Readers Respond to Chloe Eudaly Quietly Changing Neighborhood Watches

“There is nothing preventing busybodies from being busybodies, or forming groups of busybodies."

Row houses in Northwest Portland. (Wesley Lapointe)

Last week, WW wrote about City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly quietly changing neighborhood watches ("Broken Watch," Sept. 25, 2019). As of July 1, Eudaly tells WW, the Portland Office of Community and Civic Life is "no longer involved in the traditional neighborhood watch model." It will instead direct funds to other community events—including first-aid trainings, walking kids safely to school, and potlucks. Here's what readers think.

Ryan Henderson, via Facebook: "This aligns with the city's homeless policy, which is: 'Do nothing and all of the problems will go away!'"

David Meador, via Facebook: "Hell, no one knows anyone in my neighborhood. People get home, go inside, lock their doors and draw the curtains. We don't have neighbors. We only have occupants."

John Retzlaff, via wweek.com: "Neighborhood watch is not about replacing the police. It is about being visible to reduce crime, but also being aware and reporting crime so police can respond. What does [Eudaly] have against citizens working to improve their neighborhoods?"

Alyssa Brandenburg, via Twitter: "'Getting to the root of the problem'? Yeah, I've seen how the city combats crime and homelessness. If we don't police it, then it's not a problem!"

Hambone Fakenamington, via wweek.com: "There is nothing preventing busybodies from being busybodies, or forming groups of busybodies. 911 is still operating."

BOTTLE  BILL HAS LONG HISTORY 

Dr. Know doesn't always get it right. And that's OK—in the world of arcane Bottle Bill history, we wouldn't expect it. Still, we at Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative would like to set the record straight: There has never been a systematic way to separate all beverage containers by state using bar codes. And we would know—our president has been with the company 26 years, and some of our employees longer than that. It is true there are some brands that do have separate bar codes for different states, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

It is possible that before bar codes were widespread (more than 26 years ago), local bottlers with local distribution stamped their containers for Oregon redemption, while their Washington counterparts did not. However, there was not a common, standard practice among bottlers. Any difference was an artifact of the bottling and distribution landscape of that era and a result of the limited types of beverages to which the Bottle Bill applied.

Regardless of the history, it's moot now. The beverage industry is dramatically more diverse and complicated than it was in 1990, and the Bottle Bill now includes all of those beverages. (Try going back in time and telling someone about kombucha.) There is no possible way to ensure every global producer of every beverage separates, marks and distributes all Oregon products separately. We hope that's clear, and gives you what you need to Know.

Jules Bailey

Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative

CORRECTION

A story on Portland's 911 response to teenagers attacking a homeless man ("No Help at All," WW, Sept. 25, 2019) incorrectly stated that dispatcher Adelaide Blanchard forwarded a report of an assault to police only after two phone calls from witness Gary Granger. In fact, she forwarded his first call to police, although she did not properly prioritize the call. WW regrets the error.

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