Comments

1

I seriously doubt the business owners who are abandoning downtown Portland (and Seattle) are doing so based on TV news. No matter how many times TS staff tries to gaslight us with statistics that reports of crime are down people trust their own eyes when it comes to making these decisions. I just had a co-worker in town last week from Chicago for some meetings. He hadn't been here since before Covid and his first comment was how run down the city seemed and that he didn't feel safe leaving his hotel after dark. That's the reality.

2

from comments on the wweek article "they left" :
'moved here 22 years ago. I am still here. For now. But man, the homeless and crime problem has become really really bad. I had homeless people steal a bike from my backyard at 3am. One hit my son in the face in downtown, while he was walking to school (Lincoln).

I am very upset that the city is not doing anything tangible to bring down crime and homelessness.

My compassion for homeless people has completely worn out.'

a blind person could see that portland is fast becoming a trashcan. it is not even worth the three hour train ride to go visit anymore. there is nothing special about Portland you can't find in every liberal metro area. what..."weird" people, fresh coffee, and novelty donuts? every city has that. what every city doesn't have is sidewalk after sidewalk and park after park slammed with trash and tents.

3

Good to see that Darcelle and her drag bar are still going strong in Portland.

4

"The 500 Washingtonians polled
supported taxes 'where the first
$250 million is exempt.'"

WHEW! JUST (Barely!)
made it (exemptively)!
now surely they'll inch
it down to My income
(in about 600 years).

& Then what am I
Gonna Do? A. bust
outta my body bag.
& Hope for the Best

@2 -- "My compassion
for homeless people
has completely
worn out."

when Our
collective Compassion
for the tippy-Top Ten Percent
wanes perhaps we'll begin to ad-
Dress our severe income-Inequality.

till then we have a
very Common
Enemy: OUR
Fellow Cit-
izenry.

5

It's not the crime in particular, it's the squalor.

Maybe TS staff thinks it's invigorating or something, but most people don't find it pleasant to be in areas with boarded up storefronts, bad graffiti all over, piles of rotting garbage, human excrement, angry schizophrenics, and shambling drug addicts smoking meth in doorways. Concern for personal safety is a logical reaction to these conditions. A trashcan is an appropriate metaphor.

I suggest TS staff take a ramble over to the sprawling garbage pile at Jackson St. under I-5 or go check out the daily drug party that happens in the parking lot of the US Bank between 5th & 6th (it's on Google Street View, FFS). Tell me why a tiny old Asian woman shouldn't find that intimidating. I watch my ass when I walk past that; it's human nature.

6

"The Land Down Under
officially recognized MDMA and
psilocybin as medicines to treat depression."

and alcoholism
and end of Life issues
& so on and on and on and on*

sometimes
'Magic'
is Real.

*180 MILLION views:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcjzHMhBtf0&ab_channel=journeyVEVO&themeRefresh=1

8

Seconding what Max said @5. A good progressive friend moved out of Portland and went east for several reasons, but one of main reasons was the squalor and seemingly indifference of the folks in power about the situation. He was fortunate that he had the skills and resources to move. But like (I assume) the Asian woman Max mentioned, the folks left who can’t move (that The Stranger supposedly cares about) are the ones left who have to deal.

9

Satanic Temple Opens Abortion Clinic Named
'The Samuel Alito's Mom's Abortion Clinic'

hmmm. is this
new Clinic calling
for post-birth abortion?

we might wanna RE-think this
whole 'let's put (MY) Religion
Into all of our's Politics.'

11

Hey Scottie, I hadn't heard the Apple watch thing news before.

Thanks, Nathalie, for bringing it to my attention. I found it interesting.

12

I'm also frustrated that we don't do enough to address crime and homelessness. Adding more violence to the community and attacking the people who are in desperate circumstances increases crime and homelessness. It would be better to literally do nothing.

The body bag story is horrifying. One of my deepest fears is being buried alive because people think I'm dead.

Shrooms are literally safer than alcohol. And can be therapeutic.

13

In terms of imminent danger to the nation:

numerous members of Congress

balloon

14

@14 goddamnit the machine eliminated all my clever whitespace between the two

15

@Brent
le Machine
is NOT your Friend.
This is what it's done to me.

[you're gonna need
some Placeholders

.

to Secure your Artistry].

17

I don't like Portland, everyone there is either a whiner or a redneck. Idgaf about that though, where did the grumpy's truck in Ballard go?

