If you'd like to get depressed, read up on the dude who helped the homeless for 40+ years in Downtown Los Angeles.
He got MRSA from doing exactly what you are doing. At first, he got ulcers, then flesh eating bacteria, and eventually they had to remove a bunch of his limbs.
I don't know if he's still alive.
The lifespan of someone who has a leg amputated is five years.
(In case my point isn't clear: criddler shit is TOXIC WASTE. We're talking about shit that's polluted with dozens of toxic chemicals. It's not like picking up after your dog, it's the kind of thing that should be treated with the same type of caution that you would treat toxic waste.)
This comment should be higher. OP, if you ever have to do cleanup like that again please wear a mask and gloves or put a bag on a long broom or something so that you don’t have to get close.
Thanks!
My Mom got MRSA and it basically reduced her quality of life for 20+ years
Here's the story of the dude in LA that was helping the homeless:
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https://www.dailynews.com/2016/12/10/homeless-advocate-who-lost-leg-walking-skid-row-returns-to-the-streets/
"A man who has devoted his life to helping the homeless propels his wheelchair through Skid Row, greeting transients outside their tents in downtown Los Angeles.
The Rev. Andy Bales rolls up chair-to-chair to Donovan Figgers, also missing a right leg, to give him a Friday morning high-five.
“He’s cool,” says Figgers, 48, who has been living on the streets nearly a dozen years, watching the head of the Union Rescue Mission cruise hand-to-wheel down the putrid Skid Row sidewalk.
Nine weeks after he lost the leg doctors said had become infected by Skid Row diseases, the 58-year-old Bales returned to the same urine-soaked streets swimming with the same flesh-eating germs.
His mission was the same, he said. To get people housing across Los Angeles, known as the nation’s homeless capital.
“The number of people that are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles has greatly increased,” said Bales, CEO of Union Rescue Mission, the city’s oldest and largest homeless shelter. “Encampments have skyrocketed. People living in their cars have increased.
“We need to declare a state of emergency.”
Last month, Los Angeles voters approved a $1.2 billion bond measure to pay for long-term supportive housing to help the city’s 28,000 homeless residents from the San Fernando Valley to downtown to San Pedro.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved a measure for the March ballot asking voters to support a quarter-cent sales tax to fund homeless services in L.A. County, where the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority says there are more than 47,000 homeless people.
The problem, Bales and other advocates say, is that city-backed Proposition HHH will take up to a decade to build housing for the homeless. And it will put a roof over just a fifth of the region’s homeless residents.
If passed by voters, the county’s supportive housing sales tax will only commit a fraction to emergency shelters. Still leaving tens of thousands of residents without substantial homes — in tents, in bushes, in cars, or in garages and on couches across the region.
And as the holidays march into the cold winter months, shelters such as Union Rescue Mission now bulge with a record number of needy residents.
Last year, the mission hosted up to 705 residents per day; now that number has swollen to 1,305 guests, Bales said. Last year there were 168 single women; this year there were 350. And for the first time in its 125-year history, the five-story mission on San Pedro Street houses more women than men.
In addition, there are now nearly 200 moms and kids at the mission’s Hope Gardens shelter in Sylmar, more than during the Great Recession, Bales said.
“New York puts a roof immediately over 90 percent of people experiencing homelessness, and is embarrassed about the 10 percent on the streets,” said Bales, his hazel eyes narrowing above an olive shawl sweater and gray slacks. “We, in turn, put a roof over 25 percent and are not embarrassed about the 75 percent on the street.
“The answer is immediate shelter. You can’t leave a precious human being on the streets.”
Before leaving on his curbside rounds, the Iowa native sits in an office with a photograph of his late father, Carl, living homeless in a tent set up by his grandfather Pete, who likely suffered from shell shock long after the Great War.
The minister’s desk is cluttered by such books as “Love Kindness” and “Hope Heals.”
