"California nonprofit Urban Alchemy will manage Portland’s first mass tent encampment"

"The city did not say how much the site will cost to build and operate, though in its bid for the project, Urban Alchemy said it would cost $5.1 million a year to operate a 150-person site and an additional $400,000 for startup costs. That estimate did not include the cost of meals, utilities or the construction of the site, which the city has committed to cover, according to city documents."

"Urban Alchemy hasn’t been particularly successful at helping people transition to permanent housing at other sites. As of Feb, 6, fewer than 2% of people – five out of 261 – served at the Los Angeles tent site run by Urban Alchemy had transitioned to permanent housing, while 11 had moved to different shelters, seven had been reunited with family, three had moved to short-term housing, 115 had returned to the street and 35 had left to unknown places, according to data provided by the nonprofit."

"Wheeler said the other five city-run tent sites are in various stages of development and he would be “proud to work with Urban Alchemy to expand to other sites,” if they are interested. While the city has committed $27 million toward funding the first three sites, the remaining three have no funding yet. Wheeler said he is calling on the county to help fund those sites while the city is also in discussions with Gov. Tina Kotek and the Legislature about funding as well."

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2023/03/california-nonprofit-urban-alchemy-will-manage-portlands-first-city-run-tent-encampment.html

This works out to $51,000 per tent per year just to manage the first tent site,. which might hold up to 150 people. Or around $34,000 per person. The city has allocated $27 million for their camping program. They figure this might pay for half of the program for the first year. I think that's extremely optimistic. By my math even if they fully fund all 6 camps that only works out to around 900 people. That's probably a bit less than half the unsheltered people living in the city on any given night.

The city of Portland has a proposed budget of $6.7 billion for a population that's close to 700,000 people. That works out to around $9,500 per person.

TB

Technobarbarian wrote:
> "California nonprofit Urban Alchemy will manage Portland’s first
> mass tent encampment"
>
> "The city did not say how much the site will cost to build and
> operate, though in its bid for the project, Urban Alchemy said it
> would cost $5.1 million a year to operate a 150-person site and an
> additional $400,000 for startup costs. That estimate did not
> include the cost of meals, utilities or the construction of the
> site, which the city has committed to cover, according to city
> documents."
>
> "Urban Alchemy hasn’t been particularly successful at helping
> people transition to permanent housing at other sites.

But it looks like they may be uniquely possibly successful at
transitioning public money to themselves.

> As of Feb,
> 6, fewer than 2% of people – five out of 261 – served at the
> Los Angeles tent site run by Urban Alchemy had transitioned to
> permanent housing, while 11 had moved to different shelters, seven
> had been reunited with family, three had moved to short-term
> housing, 115 had returned to the street and 35 had left to unknown
> places, according to data provided by the nonprofit."
>
> "Wheeler said the other five city-run tent sites are in various
> stages of development and he would be “proud to work with Urban
> Alchemy to expand to other sites,” if they are interested. While
> the city has committed $27 million toward funding the first three
> sites, the remaining three have no funding yet. Wheeler said he is
> calling on the county to help fund those sites while the city is
> also in discussions with Gov. Tina Kotek and the Legislature about
> funding as well."
>
> https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2023/03/california-nonprofit-urban-alchemy-will-manage-portlands-first-city-run-tent-encampment.html
>
> This works out to $51,000 per tent per year just to manage the
> first tent site,. which might hold up to 150 people. Or around
> $34,000 per person. The city has allocated $27 million for their
> camping program. They figure this might pay for half of the program
> for the first year. I think that's extremely optimistic. By my math
> even if they fully fund all 6 camps that only works out to around
> 900 people. That's probably a bit less than half the unsheltered
> people living in the city on any given night.
>
> The city of Portland has a proposed budget of $6.7 billion for a
> population that's close to 700,000 people. That works out to
> around $9,500 per person.
>
> TB
>

--
bill
Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.

On Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 8:33:52 PM UTC-8, bfh wrote:
> Technobarbarian wrote:
> > "California nonprofit Urban Alchemy will manage Portland’s first
> > mass tent encampment"
> >
> > "The city did not say how much the site will cost to build and
> > operate, though in its bid for the project, Urban Alchemy said it
> > would cost $5.1 million a year to operate a 150-person site and an
> > additional $400,000 for startup costs. That estimate did not
> > include the cost of meals, utilities or the construction of the
> > site, which the city has committed to cover, according to city
> > documents."
> >
> > "Urban Alchemy hasn’t been particularly successful at helping
> > people transition to permanent housing at other sites.
> But it looks like they may be uniquely possibly successful at
> transitioning public money to themselves.

Yep. They were on the news this morning explaining their methods. They solve problems, like people going through a mental health crisis, with lots of love. This must explain why it costs more to put someone in a tent than it would cost to put them in a very nice house. Love is expensive, even when you're buying it by the ton. 90% of their work force is people who have been incarcerated because they have a special understanding of the situation, and lots of love.

TB

Technobarbarian wrote:
> On Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 8:33:52 PM UTC-8, bfh wrote:
>> Technobarbarian wrote:
>>> "California nonprofit Urban Alchemy will manage
>>> Portland’s first mass tent encampment"
>>>
>>> "The city did not say how much the site will cost to build and
>>> operate, though in its bid for the project, Urban Alchemy said
>>> it would cost $5.1 million a year to operate a 150-person site
>>> and an additional $400,000 for startup costs. That estimate did
>>> not include the cost of meals, utilities or the construction of
>>> the site, which the city has committed to cover, according to
>>> city documents."
>>>
>>> "Urban Alchemy hasn’t been particularly successful at
>>> helping people transition to permanent housing at other sites.
>> But it looks like they may be uniquely possibly successful at
>> transitioning public money to themselves.
>
> Yep. They were on the news this morning explaining their methods.
> They solve problems, like people going through a mental health
> crisis, with lots of love. This must explain why it costs more to
> put someone in a tent than it would cost to put them in a very nice
> house. Love is expensive, even when you're buying it by the ton.
> 90% of their work force is people who have been incarcerated
> because they have a special understanding of the situation, and
> lots of love.

Why are Portlanders letting the mayor give billion$ of their money to
self-identified alchemists? There must be an as yet unidentified upside?

--
bill
Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.

On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 9:31:42 AM UTC-8, bfh wrote:
> Technobarbarian wrote:
> > On Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 8:33:52 PM UTC-8, bfh wrote:
> >> Technobarbarian wrote:
> >>> "California nonprofit Urban Alchemy will manage
> >>> Portland’s first mass tent encampment"
> >>>
> >>> "The city did not say how much the site will cost to build and
> >>> operate, though in its bid for the project, Urban Alchemy said
> >>> it would cost $5.1 million a year to operate a 150-person site
> >>> and an additional $400,000 for startup costs. That estimate did
> >>> not include the cost of meals, utilities or the construction of
> >>> the site, which the city has committed to cover, according to
> >>> city documents."
> >>>
> >>> "Urban Alchemy hasn’t been particularly successful at
> >>> helping people transition to permanent housing at other sites.
> >> But it looks like they may be uniquely possibly successful at
> >> transitioning public money to themselves.
> >
> > Yep. They were on the news this morning explaining their methods.
> > They solve problems, like people going through a mental health
> > crisis, with lots of love. This must explain why it costs more to
> > put someone in a tent than it would cost to put them in a very nice
> > house. Love is expensive, even when you're buying it by the ton.
> > 90% of their work force is people who have been incarcerated
> > because they have a special understanding of the situation, and
> > lots of love.
> Why are Portlanders letting the mayor give billion$ of their money to
> self-identified alchemists? There must be an as yet unidentified upside?
> --
> bill
> Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.

I don't think most of them have seen the price tag yet, and a lot of them won't care after they figure it out because they don't think the money is coming out of their pocket. For some people this would just mean there are more jobs in Portland and more money coming in from outside of the city.. They're trying to figure out a relatively inexpensive way to end the homeless problem that's: legal and somewhat humane. The camping program sounds like a good idea, until you see the price tag and look closely at what it actually means.

