IN 2020, 74% of Portland, Oregon’s voters approved decriminalizing drugs. Since then the city has been plagued by drug use, homeless camps, violent protests, and a spike in murders. The tourists are gone, businesses have closed, and thousands of residents have left for greener pastures. “[...]
Posts Tagged ‘homelessness’
June 28th, 2024 - 5:32 pm § in Law and Courts
Clarence Thomas wants to make addiction a crime
Justice Clarence Thomas is truly living in the 16th century. Now part of a Supreme Court conservative majority dragging American law backwards by overturning various precedents reflecting social progress, Thomas signaled in a recent decision he wants to reinstate status crimes. The court didn’[...]
May 5th, 2023 - 7:42 pm § in Law and Courts
Hero or vigilante?
That’s what a jury will have to decide after a subway rider killed a mentally ill homeless man with a chokehold. The victim was Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old black man who, according to his aunt, suffered from schizophrenic, PTSD, and depression after his mother’s “brutal murder̶[...]
February 10th, 2023 - 9:59 pm § in Misc., News Media
The homeless camp dilemma
Homeless camps are a real pain, there’s no denying it. Neighbors very legitimately want the campers to leave and the sites cleaned up. More often than not, unsponsored encampments are very bad neighbors. The campers litter, start fires, do drugs, steal, and sometimes commit violent crimes. But[...]
September 13th, 2022 - 12:54 am § in Misc.
Why the public is losing patience with homeless camps
In a suburb of Tacoma, Washington, homeless people took over a privately owned vacant lot across the street from a public park. They had no right to be there, and the owners didn’t want them there, but that’s the least of what was wrong with that encampment. Until it was cleared out by s[...]
April 14th, 2022 - 7:15 pm § in Politics
GOP legislator says homeless people should copy Hitler’s work ethic
The homeless problem frustrates everyone. They camp on sidewalks, litter, set fires, and get into fights. Here in Seattle, even the courthouse was unsafe (see my posting here). You can’t make them disappear; if you chase them out, they’ll go somewhere else. Efforts to get them into shelt[...]
Will rampant violence end Seattle’s experiment with homeless compassion?
THE CITY’S DOWNTOWN AREA IS SO DANGEROUS THE COUNTY HAS HIRED ESCORTS FOR ITS WORKERS. Read story here Despite that, Seattle’s city council still wants to cut $10 million from the police budget. Read that story here Meanwhile: Voters nationwide are skeptical of efforts to cut police fu[...]
August 15th, 2021 - 3:35 pm § in Law and Courts
This is a crime problem, not a homeless problem
A violent confrontation between a couple who had items stolen from their car and denizens of a homeless camp in downtown Seattle on July 27, 2021, led to a camper being killed, Seattle TV station KIRO-7 reported on August 13, 2021 (see story and video here). The couple were attacked with a machete, [...]
February 2nd, 2015 - 6:26 pm § in America
Car Camping in Seattle
This shot was taken near a freeway on-ramp in southwest Seattle. It’s a prime spot for car campers since it’s close to a greenbelt where other homeless people congregate. In addition to being a kind of watering hole, the greenbelt makes for a handy place to dump trash, go to the bathroom[...]
DAVID PRESTON: Homeless in Seattle
David Preston A homeless man scrounges through a Dumpster on 2nd and Columbia in downtown Seattle, looking for flattened cardboard boxes to use as mattress and blanket. I was returning from a public meeting on homelessness and had looked into this nook moments earlier, figuring it was the kind of pl[...]