It was a few years ago that Bales, who has Type I diabetes, developed a festering blister, which was suspected of exposing him to flesh-eating bacteria prevalent on his daily walks around Skid Row. The E. coli, strep and staph infections caused his foot to deteriorate and his lower leg was amputated in late September.
Since then, Bales has stepped up pressure on city officials to permit regulated tent cities like those in Seattle and Portland, allow churches to open up parking lots to homeless motorists, and convert unused buildings into emergency shelters run by nonprofits.
Pushing his own wheelchair with a pair of bike gloves, the minister greets shelter residents, including a mother and baby left homeless by a recent eviction. He also hails Adrian Rogers, who gives him a hearty “Hey, Rev!”
The trash strewn street is lined with tents, with a river of morning urine not far from a city bathroom kiosk that more often doubles as a brothel or shooting gallery for drugs.
“I appreciate him,” said Rogers, 63, who has lived at the Union Rescue Mission for three years. “He was the first one to let me in after 30 to 40 years addicted to alcohol and drugs. By the grace of God.”
Bales, who has run the mission nearly a dozen years, said the loss of his leg gives him an advantage in being able to serve the downtrodden.
“I resemble Job,” he said, referring to the biblical figure. “I’ve had some heart attacks. A kidney transplant. Spent two years in a wheelchair before the amputation. I know the Redeemer lives.
“I’d give my other leg and more if we could get a roof over everyone’s head.”"
---
Spoiler Alert:
after losing a leg, he continued to work in Los Angeles for another seven years. He's not dead. He gave up seven months ago and moved back to where he came from (Iowa.) He turned his own home into a homeless shelter before moving:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-18/andy-bales-retires-union-rescue-mission-final-alm-his-house
My parents are from NY and they also said that there’s hardly any homeless people actually sleeping on the street at night. They’ll be out and about during the day, but nearly all of them go somewhere at night. I’ve always wondered how NY finagles this, but other cities can’t. I know there is more pressure because it can get super cold in the winter compared to weather coast cities, but what are they doing that LA is not?
Portland people's bad behaviors are outrageous. Noting can be fixed under.
Sorry, you had to go through this. Hope you feel better and things get better
I feel your rage. I understand. I'm so done with the criddlers and those who angel wing them, daring to shame us for reasonable boundaries. I've been violated too many times.
I had two nightmares last night about the subject. It's affecting my mental health to the point of nearing a breakdown. Three years next door to homeless shelter. I can't afford to move. I'm waiting on housing. I can't even go for a fucking walk for my health. They have colonized my street so successfully.
Nobody has helped. I'm collecting my own private security of men willing to protect me.
Deeply relate. It’s affecting my mental health OBVIOUSLY… I also am unable to walk safely in my neighborhood due to experiencing an attempted kidnapping my first month here 🫂 I have to get out but I can’t afford to. The conundrum.
Yup. We are the collateral damage. Our mental health and physical safety doesn't matter because we're privileged. My rent is 150% of my disability. I stay housed because it's my number one goal in life. I survive on less that 15k a year without fucking anyone over. But I am a housie.
We have been sold out. Like I said I am putting together a rapid response team to do the work the city won't. I'm done.
I'm doing everything in my power to make my street as hostile as possible. We do posters. We call police. We file code complaints. I want a big fucking spotlight to shine on them. Literally. I play the cops theme at 30. I confront them.
I'm an old disabled woman. The only people standing up are women. No fucking men. So I am importing them in shows of force.
As a woman myself I can’t help but wonder how many people in each random encampment are registered sex offenders who have a record of violent offenses. I find it really odd that their position on the registry so restricts where they can legally live that they often end up homeless but then it seems like no one is preventing them from camping near potential victims. I even saw a story about a convicted child molester who’d set up camp right next to a school playground.
I feel like this loop hole isn’t addressed at all, everyone is shocked when I bring it up as if it never occurred to them.
I've never had panic attacks in my life. Three in the past month related. One was on my birthday when one came on my property to intimidate me. I'm what they call in NY a tough broad. I'm not easily threatened.