The city has stopped saying it, but a lot of people think they will be able to end "unsanctioned" camping with their official campgrounds. In theory, if people have a reasonable place to go they can be forced to stop camping on the streets. This hasn't been tested in court and I don't think anyone knows what the courts will require before they can force them off the streets, The math strongly suggests that they will never reach the point where the courts will allow them to cite people for unsanctioned camping with just their camping program. Portland also wants to fund 400 affordable homes. The way the government does it a normal person couldn't afford those homes if they had to pay the full price. "Affordable" apartments cost more than nice houses to build. 400 "affordable" houses would only be a fraction of what they need.

Here's an interesting thought for you. If our Nike jillionaire hadn't tried to buy himself a Republican lite governor our Democrat governor probably would not have been elected. If the regular Republican had been elected Portland would not be expecting a huge cash infusion from the state. Even with a Democrat running the state Portland isn't likely to get more than a fraction of what they think they might be able to get in their dreams. Either way, both parties are trying to fix the problem with expensive bandaids.. They don't talk about real solutions because that would be politically unpopular. As I've mentioned before: "If they make possible to build a lot of seriously affordable housing the value of a lot of homes will go down and that would make a lot of home owners very unhappy." In a land where the government owns about two thirds of the land a lot of people and their politicians really don't want affordable housing. It would take a lot of hot air out of the current value of homes and who want's *that* in their neighborhood?

Looking at what FL is doing right could be a good example for Oregonians.

"Behind Florida's big boom
There's a battle for people brewing — and the Sunshine State is winning"

"Florida is also outshining New York and other major population centers in tackling the soaring cost of housing. The state issued 212,206 building permits for residential units in 2022, compared with just 41,254 in New York and 118,065 in California. This building boom creates a larger stock of housing that keeps prices more affordable: 17.6% of all housing in Florida has a value of less than $100,000, whereas in New York the rate is in the single digits. As a result, 69% of Floridians are homeowners compared with only 54% of New Yorkers — and fewer people in Florida are homeless."

https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-population-jobs-economy-housing-battle-new-york-california-2023-3

