A "Nascent Outsider" Goes INSIDE A DAY-IN-THE-VIRTUAL LIFE OF A FB FRIEND IN PORTLAND, OREGON

Wanting to avoid the perception of virtue signaling, I hesitated to pushback at the detractors of two recent posts about the houseless crisis in Portland. Yet, I will announce here and now that my husband and I built a small apartment at our home that is now the rent-free domain of a formerly houseless, ex-addict/ex-con. He was invited to live here in March 2020 and since he has moved in, he had a gallery show, found a job, and acquired a feline. I am often unhappy that he is here, but we think he might not have survived the virus, the Great Heat Dome of 2021, or the lure of street drugs. So, excuse me if I bristle at being called a “whiner” or that I complain without offering a solution.

We also give money and goods monthly to Central City Concern, a terrifically effective organizing. I pickup garbage in my neighborhood. I truly care about the houseless population. We are not a NIMBY family.

I don’t think it is monstrous of me to want to walk on the sidewalks and trails of Portland without wading through trash, needles, and human waste, or being accosted.

Kudos on your first person narrative, Stephen Rutledge ! Bless you and your partner for doing what you could when you did! Glad we will never know what could have happened if y'all had not stepped up. BTW, the homeless encampment directly across the LA City Hall is, to my amazement, kept clean of debris, paper, plastic, human and pet wastes too! The city even has a Police Cruiser posted to the neighborhood of assorted tents. Sadly, as LA City Attorney Mike Feurer(sp?) has said repeatedly in his tour of all 101 neighborhoods in Los Angeles, we only have 40,000 beds for a nightly unsheltered population of 80,000 +. ALL the homeless with COVID were housed in Motel 6's throughout LA County during the 2020 lockdown, but were "released" back to the streets after the State Re-opened all businesses ahead of the Delta and Omicron onslaughts ( ger. ANSCHLUSS?) . As I am sure you know, the now known to have been premature re-opening was due to pressure from generationally wealthy white and BIPOC homeowners in Orange and Marin Counties. Now you know at least one place worse off than you--- and wishing they had a neat and clean formerly homeless neighbor they didnt get along with-- sometimes! 🤟👍🖖🌈💯💯💯😉

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