Christ it's been a long day at Portland City Hall. So, right now, the council is deciding whether to extend the Clean and Safe contract downtown for another 10 years, and maybe to think about whether to expand the district to include some of the new condos that have sprouted up between SW 11th and the South Park Blocks.

Clean and Safe does some good things, like putting people to work who otherwise might have a hard time finding a job. It's also helping staff the temporary storage facility for homeless folks downtown.

And it seems like—with a loving nod toward the Portland Business Alliance, and after being subjected to the usual drumbeat of hyperbolic complaints about downtown life—the council is going to continue the district while also looking at issues like expansion, bowing to the recommendations of a glowing Clean and Safe survey partially prepared by ex-Mayor Vera Katz.

But because I'm feeling punchy, I'd like to share a few things that came up during the debate, things that irked me.

First, no public official mentioned that some of the survey respondents said they were confused and concerned by the oversight over the 14.5 private guard positions that the property owners in the Clean and Safe district pay for. Remember this story about the guards who whacked some kids with the kids' skateboards? Instead, there was talk about adding a Facebook page or an app that would make it easier to call the guards.

Then came a weird moment courtesy of Skip Frank, the Clean and Safe board member who represents condo owners. He was trying to make the case for why the zone should grow and showed some pictures that included—gasp!—homeless people standing or sitting in the strip of sidewalk where the city allows them to sit. Why, one guy bought a condo downtown and now he has to look out his front window at them! Horrors!

Kudos to Amanda Fritz who asked, sternly, "What is the perceived problem there?"

Frank groped for an answer, failing to articulate anything beyond the fact that homeless people aren't pleasant for someone with means to look at. (The guy whose window it was later claimed he had snapped pictures of drug-dealing, though he couldn't prove it.)

Frank, though, eventually got frighteningly honest about his vision for downtown security: "The fact that someone with a sidearm shows up and does some gentle nudging, it's very effective."