Old Town Chinatown is on everyone’s mind lately.

The Oregonian recently published a series looking at its challenges, and the proposed economic development that could take it from dingy and underused to a haven for “workforce housing.” And the city was abuzz last week after Mayor Charlie Hales announced popular vacation listing site Airbnb is moving its North American headquarters into the neighborhood.

Even Vice is chiming in, with a dispatch from KGW employee Evan Sernoffsky titled: “Portland’s Iconic Old Town Chinatown Is Overflowing With Human Shit.” Therein, Sernoffsky chronicles in great detail the time someone shat in front of Kell’s. He talks of alcoves filled with “drooling junkies” and the indignity of having to observe squalor while ordering donuts. (Sernoffsky has taken a somewhat more-measured approach to the issue when reporting locally.) From the piece:

Last week, I ran into Carl panhandling downtown. I gave him some change and asked if we could talk about all the poop in Old Town Chinatown. After he rambled in his semi-coherent drawl, we took a walk to the Pioneer Square Mall so he could take a dump.

I work in Old Town, and have for years. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen human shit on the sidewalk. But who could be surprised that it happens? The neighborhood—like neighborhoods in medium and large cities the world over—has a lot of homeless people, and even three relatively nearby Portland loos aren’t going to attract everyone. Even if Old Town were truly “overflowing,” though, that’s really worth 1,300 words? Without any substantive discussion about how the situation might be changed or improved? Am I overreacting to/overthinking what is, in essence, long-form trolling?

At any rate, Vice has a decent track record of feces coverage (and, to be fair, the Mercury’s no stranger to the topic) so its raison d’etre needn’t be much more than sidewalk poop.

Thoughts?

I'm a news reporter for the Mercury. I've spent a lot of the last decade in journalism — covering tragedy and chicanery in the hills of southwest Missouri, politics in Washington, D.C., and other matters...

14 replies on “KGW Employee Goes In-Depth On Old Town Poop for Vice”

  1. As an employee of a (great) company headquartered in Old Town, I can attest that street pooping, urinating, and being high as shit is (without question) de rigueur for Old Towners.

    I agree: I’ve never seen human shit on the sidewalk; that is, it’s the parking lots where I find myself dodging it when getting out of my car in the morning.

    Actually, a few months ago I caught a man shitting in the corner of the 4th and Everett parking garage. Thankfully, it was like two cars down from my Acura. I feel for whoever owns that white VW wagon, though. The defecating gentleman used it to prop himself up for the act. Sucks when you’re too drunk to shit straight, right?

  2. To be fair, the Merc never has substantive discussion about how the situation might be changed or improved either. Just endlessly professing how much you “care” about homeless people, and implying that “someone” really ought to do “something.”

  4. I’ve never seen shit on the sidewalk in Old Town, but NW 23rd and surrounds always smells like dog poop to me. To each their own (excrement).

  5. I have lived in old town, I have worked in old town… and honestly, I have seen poop more often in downtown than in old town. pee, sure, you see a lot of pee, but not so much poop.

  7. I definitely have noticed this problem too. (It’s crazy how much more grossed out I am to almost step in human waste vs animal.) Do the public loos close at a certain time? If so, and they can’t be open later, maybe a Honey Pot would help? Maybe in the more industrial areas, closer to the river? I really can’t imagine going on the sidewalk is preferred… o_O

  8. I love how Kells is upset about that guy that pooped that time, months ago –yet seems unconcerned with the dozens of lovely loads of puke, EVERY night, deposited by their wonderful patrons throughout downtown.

  9. First, thanks for informing us of inequality in your reporting Dirk VanderHart. The first step to solving any problem is recognizing it first. Mr. Erik Berglund i think i met you once,,i’ll just say…your into data? I think your work is a big part of the spirit of Portland. Good Job. And to Blabby and those concerned, i have a solution that benefits every one. If interested email me at matthewgodson3@gmail.com Especially Mr. Erik Berglund, and Dirk VanderHart. Thank you. Oh! and if you lived on the streets and pooped on the sidewalk….would you want me to say…hey bro your not doin well at all. Come on, i have a small building out back you can stay in and i have food, and we going to get you well agaiin and treatment if needed. And if im there doing that on the streets, for GOD SAKE HELP ME! hehe for real, we are all brothers.

  12. If you wait an hour in line for donuts, you deserve to see somebody shit. You deserve to see somebody walk out of that porn theater with a 1980s movie hooker.

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