Of course, this doesn't refer to all newcomers from the Golden State, just the ones who vote for lunatics and putting them in office and then keep re-electing them! They're contributing to turning our state in to what they were fortunate to escape from.
