When Tom turned "beet red" did he shit in
his pants too? Bet he did! No wonder it
was such a "smelly affair" @ City Hall and
the windows opened to air out the place!

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Leonard has a good point. If someone is sitting upright on the curb, who cares? Lying on a blanket, in a sleeping bag shouldn't be allowed.

BTW, a bigger issue I wish you cats would address in the paper: Why are ALL the homeless shelters, mental health sponsored apartments, halfway houses...etc located downtown? Does that make any sense? Does the freaking city ever expect downtown to be vibrant with such concentrated much being filtered down there?

I'm childless but given the excessive amounts of violent criminals and rapists who reside in government apartments downtown, I would and will not ever take any child downtown. I urge others to look at the facts as well.

Gee, I don't know why the City is having such a problem find a downtown/Pearl property owner willing to host all of the city's homeless. It seems the City would have a property somewhere. Some of those unused storefront entrances in the Portland Building seem ideal.

Maybe the City could combine the homeless (daycare) center with the (illegal) day labor center and solve two problems at once. Heck, some homeless folks may even find legal work.

anybody who's been to the central library recently knows there already is a homeless day access center.

Mike, I'm glad you're childless. But in theory, shouldn't children be exposed to the realities of urban living?

Otherwise they grow up terrified of poor people, the unfortunate, just like their suburban parents.

I live downtown next to Union Station. After a year here, I'm tired of the scumbags around. Not everyone, but a pretty concentrated number of grimy people smelling of everything from shit to spray paint seem to hang around.

Homeless people should be helped, but I don't know why the city tends to herd them into Old Town. Go to the Steel Bridge at night. A colony of dirt weasels drags out their cardboard and has a slumber party. That is no way to live. I guess they are a free speech and free smell assembly, fanning their stench on Portland's increasing Californication.

What really needs to happen is for rich people (like West Hills / West Linn McMansion owners) to donate money so this problem can be addressed the same way they are in many countries in Europe.

Finland has plenty of drunks, but no homeless. And medical care for all. And high taxes.

America has greedy people willing to literally step over their fellow citizens while trying to grab even more.

Could you please tell the rich to not be so greedy?

Cue a Cure song. I'm moving to Belmont.

Mike, unless you live in Dunthorpe or one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Portland, likely there are group homes and subsidized apartments near you. You maybe don't realize it because (surprise!) often you can't tell if someone is receiving government help by looking at them. Try telling folks in Buckman in inner SE, Portsmouth in North Portland, King and Cully in NE, that facilities for homeless people and others in need are all concentrated downtown. They would disagree with you.

I'm happy for my teenage daughter to go downtown by herself. She knows that most assaults are by people known to the victim, and that she needs to be as careful when she's walking home from school as she is downtown.

Hooray for Amanda Fritz!