Portland, Oregon: What a Dump!

[Thunderlips71]

We’re in the Pacific NW for our son’s spring break and spent the weekend down in the Columbia River Gorge. Yesterday we worked our way towards Seattle and stopped for lunch in Portland based on a recommendation from my no-pics wife’s co-worker. The place was called Pine State Biscuits and the food was fine, but the clientele was a bunch of spaced-out hipsters with zero awareness of personal space, how a line works, or what “pardon me” means.

I don’t really know, nor do I care, what part of town we were in but there were tents and trash everywhere throughout Portland, and I’ve never seen so much graffiti in my life. As we were on the frontage road to get back to I-5 waiting for a painfully long stoplight there was a guy who looked like the love child of Charles Manson and Geddy Lee whacked out of his mind walking through traffic to touch the tree trunks on either side of the street. Nearby was a disheveled young woman who looked like Valerie from “The Princess Bride” wailing loudly and incoherently in the other stoner’s direction. I’m not sure whether this was a simple lover’s spat or perhaps he had consumed all her drugs. My son is only 7 and asked “What is happening?”.

I‘m a left-leaning guy, but this kind of shit is exactly why Democrats lose elections. Coddling addicts and criminals seems like the nice thing to do, but it does not work. Clean up your shithole city.

CSB

 

[BelemNole]

Great city, potential retirement spot.

 

[FAUlty Gator]

This isn't true because someone soon to post's brother lives there and has never seen any of the things you're describing.

 

[Thunderlips71]

Great city, potential retirement spot.

The general area is nice, but in my opinion the city is not. To each his/her own.

 

[alaskanseminole]

This isn't true because someone soon to post's brother lives there and has never seen any of the things you're describing.

We need an HROTer to travel to Portland and get us some hand photos near these places.

 

[FAUlty Gator]

We need an HROTer to travel to Portland and get us some hand photos near these places.

Dude...that was for the Portstock 23 concert!

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

"Pandering to stupidity".

 

[srams21]

I‘m a left-leaning guy, but this kind of shit is exactly why Democrats lose elections. Coddling addicts and criminals seems like the nice thing to do, but it does not work. Clean up your shithole city.

I mean you could say something similar about 2/3 of Mississippi. Ever been to the rural South? Heck, even in Iowa there are rural towns that are shitholes. This isn't unique to Portland.

 

[BelemNole]

We need an HROTer to travel to Portland and get us some hand photos near these places.

Why travel to Portland - just take pictures of your hand next to the homeless in San Antonio.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

I‘m a left-leaning guy, but this kind of shit is exactly why Democrats lose elections. Coddling addicts and criminals seems like the nice thing to do, but it does not work. Clean up your shithole city.

Curious...what do you do with addicts?

 

[BelemNole]

I mean you could say something similar about 2/3 of Mississippi. Ever been to the rural South? Heck, even in Iowa there are rural towns that are shitholes. This isn't unique to Portland.

No, drugs and homelessness are only west coast problems. In Iowa everyone is clean and housed and there are no shithole parts to cities.

 

[alaskanseminole]

Why travel to Portland - just take pictures of your hand next to the homeless in San Antonio.

Ya, it's pretty bad here (if you're not near the Riverwalk area). I always assumed places like SATX and other warmer climates would be much worse than a place like Oregon because it gets cold there.

There was a tent city back in the woods near Culebra Creek about 10 miles from here, but they cleared them out for an apartment complex. Who knows where they moved to.

 

[markfromj]

No, drugs and homelessness are only west coast problems. In Iowa everyone is clean and housed and there are no shithole parts to cities.

Olewein says hi.

 

[alaskanseminole]

Curious...what do you do with addicts?

We need long-term facilities for the mentally disabled and addicts. ...don't ask me who pays for it though. I once read that 65% of those with mental illness, e.g., bipolar, schizophrenics, bpd, etc. are either homeless or in jail. Those without a close family circle wind up in one of those two places.

 

[BelemNole]

Ya, it's pretty bad here (if you're not near the Riverwalk area). I always assumed places like SATX and other warmer climates would be much worse than a place like Oregon because it gets cold there.

