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Been so distracted with the federal shit show that I haven't been paying as close attention to local politics. Here's Portland's new mayor Keith Wilson making the outrageous claim that until camping bans are in effect, housed people will keep voluntarily living on the streets. Because without draconian police crackdowns on houseless people, all the residents with their cozy apartments will keep flooding downtown to live that sweet sweet street life in the freezing cold and constant rain.
No words for this absurdist NIMBY authoritarianism. Hit this man with a ton of bricks
It's difficult to overstate how much soulless bullshit permeates everything about Wilson's "plan" here. I'm gonna break down some of the most egregious aspects of this...
1) shelters are not homes. They are dehumanizing; they would often keep people away from their dogs or partners (which people will rightfully fucking refusr); and people are packed into spaces with no privacy, permanence, or fundamental stability
2) Wilson is talking about separate daytime and nightime shelters; so people would be fucking shuffling around and the mayor handwaves away daytime resources talking about public libraries or community organizations. So there would be no escaping weather conditions or realities of living outside
3) these shelters would have a max stay; they are temporary. So not only do they suck, they are in no way permanent, stable housing
I could go on but this douchemonster mayor with his lip service about DEI and "community" makes me wanna go immediately commit several serious crimes.
Not only is this cruel and awful and peak Portland NIMBY violence, this shiy just fully will not work. The fact this man won on this platform is a staggering endictment of the ignorance and inhumanity of the wealthy ghouls who curse this city. This political hack has a lot of work to do to eclipse the hatred I had for Ted Wheeler but he's clearly trying so goddamn hard already.
@AnarchoDoggo "2) Wilson is talking about separate daytime and nightime shelters;"
not sure why, but this hits me hard. Something about going "no, you don't even get 72 hours to think 'ok, I have 72 hours without having to pick up my stuff again and move'" is fucking horrific.
@neonsnake it's so so bad. It's all the dislocation and constant instability thay happens with sweeps but with ruthlessly scheduled regularity and all the gaslighting of "trauma-informed" "impact reduction".
This entire interview makes me wanna scream and then beat the shit out of everyone responsible for pushing forward these policies.
"It's all the dislocation and constant instability thay happens with sweeps but with ruthlessly scheduled regularity"
I have some (small) contact with a couple of unhoused fellas in my town, and that instability is what they've said keeps them on the streets - if they're on the streets, then they at least know where they are for the next day or two, and can sort of "settle and breathe", as they put it to me.
if they take up the offer of shelters, they can't breathe, they're on edge all the time waiting to be thrown out.
Like, I get it (to the best of my ability to), but I can't even.
Yeah, makes me want to commit violence for making people feel that sleeping in a supermarket doorway and, like, constantly being shit-talked about on fucking Nextdoor is preferable to a "real" bed and roof.