19

Maybe it’s because I’m old now and more cautious about, well, everything, and this may sound vaguely racist, but I go to lengths now making sure not to ingest products from China and, to a lesser extent, India. It’s not always easy to determine whether a brand name or generic prescription, for instance, is manufactured there, but I at least check. Adding anti-freeze (ethylene glycol) to dog treats and baby food to falsely elevate protein analysis? Really? And vats of liquid tears containing an antibiotic-resistant microbe that wasn’t caught by the QC department before leaving the plant? We’re not talking about some looney person sneaking into a drug store adding poison to the Tylenol. We’re talking about a management decision to forego safety. Not saying it couldn’t happen here. In fact, remember the plant that was shut down because of contaminated Covid vaccines? But I am saying it was caught in time. We just don’t have that kind of oversight in India – and certainly not in China. My suggestion is to read those labels for country of origin. And yes, I feel bad for tainting the reputation of factories in India who are diligent. China, not so much.

One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do is to say goodbye to a trusty ol’ pal that hung in there with me for fifteen years. I’ll never be fully over it, and many years later I still miss him. But gosh, had he lasted for thirty years or longer in good health and then passed away, I’d probably want to crawl in the grave with him.

I’m fresh out of ideas for solving the homeless situation. I think we need to start acknowledging that tents on a sidewalk are an unacceptable option. I know what hard times are. I know what hungry and cold is. Let’s please try to save those who want to be saved. Let’s do all we can to help. But our streets have become more than just depressing. We can’t tolerate small businesses suffering because someone shits on the doorstep every morning. I hardly recognize San Francisco anymore – previously and unquestionably one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Great neighborhoods in New York are something way different now. There’s hardly a street in downtown Los Angeles whose sidewalks aren’t blocked by squalid encampments. The National Socialists would have solved the problem with bulldozers and blowtorches. I don’t advocate that, but let’s assist those who want to sober up and become productive members of society and maybe re-introduce them to self-respect. To the rest who just want to stay high (because, you know, life owes you a high)? OK, but you can’t do that here anymore. It’s the only way I see of avoid slipping into some dystopian acceptance of what is.

20

@4 & @9 kristofarian and @5 Max Solomon: +3 for the WIN!!

@10: Nathalie's doing just fine, Scooter pie. If you're only here to troll, try to shut up.

@11 originalcinner: It's news to me, too.
Thank you, Nathalie, for the Apple update.

21

Just because a drug has an association with Erasure, say, or Jefferson Airplane doesn't preclude it from having genuine medicinal value.

22

Businesses are moving because the rent is too damn high. Crime? Homelessness? Shabby surroundings? Bullshit. It's the rent. It costs too much. That's why all the restaurants and bars and retail stores are moving out of downtown. It's cheaper in the 'burbs.

On the other side of that transaction, apparently, it's better business practice as a building owner to board up your store fronts and sit on them than to collect rent at less than 50x what it costs you to own the building that you inherited. Then, blame the crime and homelessness for all the businesses moving away to KOMO. And bitch about how your tenants never, "keep the place up." Then go throw a few $Mil at the City Council and Mayor race to ensure your interests are maintained. Nice town you got there, folks. Would be a real shame if something were to happen to it.

Being a downtown landlord sounds awesome. And speaking of downtown...

Anyone else remember 1st Ave in the 80s? Or Broadway? Or literally anywhere in Seattle that wasn't Laurelhurst or Broadmoor? Because I can tell you, it was worse. How many peepshows and pawnshops are there on 1st Ave these days? I remember how many there were then. Do you?

23

@19 Bauhaus I: WOW about product tampering in China and India! I did not know this. Thank you for bringing this to light. I'll be reading labels more carefully too, from now on.
I am sorry about the loss of your friend (I'm assuming a cat or dog). That is hard. You have my heartfelt condolences. I still miss my most recent beloved cat, who lived to seventeen years and eight months in human years.
I agree, too, on the current homeless situation. I wish I had solvable answers. We can't just allow homeless people, addicted to alcohol, meth, and / or otherwise camping, pissing, shitting, and vomiting on sidewalks, trashing neighborhoods, business districts and public parks, drive business and longtime citizens away.
Portland, from I've so far heard in the comment thread, sounds like a nightmare even worse than Seattle.