There was a tent city back in the woods near Culebra Creek about 10 miles from here, but they cleared them out for an apartment complex. Who knows where they moved to.

Portland winters are just a few degrees colder than San Antonio on average.

Point is, you can take photos of homeless camps in any major city.
But it seems to be a sport to make a big deal about those in the west.

 

[millah_22]

We need long-term facilities for the mentally disabled and addicts. ...don't ask me who pays for it though. I once read that 65% of those with mental illness, e.g., bipolar, schizophrenics, bpd, etc. are either homeless or in jail. Those without a close family circle wind up there in one of those two places.

NIMBY shuts that shit down every time. There needs to be boxes checked for it to work. Needs to be big enough, needs to be near public transit, needs to be near places they can get food. And those places are always near popular businesses that never want them around.

 

[alaskanseminole]

Portland winters are just a few degrees colder than San Antonio on average.

That can't be right? We dipped below freezing for less than a week once this year. I spent the majority of the winter in shorts.

Point is, you can take photos of homeless camps in any major city.
But it seems to be a sport to make a big deal about those in the west.

I agree.

 

[Whiskeydeltadeltatango]

I mean you could say something similar about 2/3 of Mississippi. Ever been to the rural South? Heck, even in Iowa there are rural towns that are shitholes. This isn't unique to Portland.

Portland was a jewel at one time, Mississippi is Mississippi. To steal a previously used line,

When you are 5'7 nobody questions why you didn't play basketball, if your 6'8 and didn't even play D3, you suck at sports.

 

[BelemNole]

That can't be right? We dipped below freezing for less than a week once this year. I spent the majority of the winter in shorts.


I agree.

You agree, and yet you piled on.

2024 Compare Climate & Weather: Portland, OR vs San Antonio, TX

Best Places to Live | Compare cost of living, crime, cities, schools and more.

www.bestplaces.net

 

[McLovin32]

As we were on the frontage road to get back to I-5 waiting for a painfully long stoplight there was a guy who looked like the love child of Charles Manson and Geddy Lee whacked out of his mind walking through traffic to touch the tree trunks on either side of the street. Nearby was a disheveled young woman who looked like Valerie from “The Princess Bride” wailing loudly and incoherently in the other stoner’s direction. .

I chuckled at the use of the word "stoner" here.

 

[millah_22]

Portland does have a homeless problem, as does a lot of cities in the US.

This is a symptom of rising cost of housing, wage gap dispairity. Mix in some mental illness, addiction, flat out laziness or likes the lifestyle, and a good climate to not freeze to death.

 

[fivecardstud14]

Perhaps the locals are still shook up about Lillard leaving town.

 

[millah_22]

TBH tho Portland's always been a dump. A grungier Seattle. This is why I never recommend to anyone to go to any places downtown. Much nicer neighborhoods to visit that don't have massive camps.

OP's wife's co-worker did him dirty.

 

[Finance85]

I worked in Portland for nearly a year, from mid 2019 until March 2020 when the city shut down for COVID and then again in August 2020. The latter time was during the George Floyd protests, and my hotel was 3 blocks from the federal building.

There were lots of homeless people all around, but I never felt unsafe. The homeless people weren't aggressive panhandlers, and they weren't rude. The influx of goth and incels mostly happened with the George Floyd protests. While there were a lot of new age kids before that, the people were decent and polite and happy. That seemed to change with COVID and then the protests. With COVID, buildings boarded up, and a lot of downtown office space started emptying out. There was graffiti, but it was typically on the plywood and not the actual buildings. When the protests came a few months later, everything changed. The incoming goth and incel people were different than the homeless, and had an attitude, and the entire tenor changed. Interestingly enough, it seemed like young white people were the most angry and destructive. The BLM folks were protesting in a peaceful fashion. A lot of people who worked downtown for many years without safety concerns no longer felt safe. I was there when the wrong way driver guy was pulled out of his truck and beaten, one block from my hotel. It's truly sad to see such a beautiful city go down hill so fast.

 

[alaskanseminole]

You agree, and yet you piled on.

