A bit much, even for PDX

[Clusterfrack]

Austin is heading for Portland, Seattle, California - https://www.kvue.com/article/news/lo...0-b876e9afda93

Abbott (gov) says he will take action though. These people are fools. We used to go Austin a lot for entertainment but not if it goes this way.

"It's now legal for homeless to camp on Austin streets...
Before the change, it was illegal to sit, lie or camp in public. Now, officers will only give tickets to people who block pathways."

Correction: It's now legal for anyone to camp on Austin streets, encouraging more people to live on the street.

Living on the street is becoming an attractive lifestyle, and it's ruining some of the best cities. If Austin's move signals a new trend, this is not a good sign.

[BehindBlueI's]

Correction: It's now legal for anyone to camp on Austin streets, encouraging more people to live on the street.

Living on the street is becoming an attractive lifestyle, and it's ruining some of the best cities. If Austin's move signals a new trend, this is not a good sign.

Doesn't seem all that attractive to me, and I'm guessing that it's legality or illegality isn't a decision point for living on the street vs not. What you will get is migration of homeless from less "forward thinking" areas of the country.

I used to keep panhandlers off my beat with good success with a verbal warning, written ticket, obstruction of traffic arrest escalation. I only had to arrest two. Everyone else got it and moved to a less enforced area.

[Clusterfrack]

Living on the street doesn’t seem attractive to me either, but approximately 1/3 of Portland homeless are homeless by choice. These are young, fit guys and girls who camp in fairly nice tents, have campfires in city parks, and do drugs and petty crimes. Some do more serious crimes. It’s a lifestyle.

[Totem Polar]

Living on the street doesn’t seem attractive to me either, but approximately 1/3 of Portland homeless are homeless by choice. These are young, fit guys and girls who camp in fairly nice tents, have campfires in city parks, and do drugs and petty crimes. Some do more serious crimes. It’s a lifestyle.

Yeah, I’m not one to often counterpoint BBI on stuff like this, but I have to go with the locals on this one. The entire NW from SF up through Bellingham is filled with folks who’ve adopted the lifestyle. I doubt if it’s even close to the majority, but clusterfrack is correct, IME.

As an aside, I’ve been in Seattle 3 times on business in as many months, and the size and amount of tent city development is stunning. There is one off the side of I5, by the U-district’s main onramp. The first two times I went to merge onto I5–keep in mind that this is the major interstate running from the Mexican border to the Canadian one over here—from the main arterial into the U, I almost got a mixed-gender young homeless 2-pack splashed all over the rental car windshield. I don’t know about y’all, but when the light changes on a limited access ramp that goes a couple hundred feet before merging onto one of the Nation’s major interstate freeways, I typically don’t dally getting up to merging speed. These kids make a game of it, walking out of the bushes on the side of the ramp right in front of merging traffic as they cross the ramp from tent site to coffeeshop.

This last trip, being my third in as many months, I was ready for those reckless turds, so I crept out across the lanes to the ramp when I got the green light, and stopped casually for the scruffy kids playing chicken to pop up and cross, THEN roasted a little tire on this year’s Camry. I now know the game. Point being, these aren’t your generation’s homeless out here in the PacNW. It’s a different deal than 20 years ago.

As a partially-related aside, from another post here ( https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....l=1#post898387 )

http://christarzanclemens.com/2014/10/home-sweet-honda/

"I’ve been living in my car now for several weeks, parking it around town, sleeping incognito on the streets, and holding down a respectable professional life at the same time. When I tell people this they tend to fall into one of two camps…the “You’re crazy” camp, or the “You’re freaking awesome” camp. There have been more crazy votes than awesome votes, but I’m okay with that, I take that as an indication that I’m living right."

[cheby]

Andy Ngo with Joe Rogan. Pretty good conversation:

https://youtu.be/Jyb2JhysVr4

[Drang]

Tablet magazine: Portlandization: It Can Happen to a Place Near You
When the crazies took over the city I loved, I knew it was time to get out
By Nancy Rommelmann

[OlongJohnson]

Yeah, I’m not one to often counterpoint BBI on stuff like this, but I have to go with the locals on this one. The entire NW from SF up through Bellingham is filled with folks who’ve adopted the lifestyle. I doubt if it’s even close to the majority, but clusterfrack is correct, IME.

...

http://christarzanclemens.com/2014/10/home-sweet-honda/

"I’ve been living in my car now for several weeks, parking it around town, sleeping incognito on the streets, and holding down a respectable professional life at the same time. When I tell people this they tend to fall into one of two camps…the “You’re crazy” camp, or the “You’re freaking awesome” camp. There have been more crazy votes than awesome votes, but I’m okay with that, I take that as an indication that I’m living right."

It's an important part of growing up to realize that the people Kerouac wrote about were largely shitbags, and Kerouac the man was a mama's boy wanna-be who basically wasn't capable of supporting himself to a reasonable standard or making his own path in the world - much like Thoreau. If the adventure and challenge of being poor doesn't stop being fun or interesting by one's mid-20s for someone inclined to think those tradeoffs have anything attractive about them in the first place, something is way wrong.

[LittleLebowski]

Tablet magazine: Portlandization: It Can Happen to a Place Near You
When the crazies took over the city I loved, I knew it was time to get out
By Nancy Rommelmann

That was really good, I recommend reading it.

[mmc45414]

That was really good, I recommend reading it.

Not done yet, but if you didn't click the hyperlink go back and do it. I didn't get it at first...
http://www.hipsterbusiness.name/
"Portland and “artisanship” becoming synonymous & ubiquitous (and maybe spawning the hipster ampersand name thing—sorry!)."

[Totem Polar]

Andy Ngo with Joe Rogan. Pretty good conversation:

https://youtu.be/Jyb2JhysVr4

I agree.

That was really good, I recommend reading it.

I agree.


I guess I’m just in an agreeable mood today.