24

@22 TacomaRoma: Yes, high rent is among factors that are driving residents and businesses away. Here's Griz's extra two cents:
Of all the homeless people living in tents, camping on sidewalks, trashing neighborhoods--how many are from out of state, possibly a RepubliKKKan mismanaged neofascist blood red state? How many of these transplants were willfully misinformed that they'd be taken care of if they moved to a blue state This high number of panhandling transients and vagrants can't all be just locals shifted to other parts of King County after sweeps.

26

Re. the "Portland is Dying" item: I have exactly the same respect for the author's usage of "cucks" here as I do when I see it used by MRAs.

Re: the "crime is down" assertion : is it down to pre-pandemic levels? Or just from its peak two years ago? Might be good to see a fifty-year graph.

28

@5
I can forgive a lot - but for a city that proclaims regard for minority communities and minority businesses, the decline in the ID is unforgivable. I don’t own a car, and I frequently walk through Dearborn, Jackson, etc through there.
And yes, I was in Seattle decades ago. While there was some squalor, there weren’t as many openly psychotic homeless.

30

@1 Fuck you are dumbshit.

Reporting the actual statistics is not "gas lighting," you colossal breech birth turd. It's what journalists are supposed to do.

32

News Flash: Tacoma is Dying!

I know, it's such a shock.

Stay tuned to all the right wing TV stations and "news" channels to tell you why.

33

@27 STII: You might want to read my comment @24 again, and more carefully. I think you're grasping at straws that aren't really there. Did you notice that I didn't say ALL homeless people are from out of state or just locals facing uncomfortably hard times? It's unfortunately a combination of the two, and it's currently proving to be an insurmountable problem in many communities up and down the West Coast, not just in Seattle and Portland.
And how the fuck on this dying planet does my comment @24 make me a MAGAt?

35

@30 there lies, gd lies and statistics and then there a-holes like you that cherry pick them to make absurd points. Maybe crime is down because people gave up even reporting it. Who knows? Stats are meaningless without context.

36

Oh Dear,

Rogereeena ...The Schrubber is talking again. What a crooked, dirty little mouth. It is truly amazing, remarkable...he really has nothing to say or contribute and yet here he remains. A testament to ignorance and dysfunction.

38

Willamette Week may be a weekly, but hasn't been "alt" to anyone but boomers and aging Xer's since the 1980's.

39

@ 26- a 50 year trend line would (and does) show the opposite of what corporate media like the Oregonian and the histionic exscuses for 'news' on local TV channels and thier viewers rant about every day.

40

@37,

An item is newsworthy enough to warrant a story in the New York Times, and subsequently gets embedded in a news roundup by a blogger at The Stranger. A couple Stranger readers note that they'd not seen the story and found it helpful/interesting. Why do you give a shit when these people learned of the story? I remember reading about it a while ago, but I can't imagine giving a single flying fuck about when others did so for the first time. Why not just find some other blog to read and comment upon? You're an ass.

42

if we had a i bots
How'd we Know?

43

Trying to say that incidents of crime being down is a total crock of shit. Those statistics are totally misleading because so many crime victims are not even bothering to report them anymore. I don't believe that Portland or Seattle are actually dying but both are well past their golden age. Businesses, especially smaller ones are simply closing up altogether or moving away; even the ones that still have theirs heads above water will shut down when their leases expire. The downtown areas are now a dangerous shell of their former self.

44

@34: Blasphemy? Now you're all judgment and no sense, Tobe in a Robe. That "bible" you're thumping is giving you the shit. When was the last time you had a colonoscopy? Take a soothing hot soak in a nice warm tub. It works wonders in relieving tension and sore muscles.

@37: How little you know me. I get reliable news sources (surprise! FOX TeeVee isn't one of them!) from all over, in addition to The Stranger, ya Batshit moron. The new Apple feature happened to be news to me. So what?
So, are you still hanging out at raindrop's? Which one of you gets top bunk?

46

@34 and @37 - As you know already, you can safely disregard the babbling hysteria from our infamous, thin-skinned, foul-mouthed, obtuse and dense, sad little munchkinetta. Bless her heart though.

47

We are seeing an uptick in "unhoused neighbors" here at Maison Vel-Duray. There was the crazy lady drove a scooter into our truck a few weeks back, and last night some nutjob knocked on our door, introduced herself, and asked if she could stay with us. I think it's because of all the construction on our block. They're building six houses across the alley from us, and in just a few weeks, they are going to redevelop the entire empty block to the north of us - 24 "townhomes" and two apartment buildings.