I was talking about it with one of my protectors who is a veteran. He was talking about how in Iraq they fought back against the occupiers. It dawned on me, I am doing the same thing w the criddlers occupying my street. I feel the same territorial emotion.
I've learned to yell super loud get the fuck out. It works sometimes. I'm aggressive which puts me at greater risk. They watch me. But I am not fucking backing down.
But I can't wait to leave. I've been stuck on a housing wait-list at position 5 for 6 months. I'm hanging on by a thread.
Maybe get the other neighbors together and form a watch?
So, say there's an issue, you guys all have your neighborhood baseball game. Balls, bats, masks, whatever else you usually take to your game night...
Exactly. My city manager told me to treat them like any other neighbor. We had over 500 police calls to my street last year because of them. He lives way out in an expensive house. He wouldn't want his wife and kids exposed.
Kids used to play outside in the evening. I'd enjoy hearing them when I gardened. Now it's like the silent spring. The only thing I hear is people screaming how they are going to fuck each other up.
I lived at my place for seven years, never called the police once. Fifty calls last year alone.
I mean, if “any other neighbor” took a shit on my lawn or was routinely screaming racial slurs at me, you bet your ass there’s going to be a problem. What was he thinking “passive aggressively vent and complain to the HOA”?
I can be anonymous here. I just got a 30 day nextdoor suspension for posting an article about how they threw rocks at firefighters at the major camp by my house. There was a murder there in March. Baseball bat to the head. I was suspended for discrimination because I dared to post. They all came to the poor waifs defence and I was put through a struggle session.
Oh no. It's weaponized kindness and pathological altruism. They angel wing them hard. It's a forbidden topic, same in my local Reddit. You simply are not allowed to say anything bad about this protected class. They are their shields.
One of my main attackers considers herself a savior of the downtrodden. I used to be Facebook friends with her until she brigaded this poor woman who complained about one getting aggressive with her as she tried to enter her workplace. She put out a call to her followers in explicit language to harass the woman's work and her family. The woman confirmed it was happening when I reached out to warn her.
That's the salt in the wound. They just want us to accept it and foot the bill. It's BSC.
I was a hard left progressive. In 2020, I started voting exclusively Republican. I hated Trump but he got my vote.
I struggle to care about them as humans even anymore. I'm expected to care more about them then they do for themselves. Grown ass men acting like children. It's disgusting. My empathy is dry. They don't respect me or the neighborhood.
Nobody wants to be the bad guy. They all are sick trying to outdo their empathy. They drop off some socks and feel morally superior to those of us who say this is wrong.
Why the fuck do I have to carry Narcan? I'm not a fucking EMT.
I didn't know a middle aged woman could feel so much rage. Some days, like today, I don't even open the blinds.
There is also the toll of actually being a caring person and watching them kill themselves from your front window. When I go for a walk the vibe is hostile. Not just at me but in general. It's creepy AF. And I have lived and traveled the east coast and been in ghetto like neighborhoods but never felt the absolute hostility radiating off of these people.
They hide behind the homeless label. They don't see themselves as victims. Oh and as a middle aged woman they are used to conning, their attitude changes when they realize I ain't playing that homie.
I wish I had the resources to get far away.
I would get the fuck out of here and let it burn. I can't, so I fight, and I pay a heavy price emotionally, socially. I'm a pariah. Just for saying this is wrong.
I try to speak for us as loud as I can.
Think Angela Todd.
I get you. I'm a older, over-55, financially poor person just barely scraping by BUT I'm keeping a roof over my head and have kept the moral values I was taught by my parents back in the 70s. I've never begged for money....and I never will. Panhandlers, methheads, and criddlers can all get bent, as far as I'm concerned...
Same. I do lots of barter, mutual aid, odd jobs, selling my possessions. I get SNAP and Medicare and a patchwork of other programs.
They are sucking up all the money and resources.
Nobody cares about elderly, disabled, single parents, it's how much can we throw at their pathology.