2024 Compare Climate & Weather: Portland, OR vs San Antonio, TX

Best Places to Live | Compare cost of living, crime, cities, schools and more.

www.bestplaces.net

I guess you missed my attempt at humor with the "hand pic" request.

 

[Bro D]

Can't be as bad as Beaverton

 

[hexumhawk]

Who knew when you decriminalized everything, things start to get worse for everyone?

 

[lucas80]

We need long-term facilities for the mentally disabled and addicts. ...don't ask me who pays for it though. I once read that 65% of those with mental illness, e.g., bipolar, schizophrenics, bpd, etc. are either homeless or in jail. Those without a close family circle wind up in one of those two places.

We had them, but for whatever the reasons there was a push to close all the state facilities. I'm not old enough to remember why that happened, but I am pretty sure a lot of people unable to manage on their own were pushed into the streets, and the cycle repeats itself.

 

[alaskanseminole]

We had them, but for whatever the reasons there was a push to close all the state facilities. I'm not old enough to remember why that happened, but I am pretty sure a lot of people unable to manage on their own were pushed into the streets, and the cycle repeats itself.

They were deemed inhumane. Think asylum vs mental health facility. Patient rights took a 180 swing.

 

[GES4]

We’re in the Pacific NW for our son’s spring break and spent the weekend down in the Columbia River Gorge. Yesterday we worked our way towards Seattle and stopped for lunch in Portland based on a recommendation from my no-pics wife’s co-worker. The place was called Pine State Biscuits and the food was fine, but the clientele was a bunch of spaced-out hipsters with zero awareness of personal space, how a line works, or what “pardon me” means.

I don’t really know, nor do I care, what part of town we were in but there were tents and trash everywhere throughout Portland, and I’ve never seen so much graffiti in my life. As we were on the frontage road to get back to I-5 waiting for a painfully long stoplight there was a guy who looked like the love child of Charles Manson and Geddy Lee whacked out of his mind walking through traffic to touch the tree trunks on either side of the street. Nearby was a disheveled young woman who looked like Valerie from “The Princess Bride” wailing loudly and incoherently in the other stoner’s direction. I’m not sure whether this was a simple lover’s spat or perhaps he had consumed all her drugs. My son is only 7 and asked “What is happening?”.

I‘m a left-leaning guy, but this kind of shit is exactly why Democrats lose elections. Coddling addicts and criminals seems like the nice thing to do, but it does not work. Clean up your shithole city.

CSB

They definitely need to clean it up. It got terrible under the former president and it seems like the local legislature might finally be realizing that legalized hard drugs might be a bad idea. Great city though. Even with the current tents.

 

[millah_22]

They were deemed inhumane. Think asylum vs mental health facility. Patient rights took a 180 swing.

Most of the pioneering for the transorbital lobotomy was in our very own Cherokee, Iowa.

 

[lucas80]

TBH tho Portland's always been a dump. A grungier Seattle. This is why I never recommend to anyone to go to any places downtown. Much nicer neighborhoods to visit that don't have massive camps.

OP's wife's co-worker did him dirty.

We are planning another trip to Oregon for the Fall. Maybe one night in a ring suburb depending on our flights, but the rest will be in Bend and on the coast. Maybe a trip to Crescent City. That's why people should go to the PNW, not to have lunch in Portland. Although, I think if the @Thunderlips71 rated any city on a random lunch stop he'd find it lacking.

 

[CLUB215]

We’re in the Pacific NW for our son’s spring break and spent the weekend down in the Columbia River Gorge. Yesterday we worked our way towards Seattle and stopped for lunch in Portland based on a recommendation from my no-pics wife’s co-worker. The place was called Pine State Biscuits and the food was fine, but the clientele was a bunch of spaced-out hipsters with zero awareness of personal space, how a line works, or what “pardon me” means.

