What Is The Problem…

When I was out there was a lot. A lot of things that make no sense in the city of Portland. I was going to do two whole posts but I will change that plan, a little bit. Portland is my home, it has been my family when there was no family for me and seeing it go the way it has been has been painful. No one is doing well in the city it seems. It all hurts.

This post, the plan is to go over some of the bigger things and then the next one should be about why is all this happening. First problem is with the crime. Simple enough problem, looking up some people may go to the point and blame the cops, but in this case they do not seem to be the bearers of the lion’s share of the blame. Remember in the past few years the police have had item after item taken away because they were used in the riots and they stopped the riots. They had their budget cut after those riots were filled with people who threw everything from eggs, rocks and fireworks at them. All that right there would be enough to have the police station completely lose their heart.

Also, I know people will bring it up. Yes, not all police are good, but the inverse is true as well, and I have met both. When the police screw up there will be nobody faster then me to call it, but to do that we have to keep track of some laurels, and to my experience, there has been a lot of things that police could have left for and they are staying despite what feels the leadership in the county prosecutors office and in city hall trying to stop them. Those are the sources of leadership for the police as well as the office in charge with charging for crimes. When those two do not do their jobs, when they abdicate their duty for the sake of feelings of the smooth brained then, like a lot of officers have, you will wonder why you are doing it and either walk away from the city, from your badge or both.

When shoplifting gets so bad that businesses run out closing everything including some of the biggest in the country closing down locations, we have a problem. No one feels safe and a good portion of Portlanders, have been clueless to this until it directly hits them. When those people open the business to have everything jacked in the day and the police cannot come, because they are taking care of over doses, murder attempts and shootings then you feel powerless. The police cannot multiply themselves and because of how have been treated you need to pay them a kings ransom for anyone to come in.

Look up “Portland is” on Google, leave it blank, this is what was my results. A pun on the county prosecutor who failed to such a level, that now his name is a slang term for badly run event or time frame. There have been times where I have tried to screw up in my specialties, and it would not have sniffed that level of excellence in failure. Wait, I can hear it now.

“Um, that was clearly taken from a page with your profile signed in, of course it will be anti leadership, it won’t do that on a private page.” sounding like someone trying to breathe through an ocarina.

Unfortunate for that point that this is here too.

For those who still want to complain, take your L, back of the line.

This is not good. If this does not change, we are going to see it get a lot worse, right now with how bad the rest of the country has been and the money of those thinking they can hold their breath before profits plummet on things like land. All of this will be the best it looks for quite a while. Money problems from management and how the markets are trying to sit through it, that is not the sign of a healthy market. It is the sign of a market who need to get enough to cover there needs and they would not get it now otherwise they would have sold already. All of the squalor has gotten so bad that police need to escort firefighters, in some areas to fight a fire because of homeless camps.

Willamette Week reports here https://twitter.com/wweek/status/1677342515031322633

I will say twitter is the prime website for watching dumpster fires. Things have gotten so bad firefighters need to weak Kevlar. Before you ask if that is part of natural kit, no it is not. Kevlar is not great for fighting fires but it handles bullets fairly well. https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/09/portland-firefighters-to-get-bulletproof-vests-as-risks-increase.html

We don’t need a change, we need a lot of them.

Stay strong. Next part is why.

Never Ask the Stupid Question

You ever just get into a thing where you do and keep doing until you get to the point you are exhausted and on autopilot and look back to wonder what you were doing to that point. That is EXACTLY how the past two weeks has been for me. Running for chair of the school senate committee on Government operations and finance, homework, nerve attacks, passing out, taping myself back together. Sometimes though, things work out in a way where you are just happy to have.

Despite being exhausted that running for the chair, well it is something more then that now. The problem is that a lot of things going on I am finding needs more then someone to help good ideas, they need someone willing to take the field as well. Always something to be done, and despite it my body is not the font of energy it once was and sometimes, especially since my nerve damage there are limits that have to be respected physically or there will be more problems then whatever good is done in those few moments.

The fraility of existence unfortunately is not something that can be mentally broken sometimes. It must be dealt with, in that dealing though new answers arise. Moments of thought sometime occur here, I like to call them sigma moments, not because of things like sigma grind set, but because it would be something Sigma the character (overwatch) would most likely think of.

So ya, a lot of things are happening here, which is why I went radio silence, things have gotten so hectic I have to actually use a calendar like a responsible adult. You know what I hadn’t looked at what has been happening in Portland since trying to help the students I represent. Hopefully it was a slow news week….

Ever ask yourself why you should ever ask a question that seems to be the start to disaster?

We are starting off with the Willamette Week, who did some interesting journalism this time. Some progress in some areas, but this article is about the value of money.

I am just going to save some pain and just go to the numbers. 82 units, refurbishing a building from 1911 and the refurbishment will cost 36.15 million dollars. Which is about 480,000 per unit or just about 13,00 per sq foot for units that have no bathroom or kitchens. I do not know about you, but this so expensive that anyone tries to explain this as a good value needs their head examined because the only reason this money is of some value is if it’s in someone savingsd account because you aren ot getting that value or even half of it on the work.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/02/01/the-fairfield-apartments-will-cost-1300-per-square-foot-when-renovated/

I would fire the people who okay-ed it, the people who accepted the contract, the company, anyone who thought this was a good idea. There would be mass firings of the failure that allowed this to stand. Why would all this be important, why would the value of things be needed especially now?

https://katu.com/news/local/portland-public-schools-announces-hiring-freeze-amid-budget-issues-education-school-academic-standardized-testing-teachers-teaching-enrollment#

Portland Public Schools and …

https://www.koin.com/news/portland/memo-portland-fire-and-rescue-to-freeze-spending-hiring/

Portland fire and rescue have to freeze spending both of them are within the range of the project or even could be heavily aided by the half that could be cut by the building if someone with a calculator worked in Portland politics.

Get some progress done, bask in the bright light if this stupidity and then try to make your day a little better

Stay Strong