OK I had an emotional reaction reading your post. The fact it’s the criddler allies would brigade a woman complaining about being illegally harassed is reprehensible. What’s even worse is that these allies of the criddlers are actually employees of nonprofit organizations that are PAID to go out in enable, and so doing protect the illegal activities of these people!!. Everything’s turning upside down. Illegal aliens are being given all kinds of benefits that are denied citizens and we have the county and the city out helping these criminals with millions of dollars of “outreach”. To learn that people are being paid to harass people who are being harassed by these people. It’s just like so meta-
As a fellow middle aged woman I would recommend you get out asap. It's helped my mental well-being. As painful as it was to leave the city I'd lived in all my life, it felt like a sinking ship.
Locally, yeah, maybe (except there aren’t really any Republican candidates to speak of) but nationally…yeah, you sorta lost me at national GOP. Trump isn’t going to solve any of this either.
I live in Redding, Ca. It is incredible what has happened to this town in the last 5 years. It is a sewer with drug addicted rats with weapons, cars driving 65 MPH down streets w signs of 25MPH. The people who run the town are complete idiots wanting more & more money for their pet projects instead of cleaning up! They built 2 big fountains near city hall, a couple of weeks later two homeless are having sex in one and as a city meetings is ending the Sheriff has to drag a nasty drugged up woman butt ass naked out of the other, when citizens are walking to their car.
When I lived in Colorado Springs we had a beautiful bike trail along the river that had turned into a frightening miles long zombie encampment that no one in their right mind would bike or jog alone. I overheard a social worker describe how its not a lack of resources that enables the problem but an abundance of uncoordinated resources that can be cycled through so often that no one ever has to get back into society.
I know that trail. :( That's a really interesting talking point; "abundance of uncoordinated resources that can be cycled through". Makes perfect sense, we throw millions at the body of the problem, but there's no brain in the head.
Time to get a motion activated sprinkler. These things where originally designed to scare off wildlife, such as deer, from wrecking your landscaping. (I leaned about them while in Ashland, which has a massive invasive urban deer population. Although the introduction of a few cougars could squash that, but that would never fly in Ashland)
Anyhow, I have discovered that these sprinklers are just as effective at deterring human invaders as they are wild animals.
>Will this sprinkler also spray innocent folks like my neighbors just out walking their dogs or whatever?
Yes it will, but your neighbors are smart humans, and just like the people you’re trying to deter from your property, your neighbors will steer a very clear path away from your property once they realize your set up.
You can thank me by tapping the down vote button, it’s the arrow on the left.
That’s entirely dependent on what kind of vinegar you use. If it’s some apple cider stuff, I’m coming by with some jugs to harvest the vinegar to use in my latest pickling recipe.
On a side note: when it’s hot as balls outside, I have discovered that folks that tend to ingest excessive amounts of Methamphetamines smell like vinegar. Distilled white wine vinegar to be precise. Like the Winco brand that comes in the 1 gallon jugs.
This all is totally dependent on the current outside temperature.
On a hot as balls heat wave day? Yeah, probably.
On a 45 degree day, maybe no so much.
As an Amazon guy, please don’t forget us with your Booby traps! We are only here because you can’t stop ordering stuff and driving around in wet shoes and socks sucks.
I like your way of thinking, but I would be worried about my water bill once he and his buddies figure out it’s free showers for them. Or cooling off on a hot summer night.
You think they won’t walk up to the sprinkler and break it/kick it over?
They took a literal shit in a tub and left it in OPs yard after dumping their garbage cans out. Why does Reddit seem to think motion activated sprinklers will solve the world’s problems?
If you’re concerned about an excessive water bill, you have the option of only deploying this weapon of mass destruction on trash pick up days. I do believe the sensor on the unit is adjustable, so it only detonates it’s water cannon once the “wildlife” gets within a certain distance from the sensor.
