u/collegedraftpick

There's been a debate on here this week about whether the recent stabbings in Portland are even a big deal.

Two weeks.
Multiple stabbings.
More shootings. Gun violence.

Every time it happens, the response is predictable.
‘Crime is down, overall.’
‘Every city has crime. Property crime is way worse here’
You're sensationalizing isolated incidents’

That misses the larger context.

Public safety is not a debate over headlines.

It's whether your wife feels safe walking downtown after dinner.

It's whether you let your teenager ride MAX alone.

It's whether you choose to open a business here or in Beaverton.

It's whether employers decide Portland is worth investing in. (They are not).

This isn't the city I grew up loving. Far from it.

Portland didn't end up here because of one bad week.

It didn't happen because of COVID.
It didn't happen because of one district attorney or one ballot measure. Or one single vote.

It happened because leaders at the city, county, and state levels have spent years making policy decisions that reduced accountability across the criminal justice system. 100%

Those decisions were deliberate. Ideological in nature.

The consequences were so predictable.
Look at the numbers.

According to the FBI's 2024 Uniform Crime Report, Portland recorded roughly 720 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.

Compare that with cities Portland competes with for employers, investment, conventions, and talent.
San Diego: 412
Austin: 467
Chicago: 540
San Francisco: 597
Boston: 628
Dallas: 658
New York City: 671
**Portland: 720**
Los Angeles: 728
Seattle: 775
Denver: 993

No, Portland is not the most violent city in America.
Cities like Memphis, Detroit, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Houston, Nashville, and Philadelphia have substantially higher violent crime rates.

That is not the comparison Portland should accept.

For decades Portland competed with Seattle, Austin, San Diego, Denver, and San Francisco.

Against those peer cities, Portland has lost ground.

Portland's violent crime rate is about 75 percent higher than San Diego.

It is more than 50 percent higher than Austin.
It exceeds San Francisco.
It exceeds Boston.
It exceeds Chicago.
It exceeds New York City.

Then look at police staffing.

In 2020, dipsh!t Mayor Ted Wheeler and the Portland City Council approved approximately $15 million in cuts to the Portland Police Bureau.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty became the council's strongest advocate for reducing police funding. (Her minions still pushing for this aka Angelito Morillo).

The bureau was already struggling to recruit officers.

Then retirements accelerated. Cause of riots.

Resignations increased. Cause of riots.

Today Portland has roughly 1.26 police officers per 1,000 residents.

That ranks 48th of America's 50 largest cities.

Response times increased to outrageous numbers.

Investigations slowed or completely stopped.

We all noticed.

Criminals and junkies noticed too.
Now look at Multnomah County.

Remember County Chair Deborah Kafoury.
Remember Sheriff Mike Reese.

During COVID, county leaders expanded ‘citation in lieu of booking’ policies for many misdemeanor offenses to reduce the jail population. (and have kept it artificially low for ‘budget reasons’).

Many offenders who previously would have been booked into jail instead received citations and court dates. Aka. Catch and Release. SJW’s wet dream.

At the same time, Oregon developed one of the worst public defender shortages in the country.

Cases piled up.

Charges sat for months.

Some cases were dismissed because the constitutional right to a speedy trial does not disappear when the government fails to provide enough attorneys.

Then came District Attorney Mike Schmidt and the Schmidt Show era.
He ran on criminal justice reform.
Soon after taking office, his office announced it would presumptively decline prosecution for several categories of ‘protest-related’ offenses unless they involved violence, significant property damage, or serious theft.

Extremists/supporters viewed it as reform.

The rest of us viewed it as reduced accountability.

Whether you agreed with the policy or not, it represented another step away from traditional enforcement.

Then came Measure 110. Which I was supportive, but then reallized I was dealing with a bunch incompetant pencil pushers like JVP and her clown show.

Treatment capacity never matched demand. Why should we expect these dumbasses in office to know how to do anything other than hand money to their non-profit supporters. Grift has entered the chat.

Open drug markets and use became common across large parts of downtown with ZERO enforcement.
So the decline in public safety and an increase in violent crime. None of these decisions existed by itself.

Reduced police staffing.
Reduced jail bookings and room at the inn.

Reduced prosecution of selected offenses.
Drug decriminalization.
Free tents, tarps and crackpipes increased homelessness.

A planned shortage of public defenders by Taxin Tina Kotek.

Each decision reduced accountability.
Together, they changed how Portland functions.
The economic damage followed and is still happening.

Downtown office vacancy climbed from roughly 10 percent before the pandemic to more than 30 percent today.

Major employers reduced their downtown footprint.

Retail stores closed. REI to name just one…

Hotels lost convention business.
Commercial property values declined.

Tax revenue shrank and is shrinking…

Families stopped visiting downtown, b/c why would you go into a drug fueled thunderdome while you pay a f- ton to have your car window smashed.

Businesses stopped investing. Businesses closed in droves…
When businesses leave, jobs leave.
When jobs leave, opportunity leaves.
When opportunity leaves, property values suffer.
Every homeowner pays the price.
Every small business pays the price.
Every taxpayer pays the price. (because they raise your f-ing taxes to pay for the same level of ‘services’ (insert joke here: more speed bumps anyone?)

Public safety is not separate from economic development.

Public safety is one of the foundations of economic development.

Now look at where Portland is going…
Several members of the new Portland City Council identify with or are endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

During the 2025 budget process, a council majority redirected a proposed increase in police staffing toward other priorities rather than expanding the bureau.

Supporters argued the money was better spent elsewhere.Parks (for junkies and hobo campers!)

Normies argued Portland was repeating the same mistake while police staffing remained among the lowest of any major American city.

That debate matters because Portland still has not rebuilt the public safety system it weakened in years past.

People struggling with addiction deserve treatment.

People with mental illness deserve care.

Those goals do not require the acceptance of open-air drug markets and allowing low-level ‘crime’ or hobo-on-hobo stabbings.

They do not require accepting repeat offenders cycling through the system without consequences. But but but…social justice!

They do not require accepting one of the lowest police staffing levels in America.

Government asks you to pay taxes.
Follow the law.
Raise your family.
Build a business.
Invest in your community.

In return, the government owes you safe streets.

Functional courts.

Consequences for criminal behavior.

Parks where your children can play.

A downtown where visitors want to spend money.

That is the social contract. That’s the deal. That’s what we expect at a GD min.

Portland weakened that contract through years of extreme, it feels so good…policy decisions.

Those decisions were made by **one party**. One brand of elected officials.
Those decisions produced measurable results. Yup. They sure did.

The question facing Portland is no longer whether those policies worked, b/c it’s working so well for what you voted for…

The question is whether voters want another decade built on the same ideas or a different direction. End rant.

Don’t pretend like this was an accident or the violent crime is just so down it’s laughable…it’s not and ya’ll keep voting for the same policies.

USA 🇺🇸 vs. Belgium 🇧🇪 Monday

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