TB

Technobarbarian wrote:
> On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 9:31:42 AM UTC-8, bfh wrote:
>> Technobarbarian wrote:
>>> On Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 8:33:52 PM UTC-8, bfh
>>> wrote:
>>>> Technobarbarian wrote:
>>>>> "California nonprofit Urban Alchemy will manage
>>>>> Portland’s first mass tent encampment"
>>>>>
>>>>> "The city did not say how much the site will cost to build
>>>>> and operate, though in its bid for the project, Urban
>>>>> Alchemy said it would cost $5.1 million a year to operate a
>>>>> 150-person site and an additional $400,000 for startup
>>>>> costs. That estimate did not include the cost of meals,
>>>>> utilities or the construction of the site, which the city
>>>>> has committed to cover, according to city documents."
>>>>>
>>>>> "Urban Alchemy hasn’t been particularly
>>>>> successful at helping people transition to permanent
>>>>> housing at other sites.
>>>> But it looks like they may be uniquely possibly successful
>>>> at transitioning public money to themselves.
>>>
>>> Yep. They were on the news this morning explaining their
>>> methods. They solve problems, like people going through a
>>> mental health crisis, with lots of love. This must explain why
>>> it costs more to put someone in a tent than it would cost to
>>> put them in a very nice house. Love is expensive, even when
>>> you're buying it by the ton. 90% of their work force is people
>>> who have been incarcerated because they have a special
>>> understanding of the situation, and lots of love.
>> Why are Portlanders letting the mayor give billion$ of their
>> money to self-identified alchemists? There must be an as yet
>> unidentified upside? -- bill Theory don't mean squat if it don't
>> work.
>
> I don't think most of them have seen the price tag yet, and a lot
> of them won't care after they figure it out because they don't
> think the money is coming out of their pocket. For some people this
> would just mean there are more jobs in Portland and more money
> coming in from outside of the city. They're trying to figure out a
> relatively inexpensive way to end the homeless problem that's:
> legal and somewhat humane. The camping program sounds like a good
> idea, until you see the price tag and look closely at what it
> actually means.
>
> The city has stopped saying it, but a lot of people think they will
> be able to end "unsanctioned" camping with their official
> campgrounds. In theory, if people have a reasonable place to go
> they can be forced to stop camping on the streets. This hasn't been
> tested in court and I don't think anyone knows what the courts will
> require before they can force them off the streets, The math
> strongly suggests that they will never reach the point where the
> courts will allow them to cite people for unsanctioned camping with
> just their camping program. Portland also wants to fund 400
> affordable homes. The way the government does it a normal person
> couldn't afford those homes if they had to pay the full price.
> "Affordable" apartments cost more than nice houses to build. 400
> "affordable" houses would only be a fraction of what they need.
>
> Here's an interesting thought for you. If our Nike jillionaire
> hadn't tried to buy himself a Republican lite governor our Democrat
> governor probably would not have been elected. If the regular
> Republican had been elected Portland would not be expecting a huge
> cash infusion from the state. Even with a Democrat running the
> state Portland isn't likely to get more than a fraction of what
> they think they might be able to get in their dreams. Either way,
> both parties are trying to fix the problem with expensive bandaids.
> They don't talk about real solutions because that would be
> politically unpopular. As I've mentioned before: "If they make
> possible to build a lot of seriously affordable housing the value
> of a lot of homes will go down and that would make a lot of home
> owners very unhappy." In a land where the government owns about two
> thirds of the land a lot of people and their politicians really
> don't want affordable housing. It would take a lot of hot air out
> of the current value of homes and who want's *that* in their
> neighborhood?
>
> Looking at what FL is doing right could be a good example for
> Oregonians.
>
> "Behind Florida's big boom There's a battle for people brewing —
> and the Sunshine State is winning"
>
> "Florida is also outshining New York and other major population
> centers in tackling the soaring cost of housing. The state issued
> 212,206 building permits for residential units in 2022, compared
> with just 41,254 in New York and 118,065 in California. This
> building boom creates a larger stock of housing that keeps prices
> more affordable: 17.6% of all housing in Florida has a value of
> less than $100,000, whereas in New York the rate is in the single
> digits. As a result, 69% of Floridians are homeowners compared with
> only 54% of New Yorkers — and fewer people in Florida are
> homeless."
>
> https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-population-jobs-economy-housing-battle-new-york-california-2023-3

That literally can't be right
Florida is run by Trump light
And DeSaintless is a snake
So the metrics must be fake.

Anonymous, Jr.
Poet NotLaureate

--
bill
Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.

On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 12:27:25 PM UTC-8, bfh wrote:
> Technobarbarian wrote:

> > https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-population-jobs-economy-housing-battle-new-york-california-2023-3
>
> That literally can't be right
> Florida is run by Trump light
> And DeSaintless is a snake
> So the metrics must be fake.
>
> Anonymous, Jr.
> Poet NotLaureate
> --
> bill
> Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.

LOL "Trump light"? Good one. I'd say DeSaintless leaves #45 in the dust. He worries me because he's a much smarter fascist than #45, and has a much stronger work ethic.

The metrics benefit from having been selected to prove their point. For example, I wonder what all those homes that are worth less than $100k look like? I tend to suspect that the land underneath them is worth far more than the house. This number probably helps to explain why tornados appear to hate old mobile homes. There are just plain a lot of them.

Nobody has all the answers, including FL. Limited public transportation, for example, is insane. Mexico has an extensive and inexpensive public transportation system because they let the free market work. One of the big political battles here is when and where to build the next section of the light rail system. A lot of people don't want it anywhere near their neighborhood because that gives poor people easy access. The next section will probably be somewhere in my part of the metropolis, but I don't expect to see any of it built in my lifetime.

