I suppose the NY Post decided that they’d frame their story about the Texas abortion ban headlining it as a story about the evil liberal Portland.
This article caught my attention when I looked at Google News this morning:
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Portland has lots of problems liberals like me who live here would like to see solved. Chief among them are the homelessness problem (considered worst in the nation in 2019) and the need to reform their police department which persists despite promises made to initiate major changes.
Portland has nearly 2000 homeless people living in shelters and just as many living in tents, some store-bought and some makeshift, which can be seen just about everywhere you go from under bridges to in parks. (Reference) They are usually in encampments of between three and 12 structures and have garbage strewn about. When I see them I almost never see any people. The other day when I drove to and around, downtown, getting lost as I often do, I saw more than a dozen encampments.
The police needs to develop best practices programs to handle people with mental health issues by sending teams of clinicians instead of cops when appropriate, and to prioritize the now seemingly quaint police motto of protecting and serving everybody. They have a long way to go on improving their racial sensitivity and methods of crowd control.
All things considered we are a very progressive city. This has been a mixed blessing because our reputation has made us a magnet for groups like The Proud Boys and the main battleground for pro and anti fascist demonstrations (see Proud Boys, antifa clash in Northeast Portland.)
If there’s one way to judge a city as progressive which may want to move to it I suggest that if Tucker Carlson hates it you’d probably like it:
It’s also a badge of pride when the Texas lieutenant governor slams ‘dumpster fire’ Portland and its ‘depraved’ leaders for planned boycott over state’s abortion law (story).
If you like weird, Portland definitely may be a great place for you to live:
Also: Keep Portland Weird: 19 things and places that define this city
Portland is known as a city not only with many excellent restaurants but also with numerous food carts and food cart courts.
Portland is called The Rose City or City of Roses and while it has an amazing rose garden there are roses planted everywhere along major highways.
Read more: www.darcellexv.com/...www.klcc.org/...
No article about Portland’s wonderful wild weirdness would be complete without mentioning Darcelle, its famous drag queen who just turned 90. The club where she was featured has achieved official national recognized as an historic site, the first in Oregon to be picked because of its part in LGBTQ history. Read more here.
Darcelle was never a stripper, but if you’re into strip clubs, “Portland has the highest number of strip clubs per capita of all of the States. This city loves its strippers and free expression no matter what form it comes in. The weirdest Portland strip club you may come across may just be Devil’s Point, which offers up a chance to sing karaoke that strippers will dance to.” (Reference) There are 50-60 of these clubs here, more than Houston, San Francisco or New York. Read more about them here.
To deal with the pandemic some clubs offered a drive-through feature and Rolling Stone even had an article titled With Clubs Closed for COVID-19, Strippers in Portland, Oregon, Take to Topless Food Delivery (NSFW picture).
Like your cannabis? In 2020 Oregon also had more pot stores per capita than any other state.
Just down the road from where I live just next to each other there’s a pot store and two famous strip clubs, the world’s only vegan club, Casa Diablo, and the club known for it’s cheap steaks, The Acropolis, where unfortunately there was a fatal shooting in January. You can get high, and feed you face with veggies or steak.
I’ve never been in a strip club though you may fairly say I have an interest in them considering how much of this diary I’ve devote to writing about them. I have been in about 10 pot stores here and can attest to the effort the owners make to make them as unique as possible. You can read about some of them and see photos here and here. (Self disclosure: I tried high CBD versions of cannabis to help relax but never found they did anything for me, though I sometimes go to pot stores with friends who do find this find of pot helps them sleep.)
This item about the strip club shooting reminds me of another problem in Portland. It seems to me that a day doesn’t go by when there aren’t reports of shootings and in fact we had one day not long ago when there were nine of them in 16 hours. When I look at the local news websites it seems there are always reports of shootings. Today and yesterday, for example: Woman struck in face by bullet while sleeping in SE Portland home, Dad runs toward NE Portland gunfire to save kids, and A shooting in the Pearl District. Another near children playing. Portland sees more gun violence over the weekend.
This article was published in the summer: July in Portland set new record for shootings as intervention efforts crawl forward. I don’’t know if we’ve broken the record since then.
Not to conclude on a bad note, Portland and Oregon’s capital of Salem are already welcoming Afghan refugees.
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