48

@47....It won't be too long before the Seattle Socialist Housing Authority will be knocking at your door to inform you that you will soon be having to take in one or more housemates as a form of housing redistribution among the homeless. Our population continues to increase and there is no way that more housing can be made for all of them.

50

@45 skidmark: That was my point. As I said, there are a lot of contributing factors to our current insurmountable homeless problem.

@46:......said the sad, sorry, misinformed little MAGA troll. Are you guys having a group overnight, raindrop dear? Give my best to Geraldo. xo

@47 Catalina Vel-DuRay: I feel for you, Mr. Vel-DuRay, and your fellow neighbors dealing with unregulated surrounding development. A house and former restaurant across the street from us, next to pricey condos is selling for $5 million, and will likely be slated to be replaced by--surprise!--more luxury condos. A house and lot two doors up the street has been razed for a two unit duplex. This is all truly insane! Soon everything that has made Washington so beautiful and livable will be gone. The world has far too many people to be self-sustaining anymore.

@48 bertha: All the better argument to slow the insane rate of human reproduction and out-of-control profiteering development. I'm all for fixing crumbling infrastructure instead, over slapping down empty warehouses or office spaces for lease and luxury condos at $5 million a pop, in what used to be plentiful greenbelt, old growth forest and rural farmland.
No farms, no food. What good are 10 million new townhomes if we won't have the natural resources--enough water, breathable air, utilities---to support the exponential increase of such rapid for-profit growth?

@49: Tobe in a Robe: Perhaps you should stop hanging out with raindrop and his roomies, especially before launching into some insanely holier-than-thou diatribe.

51

@34 Tobe in a Robe: Meanwhile, guess who won the touted million dollar grand prize in 2021's "Shot of a Lifetime" lottery here in Washington State? A 23 year old newbie who just moved from Arizona to King County with his mom, and got his shots within the first six months after they'd moved in. Only residents in the Washington state CDC vaccine system got automatically entered. A good number of eligible people, mainly active military service members and veterans of Washington State whose COVID vaccination status was filed in the federal system lost out.
FYI Guy Gene Balk of The Seattle Times, U.S. News and World Report, and other media sources aren't doing the rest of us any favors, either by openly boasting how wonderful our state is to the rest of the world.
Add to all this a number of people who have transferred from out of state or internationally from somewhere where the cost of living was cheaper, only to find to their shock of how expensive everything has become on the West Coast. The house in Millington, Tennessee a family just sold for $259,000.00 won't afford anything here. PNW KKKorporations laying off thousands of people. These and other factors are only exacerbating our current homeless problem. This was my point.

52

@49: It was an obviously delightful bit of non-threatening sarcasm that went right over her head.

53

@28 pat L: I own an older car, and while we live in different cities here in Western Washington, we otherwise have a lot in common. I lived in Ballard in the early to late 1990s while going to school on my Montgomery G.I. bill.
We had street gangs and gang wannabes in my neighborhood back then. My car, parked in a shared garage with no door, had been vandalized and broken into three times before the cheap, profiteering slumlord we had from East King County, who acted like coming out to our apartment building was asking a tremendous lot--finally sold his obvious tax write-off to a nice retired older couple in Wedgewood. The new landlords installed a secure parking garage door with remotes for all tenants along with making numerous long-overlooked improvements to the building and rental property, and the problem was quickly resolved. Why the parking garage didn't have a working door to begin with, other than the previous landowner being such a do-nothing cheapskate I'll never know. We had bad situations way back then, but I can't imagine living in Seattle now, though, particularly in my old neighborhood.

54

@52: Bored again, raindrop dear? Did the cable go out again? I guess you could always do hand charades on the bedroom wall. With a properly working flashlight the entertainment possibilities are endless.
Awwwww......did my obviously delightful bit of non-threatening sarcasm go right over your trolling little head?

55

Actually my SONOS amp went out. No Pandora tonight!

56

@55: Well that's a bummer! Do you have headphones?
Have a good night.

57

and in Other (nyt) news:

George Santos
Is Accused of Sexual
Harassment in His Capitol Office

A prospective congressional aide has accused Representative George Santos of ethics violations and sexual harassment, according to a letter the man sent to the House Committee on Ethics and posted to Twitter on Friday.