Changing the tax system here would require more change than most of the people here are prepared for. Because the economic conditions are different here I doubt that anyone really knows what would work best here. Most places the answer usually depends on who is benefitting. I'd be one of the first to admit that Oregon might suffer from too much democracy. But, I admit that I've gotten used to it and enjoy it. One of the reasons people like dictators is that they get things done.

"In Oregon, the initiative and referendum process dates back to 1902 when the Oregon electorate overwhelmingly approved a legislatively referred ballot measure. This measure enabled Oregon citizens to directly initiate amendments to the Oregon state constitution, as well as enact new state statutes. The same ballot measure also enabled the right of referendum, which enabled Oregon citizens to overturn statutes or laws passed by the Oregon legislature."

This alone explains why we don't have a sales tax here. The people here like knowing the price when they pick things up. Like everyone everywhere they are generally not good at math and don't want to expend the mental energy every time they buy something. And, at this point it would just be another tax. At last count I think Oregonians had rejected sales tax measures 8 times. Who knows? We might get self-service gas by 2024! I have hopes that we'll be able to stop playing with the time of day in another year or two.

TB

Technobarbarian wrote:
> On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 12:27:25 PM UTC-8, bfh wrote:
>> Technobarbarian wrote:
>
>>> https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-population-jobs-economy-housing-battle-new-york-california-2023-3
>>
>>
>>>
That literally can't be right
>> Florida is run by Trump light And DeSaintless is a snake So the
>> metrics must be fake.
>>
>> Anonymous, Jr. Poet NotLaureate -- bill Theory don't mean squat
>> if it don't work.
>
> LOL "Trump light"? Good one. I'd say DeSaintless leaves #45 in the
> dust. He worries me because he's a much smarter fascist than #45,
> and has a much stronger work ethic.
>
> The metrics benefit from having been selected to prove their point.
> For example, I wonder what all those homes that are worth less than
> $100k look like? I tend to suspect that the land underneath them is
> worth far more than the house. This number probably helps to
> explain why tornados appear to hate old mobile homes. There are
> just plain a lot of them.
>
> Nobody has all the answers, including FL. Limited public
> transportation, for example, is insane. Mexico has an extensive and
> inexpensive public transportation system because they let the free
> market work. One of the big political battles here is when and
> where to build the next section of the light rail system. A lot of
> people don't want it anywhere near their neighborhood because that
> gives poor people easy access. The next section will probably be
> somewhere in my part of the metropolis, but I don't expect to see
> any of it built in my lifetime.
>
> Changing the tax system here would require more change than most of
> the people here are prepared for. Because the economic conditions
> are different here I doubt that anyone really knows what would work
> best here. Most places the answer usually depends on who is
> benefitting. I'd be one of the first to admit that Oregon might
> suffer from too much democracy. But, I admit that I've gotten used
> to it and enjoy it. One of the reasons people like dictators is
> that they get things done.
>
> "In Oregon, the initiative and referendum process dates back to
> 1902 when the Oregon electorate overwhelmingly approved a
> legislatively referred ballot measure. This measure enabled Oregon
> citizens to directly initiate amendments to the Oregon state
> constitution, as well as enact new state statutes. The same ballot
> measure also enabled the right of referendum, which enabled Oregon
> citizens to overturn statutes or laws passed by the Oregon
> legislature."
>
> This alone explains why we don't have a sales tax here. The people
> here like knowing the price when they pick things up. Like everyone
> everywhere they are generally not good at math and don't want to
> expend the mental energy every time they buy something. And, at
> this point it would just be another tax. At last count I think
> Oregonians had rejected sales tax measures 8 times. Who knows? We
> might get self-service gas by 2024! I have hopes that we'll be able
> to stop playing with the time of day in another year or two.

-------------------------------------------------------
They Left: Portland Is Losing Some of Its Biggest Fans
Rising taxes and a falling quality of life have some Stumptown
die-hards voting with their feet.

(McKenzie Young-Roy)
By Anthony Effinger
February 01, 2023 at 5:32 am PST

The old saying is a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged.

In Portland, many liberals are dodging stray bullets, losing catalytic
converters to thieves, and sidestepping tents. Then they open their
tax bills.

