News Mar 5, 2014 at 4:00 am

How Cops Turned a New Street Enforcement Rule into Sit-Lie 2.0

Comments

1
Again, "public urination," evidently a uniquely Portland problem. Why would a human pee in public? Possibilities include a) medical problem [like bladder infection] b) unexpected onset of heavy guffaws [I started laughing so hard I xed my pants]. And c) nowhere else to go [imagine Charlie Hales and Mike Reese confined to, say, the City Hall courtyard near where the 5x5 red "Meat Hear" food-cart sign was. It's easy to predict, with 100.00% certainty, that either Hales or Reese will publicly urinate first. True, they would doubtless attempt to be discreet, with one watching, so to speak, the other's back [not leg LOL]].

Real crime is down, but the amount of money spent on Portland police keeps rising. Does the PPB regard the unhoused as job security? Giving themselves overtime for threatening, robbing, beating up and otherwise harrassing more powerless portland citizens sounds like job security with a perverse pdx flair.
2
Are we the only city in the country that is so laissez-faire about the more egregious elements of the homeless population and their unruly and gauche behaviors? And, at the same time unable to tame our police force even slightly?

I live on the streets, but you'll never see me sitting or laying around on a dirty sidewalk β€” except maybe on some cardboard or newspaper far away from downtown on the rare occasions I feel like drinking β€” and you sure as hell won't see me panhandling (I collect bottles and cans), jerking some poor dog around on its leash or yelling at it, or walking around looking and smelling like crap because apparently filth is a badge of honor in some sort of Class War?

I approve of efforts to rein in the trash that lives on the streets ... but, yeah, this tactic certainly seems to be one that lends itself well to abuse of police power; I can see me being woken up and told to move along, even though I sleep more than a mile away from downtown.
3
to wolkenkaiser, well we wouldn't want you to get your skirt dirty before you go hang out east side sandy and 31st. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged beautiful. Keep it kind girl.

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