I don’t really know, nor do I care, what part of town we were in but there were tents and trash everywhere throughout Portland, and I’ve never seen so much graffiti in my life. As we were on the frontage road to get back to I-5 waiting for a painfully long stoplight there was a guy who looked like the love child of Charles Manson and Geddy Lee whacked out of his mind walking through traffic to touch the tree trunks on either side of the street. Nearby was a disheveled young woman who looked like Valerie from “The Princess Bride” wailing loudly and incoherently in the other stoner’s direction. I’m not sure whether this was a simple lover’s spat or perhaps he had consumed all her drugs. My son is only 7 and asked “What is happening?”.

I‘m a left-leaning guy, but this kind of shit is exactly why Democrats lose elections. Coddling addicts and criminals seems like the nice thing to do, but it does not work. Clean up your shithole city.

CSB

I live in Baltimore. You get used to the people wandering in the streets. It's just part of it, they aren't harming anyone.

 

[millah_22]

We are planning another trip to Oregon for the Fall. Maybe one night in a ring suburb depending on our flights, but the rest will be in Bend and on the coast. Maybe a trip to Crescent City. That's why people should go to the PNW, not to have lunch in Portland. Although, I think if the @Thunderlips71 rated any city on a random lunch stop he'd find it lacking.

Crescent city is okay. It's not all that impressive for a coastal town. The beach is real pretty though. Jedidiah State park is baller tho, and if you can find a good trail along the Smith River, that's really pretty too.

Shore Acres State Park in Coos Bay is real pretty too but Coos Bay is kind of a dump, we did find a good crabbing place that sold fresh crab cake but I don't remember the name. It was somewhere in the docks.

 

[lucas80]

Crescent city is okay. It's not all that impressive for a coastal town. The beach is real pretty though. Jedidiah State park is baller tho, and if you can find a good trail along the Smith River, that's really pretty too.

Shore Acres State Park in Coos Bay is real pretty too but Coos Bay is kind of a dump, we did find a good crabbing place that sold fresh crab cake but I don't remember the name. It was somewhere in the docks.

We've been to Crescent City twice, and stayed at that dump of a motel on the beach, but, damn it's amazing sleeping on the beach. Agree on the parks. The state parks are as good as Redwood National Park. Del Norte is amazing.

 

[TC Nole OX]

If you want to have an ever increasing number of billionaires and if you hope someone becomes a trillionaire someday, one of the costs is a massive number of homeless people.

 

[GES4]

I live in Baltimore. You get used to the people wandering in the streets. It's just part of it, they aren't harming anyone.

Except for those friggin' squeegee boys. Get off my car fellas.

 

[cohawk]

We’re in the Pacific NW for our son’s spring break and spent the weekend down in the Columbia River Gorge. Yesterday we worked our way towards Seattle and stopped for lunch in Portland based on a recommendation from my no-pics wife’s co-worker. The place was called Pine State Biscuits and the food was fine, but the clientele was a bunch of spaced-out hipsters with zero awareness of personal space, how a line works, or what “pardon me” means.

I don’t really know, nor do I care, what part of town we were in but there were tents and trash everywhere throughout Portland, and I’ve never seen so much graffiti in my life. As we were on the frontage road to get back to I-5 waiting for a painfully long stoplight there was a guy who looked like the love child of Charles Manson and Geddy Lee whacked out of his mind walking through traffic to touch the tree trunks on either side of the street. Nearby was a disheveled young woman who looked like Valerie from “The Princess Bride” wailing loudly and incoherently in the other stoner’s direction. I’m not sure whether this was a simple lover’s spat or perhaps he had consumed all her drugs. My son is only 7 and asked “What is happening?”.

I‘m a left-leaning guy, but this kind of shit is exactly why Democrats lose elections. Coddling addicts and criminals seems like the nice thing to do, but it does not work. Clean up your shithole city.

CSB

Pine State is awesome. You need to get out more Grandpa. It seems like the real world has passed you by.

The tents suck but it's amusing listening to someone from Iowa critique fashion/style.

Des Moines has a huge homeless problem.

 

[millah_22]

Except for those friggin' squeegee boys. Get off my car fellas.

I only want it if they press their soaped up nips on my windshield. I'll flip those boys a quarter.

 

[cohawk]

Who knew when you decriminalized everything, things start to get worse for everyone?

They haven't your information is old. Then again you live in Omaha such a forward-thinking city lol.