Maybe they aren’t voting Republican. But some are voting with their
feet, getting the hell out of a city that once stole their hearts,
driven away as taxes rise and quality of life declines.
...
-------------------------------------------------
Maybe the dumbasses should vote with their ballots instead of their
feet. I just hope the dumbasses don't end up over here.

------------------------------------------------------
Multnomah County has lost residents for the past three years,
according to Portland State University’s Population Research Center.
Before 2020, it hadn’t lost people since 1987, and that was just a
one-year blip in an upward run that began in 1984.

In the most recent PSU estimate—for the year ended July 1, 2022—the
population fell by 2,321. The cause was “out migration,” PSU says,
which is a fancy way of saying people bailed.

That may not seem like a lot in a county that had 812,563 residents as
of July 1, 2021, but it’s a reversal of fortune for a city that once
attracted migrants from other states the way locally roasted Chemex
coffee draws men with sleeve tattoos.

Josh Lehner, a state economist, says his department had expected a
rebound in 2022, but it didn’t arrive. The longer the slump in
population lasts, he says, the less likely pandemic-related moving
patterns are to blame, and the more likely it is that Portland has a
problem.

“Are we just a year off,” he asks, “or is there something
fundamentally different?”

For some longtime Oregonians, the U-turn is hardly puzzling. Portland
has switched from attracting new arrivals to repelling its current
citizens—especially those with a few coins in their pockets and feet
that start itching at tax time.

Stu Peterson, 65, grew up in Portland, and has been selling commercial
real estate for decades as a partner at Macadam Forbes. He says the
recent outflow of Portlanders with means is something new in his
experience.

“I’ve never seen money move out of here,” Peterson says. “Nobody ever
wanted to leave Oregon. It’s a beautiful place. Most evacuees are
high-wage earners who are fed up with the crime, taxes and
homelessness, in that order. There’s an ugly spiral.”

The exodus includes names with cachet in Portland’s most exclusive clubs.

Jordan Menashe, chief executive of homegrown Portland real estate firm
Menashe Properties, left last year for Dallas. Marquee developer Mark
Edlen also appears to have shifted his primary residence eastward: He
canceled his Oregon voter registration last year.

In an interview, Edlen said he’d always planned to retire in Sun
Valley, Idaho, where he lives now, but he still does most of his
philanthropy in Oregon.

“The taxes are pretty close to the same,” Edlen says. “I haven’t done
the math.”

The founders of Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC—Barnes Ellis and
Brian Baker—packed up their money management firm and moved it across
the Columbia River to Vancouver, Wash. Property records show that
Ellis moved his residence north, too, buying a place in Ridgefield.

Ellis didn’t return calls seeking comment. Few upper-crust Portlanders
would discuss moving. Some wealthy expatriates worry that Multnomah
County or the Oregon Department of Revenue will pay special attention
to their taxes on the way out, says one real estate broker, who
declined to be named.

Regular folks were more willing to talk about their decisions to go.

In the past month, WW spoke with six people who have left or are
preparing to leave Portland. All of them are upper middle class. Most
of them described bittersweet feelings about departing a city that
once drew them like a magnet, or even a lover.

But none of them had second thoughts.

Jenny Rideout moved to Astoria after almost 30 years in the Albina
neighborhood. (Lydia Ely)

Katie Schneider was one of them. She moved to the Woodlawn
neighborhood of Northeast Portland in 2009, and says she quickly grew
accustomed to the occasional sound of gunfire outside her house.

Then someone opened fire from a car on a summer evening in 2020,
killing 22-year-old Jordan Lee Lewis on Dekum Street, just around the
corner from her house and in front of Breakside Brewery, which her
family frequented.

Seven months later, after putting her kids to bed, a car crashed in
the intersection in front of her house. Her husband found a man,
gut-shot and bleeding. Three parked cars had been struck, and police
found 60 shell casings in the street.

In April 2021, two months after the car crash, they moved to a rented
house in Vancouver, where she worked as a school counselor. Her
husband, a bridge engineer, worked from home. A year and a half later,
they moved to Anacortes.

