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The old theater axiom reminds us never to read the reviews. WW ignored that wisdom last week and examined 10 stories by national media outlets, which have assayed the struggles of Portland as cautionary tales for the good people of Dubuque. You’re welcome, Dubuque. Anyway, we found that the reporters escorted to Portland’s downtown fentanyl bazaar had some incisive observations (“Greetings From Portland,” July 12). Here’s what our readers had to say:
Tim Duy, via Twitter: “Live by your press, die by your press.”
ripperduck, via wweek.com: “Big cities are becoming obsolete, in large measure because people who do the work to build and maintain the place can’t live where they work. That happened in San Francisco, New York and, to a growing extent, Portland. In the case of San Francisco and NYC, they were blue-collar, working-class towns that became gentrified and forced people that do actual productive labor out the door. One example was San Francisco’s Levi Strauss, which manufactured clothing in The City. The jobs paid well enough for workers to live where they worked. Now, all of LS manufacturing is done overseas, and the only LS workers living in S.F. are upper managers who make a lava flow of money compared to the people toiling in sweat shops producing the actual product. We don’t realize that long work commutes are a byproduct of failed cities…”
Jim Longmire, via wweek.com: “So I admit I didn’t spend much time reading this meta-opinion piece and haven’t really any complaints or criticism, but maybe a request: How about a meta-analysis of how stories told by the WW about Portland from 2005 to the present contributed to the town’s sad acceptance of its present state.”
Nancy Rommelmann, via Twitter: “Fair piece. If you’re interested, I have 60 others.”
CoraBorialis, via Reddit: “Not one of these stories covered that our own cops are holding us hostage? By not showing up, by not doing their jobs, by not answering the phones, by not hiring, by not living here? The list goes on. But they will happily take news reporters to drug dens for videos. FFS, people—the police unions are literally killing us.”
Corran22, via Reddit: “I read this story yesterday, and remain seriously pissed off about it (even with a 24-hour cool-off!). Those first three paragraphs make me livid—our police are understaffed, can’t respond at all to many crimes, yet they have the time to take out-of-state reporters on a tour of our most dystopian street corners and crime scenes? I really can’t even express how upsetting it is to read this. What the hell?
“I just want to add—despite my anger over the content of this story, I think Willamette Week is seriously awesome for writing it!”
Bruno Parks, via wweek.com: “What went wrong that allowed an open-air drug market to flourish in the heart of downtown?
“I can tell you. Measure 110 + harm reduction + new meth + fentanyl + soft-on-crime prosecutor + disempowered police + spectacular failure of elected leadership + weak local media + failure of business leaders to pressure local government + Mexican cartels + move away from detox/rehab/sobriety as public policy + reliance on the unscientific 12-step religious discipline as principal form of treatment + lack of rehab facilities.
“Did I miss anything?”
Antelope Antelope, via wweek.com: “As someone who out of exhaustion and despair semi-abandoned Portland to live on the coast, I can say that when I do come back (every month or so), it really is looking better and better. Certainly much improved from its nadir of a year ago.
“It may not be apparent to those of you who live there every day. I walked downtown a couple times in the last month (weekend eve and daytime weekday), and it was really quite lovely. Lots of pedestrians and lots of tourists obviously enjoying this still very cozy and walkable downtown. Still the homeless and insane and addicts but fewer, and it seems that they have a sense they need to contain their mayhem.
“The city has a long way to go. [Rene] Gonzalez is a step in the right direction. May Portland continue to move from anarchic nihilism towards a sane middle ground.”
LETTERS to the editor must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: P.O. Box 10770, Portland, OR 97296 Email: mzusman@wweek.com
