The LA Times is the latest West Coast paper to highlight Portland's new, controversial "safe sleep" policies for homeless residents. The Seattle Times penned its own take not that long ago (and the LAT's piece is penned by a Seattle-based freelancer).

What did the paper turn up? Not anything you don't already know. There is the requisite whiff of rumor that Portland is a West Coast mecca for the homeless.

But at least he’s living in the Rose City. “Guys who travel the coast,” he said of other homeless, “tell me Portland is the safest place to be.”

That’s up for debate. Portland homeless sites have been hit by fires, stabbings and a shooting, while local business and community leaders are raising new complaints similar to those heard about the homeless in other West Coast cities – crime, garbage, noise, drug use.

But there's also the suggestion that Mayor Charlie Hales' experiment of allowing homeless people to sleep legally on city sidewalks and "remnant" properties could be a model for other cities (the Times said the same).

But the challenged policies include one innovative effort that is being watched by other West Coast cities facing homelessness emergencies. And if it works, it might prove the lawsuit wrong and establish a model for other urban hubs.

Launched by Hales in February as a six-month experiment, Portland’s “safe sleep policy” allows the homeless to bunk down on city sidewalks in groups of up to six, starting at 9 p.m. daily and packing up and leaving by 7 the next morning.

Mayoral spokesperson Sara Hottman claims in the piece that sidewalk tents have decreased noticeably since Hales put the policy into effect in February—a statement which is hard to quantify—and that complaints have shifted from general homelessness complaints to gripes about noise and garbage.

The paper also mentions the lawsuit filed against Hales and the city over the policy, but doesn't take into account that it's since shed one plaintiff, and gained two more.

All of this hullabaloo over the mayor's experiment might be relatively short-lived. Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler has made plain he'll shut it down once in office, but, so far, word from Hales' staff is that they plan to stay the course until the end of the year.