Schneider wasn’t alone. “Our whole block moved within two years,” she
says.

Schneider, 42, is a liberal who—still—loves Portland. But she couldn’t
raise her family in a city where leaders don’t seem to have any
solutions, despite having coffers full of taxpayers’ money.

“I don’t mind paying taxes, but I need to know that they are being put
to good use,” Schneider says. “If they had been, I wouldn’t have had
to move to a different state.”

Roslyn Hill loves Portland but questions the tax burden. (Blake Benard)

On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 4:39:32 PM UTC-8, bfh wrote:

> https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/02/01/they-left-portland-is-losing-some-of-its-biggest-fans/
>
> When liberals run the show, you have dumbasses running the show. When
> liberals vote, you have dumbasses voting for dumbasses.
>
> Again, I just hope the dumbasses don't end up over here. We've already
> got too many dumbasses voting in Atlanta, Savannah, and a few other
> locations infected with dumbasses.
>
> And please keep me updated on the alchemists. I could use the
> entertainment.
> --
> bill
> Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.

Shit damn, we all thought I was overly wordy. Those guys make me look overly simplistic. My eyes glazed over long before I got to the end of the thing. Most of it is a familiar story. Individual anecdotes really don't add anything except more noise. Just about everyone is excited about the increase in crime, despite the fact that we're hanging in there with national averages Crime is going up everywhere. People are losing catalytic converters all over the country. The media likes going on about crime because it keeps people tuned in for the latest news. Population change has been a popular topic lately even though the percentage are very small. Talking about Multnomah county isn't much different than talking about Portland itself. They share similar boundaries. If you expand your view the other two thirds of the metropolitan area is doing pretty damn good. Portland suffers from being the oldest part of the metropolitan area and a long time magnet for all of the state's problems.

TB

On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 8:18:33 PM UTC-8, Technobarbarian wrote:
> On Friday, March 10, 2023 at 4:39:32 PM UTC-8, bfh wrote:
>
> > https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/02/01/they-left-portland-is-losing-some-of-its-biggest-fans/
> >
> > When liberals run the show, you have dumbasses running the show. When
> > liberals vote, you have dumbasses voting for dumbasses.
> >
> > Again, I just hope the dumbasses don't end up over here. We've already
> > got too many dumbasses voting in Atlanta, Savannah, and a few other
> > locations infected with dumbasses.
> >
> > And please keep me updated on the alchemists. I could use the
> > entertainment.
> > --
> > bill
> > Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.
> Shit damn, we all thought I was overly wordy. Those guys make me look overly simplistic. My eyes glazed over long before I got to the end of the thing. Most of it is a familiar story. Individual anecdotes really don't add anything except more noise. Just about everyone is excited about the increase in crime, despite the fact that we're hanging in there with national averages Crime is going up everywhere. People are losing catalytic converters all over the country. The media likes going on about crime because it keeps people tuned in for the latest news. Population change has been a popular topic lately even though the percentage are very small. Talking about Multnomah county isn't much different than talking about Portland itself. They share similar boundaries. If you expand your view the other two thirds of the metropolitan area is doing pretty damn good. Portland suffers from being the oldest part of the metropolitan area and a long time magnet for all of the state's problems.
>
> TB

I should have mentioned a couple of other things about Portland. There are other reasons Portland gets more than it's fair share of the state's problems. Portland is just about the exact opposite of Coronado CA. Instead of limited access Portland is easily accessible. All of Oregon's major highways pass through Portland. Most of our major railroads go through Portland. They have the Columbia river on one side of Portland and the Willamette river can be navigated by ships all the way to Portland, 75 miles from the ocean.

The other thing going on is that homeless people are quietly harassed out of the rest of the metropolitan area. There's all sorts of visible unsanctioned camping in Portland, but on this side of town it ends at the city limits. In the suburbs you have to stay out of sight or you will be harassed.. They're still harassing homeless people in Portland as much as they can, but there have gotten to be so many people that they can only harass a small percentage of them at a time.

TB