Mr. [Derek] Myers said in the letter that he was alone with Mr. Santos in his office on Jan. 25 when the congressman asked him whether he had a profile on Grindr, a popular gay dating app.

Then, he said, Mr. Santos invited him to karaoke and touched his groin, assuring him that his husband was out of town.

by Grace Ashford and Michael Gold
Feb. 4, 2023
more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/nyregion/george-santos-harassment-derek-myers.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-variants-shadow-bert-unique-diversify-time-cutoff-30&alpha=0.05&block=trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=563164714&impression_id=3776ce18-a56b-11ed-9900-9bb42afc4c9c&index=0&pgtype=Article&pool=pool/91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1&region=footer&req_id=134256791&shadow_vec_sim=0.26596993623395104&surface=eos-most-popular-story&variant=2_bandit-eng30s-diversify-shadow-bert-unique

hmmm.
buh-Bye
Georgie-Porgie?

58

georgie porgie
puddin'-head pie
kissed the boys and
made them cry when
the boys went out to play
georgie porgie oh so s l o w l y

went far Far Away.

but Meyers' letter
was sent to the House
Ethics Committee controlled
by "Republicans" who've Never
seen an Ethics Complaint they couldn't
get behind. & not in a Good way. c'est la vie?

59

@57 - yeah, one hopes, Kris, but I don't know anymore.

Pre-Trump, certain acts meant the end of a political career. His "grab 'em by the pussy" statement was far more severe than anything Gary Hart or Eliot Spritzer did (and poor Al Franken, whose party should have supported him more but wanted to erroneously ride the Me Too bandwagon - he got such raw deal), and only a few years ago reprucussions for Trump would have sent him packing. The obvious and provable lies. The payoffs. The tax evasion and cheating. The corruption. The greed. So much that has been forgiven by the electorate.

Wouldn't be a bit suprised if Santos made a statement soon saying, "Look. You guys just don't get it. This is all performance art!" And a sizeable number or challenged Americans will respond, "Oh....okay."

60

Apparently, as some experts are saying, our military will likely retrieve more evidence from the balloon payload debris in the ocean than had it burned up and fragmented on the ground.

@52: Thank you. Enjoy your Sunday.

61

are we witnessing the
Demise of Schlog AM/PM?

it could
be Just
Late or
maybe
Toast.

Adiosa
Ponderosa?

63

@62 One can only hope. My visits are out of pure habit. If TS disappeared I'd miss it for a few days (after all have been reading it the very first issue) then move on.

64

@61....I haven't read much from Mr. Mudede lately; is he ill or something?

65

The wealth, most of it, has been and is collected by the richest in the country.

Since Reagan it has been increased war on labor and the main target was is Unions.

People used to be able to rent a room like right now and unless someone’s house burned down homelessness was rare. Since the great depression thanks to the labor movement
people could survive pretty decently. That was around 50 years of not fearing you could end up on the street destitute. There was plenty of racism and sexism etc. so those had to be fought too. And still do.

Greed and corrupt politicians are largely to blame. But I do not hear these right wing trolls
blaming those in power who have caused this mess. Its easier to blame people on the bottom. We have creeping fascism and the right wing trolls seem to want that.

The rising of the debt ceiling was due to the super rich being irresponsible and not paying their fair share. Trump helped raise the debt ceiling by giving the ultra rich the biggest tax breaks in history. At the expense of the poor and working class.

We have people living in palaces and not living in them while there are people unable to pay rent because they cannot afford it. This is a socially backwards city that cannot provide decent services for its people. While in many places in the world (without the immense wealth the top 20% or so here have) they have medical care, decent housing, services for the mentally ill and addiction solutions. But the far right trolls do not want that because they might have to help others less fortunate. That is their nightmare that those on the bottom have any say over their lives.

66

Right wing trolls are the same kind of people that thought the abolitionists were going too far with their cry that slavery should be stopped and people should be treated decently.

67

Police sweeps make matters worse. The city budget should be focused on decent city services and providing Social Housing so that every one not just the rich have a chance for a decent life in this city. How many people have the police brutally murdered lately? That information is easy to find.

68

when cops kill wrongly
the City should pay
all Settlements out
of the POLICE Bud-
get. they've been
getting A FREE
RIDE for Way
Toooo Long.

Great comments Ivy!
as per Usual.


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