u/ArugulaCautious9835

I lived in NE Portland with my aunt and uncle from age 10 to 18 back in the early 90's, and after living most of my adult life in L.A., my wife and I wanted to move here because we'd had it with L.A. and wanted to raise our son here instead and had great memories of my time here. I also have some family and friends who have been here for many years. We've been here for two years, and I'm having concerns about the direction of the city and am interested to hear opinions...maybe Reddit is not the most unbiased place to get opinions but what can ya do.

1. I'm black, and the city, including NE, felt a lot more integrated racially when I was here in the 90's than it does now, which we knew going in, but it's more than I anticipated. We haven't had any bad experiences so far, but regardless it's definitely not diverse compared to what we were used to in L.A. I wonder if anyone sees that changing as we move forward?
2. I lean strongly left in general (not extreme) but what I see now that I've actually lived in Portland for a few years is that the Portlandia cliche feels kinda true in some ways. It feels like there's not a a full awareness by the government here, or a lot of people that I talk to, that crime and homelessness and racial awareness and integration are deep issues with many shades of grey. At least that's what it feels like in general. This is coming from someone who's black, and I deeply understand the problem with police in many parts of the country, for one thing.
3. Probably the biggest issue for us is the homeless situation. It was bad in L.A. too, believe me, but in Portland it's more concentrated since it's a much smaller city. Everyone thinks they have the answer, and I can say I don't know what the full answer is. But one place that really works in L.A. is a private org called Food on Foot, where they actively help people who have been homeless for less than 2 years (which is about the time when mental decline is too difficult to repair), and they do so by putting some of the responsibility on the homeless person, while very actively helping them achieve employment and housing. IMO that is a great way to go. Their success rate is around 85% for getting people employed and off the street. The government just throws things like shelters and the right to live in certain places on the street, etc., which simply does not address any of the underlying issues...this seems to be the case in Portland as well, and many other cities. Everything that people do isn't just "Hey, that's OK!" if you ask me...there needs to be guardrails and boundaries that not everyone will like, but there also has to be a strong and active support system to help people navigate those boundaries and actually get off of the street.

How do you see this changing (for the better, hopefully), based on the many years you've been here?

This is for a hybrid city bike that I also use for some long-distance riding. Looking for the brightest super lightweight headlamp I can find. Recommendations?