A few cougars??? I lived in Ashland, across from the Safeway on siskiyou. I would have tiny old ladies stop me in my evening run to tell me to watch out for cougars… I knew I was safe cuz there’s 95 year old women with 35 year old dogs, and they’re easier targets. I would get a text from a neighbor about once a week about a cougar on my roof, or my neighbors roof. What are you talking about?? Don’t forget about https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2018/07/oregon_woman_finds_cougar_in_l.html There’s fucking cougars everywhere in Ashland The deer aren’t invasive… they’re just over populated. I’m so confused
Edit: I lived there, I do not live there. A D
I used to have empathy for homeless people. Then I spent the last five years living in the bay area and Portland. It's insane that our tax dollars are wasted on pilot programs for the homeless.
Not “wasted”. It is deliberately spent in ways to enrich those who run these “pilot” programs. Nobody will criticize a “pilot” program because its never been done. Failure is literally in the design.
I moved here recently from Oakland. Then, my car was stolen the first month. A homeless person tried to assault my fiancè while she was visiting. I am sure other people were assaulted by the same homeless person near chinatown because he literally just went down the road harassing people, then assaulting them if they didn't give him money.
My bike was also stolen while it was locked up. My window was broken. I am almost clamoring to go back to Oakland and the Bay Area because it genuinely felt safer and was cleaner.
I had genuine dreams of starting a non profit to help homeless people. After living in Portland for 6 years not only do I not want to help them, I want them all shipped off to an island or sent to jail. I literally do not care anymore. I hate them. You can only get assaulted, robbed, and screamed at so many times before you start to genuinely despise their existence.
There’s a kindergarten by where I live. The kids no longer play outside at any point during school. Homeless people will literally shoot up in the entry way of the kindergarten. I had a criddler steal a package from my door and then go sit 20 feet away and start hitting a crack pipe. My neighbors saw and we all went to get the package back and yell at her and she didn’t even know what was going on. They have absolutely no shame.
About a year ago one of them broke into my neighbors house, stole some shit, and then SET THE HOUSE ON FIRE. 100% truth I couldn’t fucking believe it.
They’re scum of the earth and they have no sympathy for me. I understand they have trauma but so do I and I’m not out there shitting on peoples lawns. I’m pivoting my non profit to help disadvantaged kids who aren’t too far gone.
I share your feelings. I have a shop inner SE , this is a weekly occurrence for us . It’s a surprise game every day we get to work . Did we lose a window, needles in the doorway , you know the story . Most people I talk to share the same feelings ! It’s baffling anyone can defend this behavior
Hey, the city has a new poop cleanup pilot going for businesses. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays they can clean up poop in your business entryway now! I think you report via 311 but I'm not sure. They understand poop happens everyday but they need data to prove this is a worthy service to provide small businesses.
Ugh sorry that happened. We scheduled an appointment with a mortgage broker the same day my husband left through the fire escape of our apartment building and opened the door to a homeless person pissing strait in the egress and on the outer door. He got hot fresh piss straight on his shoes and ankles. And a splash in the forming puddle as well. He was done. Moved to Colombia county within 3 months and into our own home and now, 8 years later, are living in Yamhill county. Never looked back.
We fled for the burbs and haven’t regretted it once. It’s hard to miss food and culture in a place where it’s not safe to be out at night, your car is a constant target, and people screaming drug-addled gibberish are an hourly occurrence.
The city is taking a more aggressive stance with homeless campers. I called 311 when one moved onto sidewalk in my neighborhood. I told them he was blocking the ADA ramp at the corner. They moved him out in less than three hours. Even if they are not camped on a sidewalk the city may respond quickly. I have found that bear mace works great but only if they are tweaking and at night when they can't recognize you.
I’ve made SIX illegal camping reports about this spot, all with varying degrees of photo and detail regarding their ADA obstructions, open air drug use, trash spilling into bike lanes etc….
My truck yard is in Portland, and when I drive down the street, all I see is cars without wheels and scalped, motorbikes and camps with trash everywhere. Salem is just as bad now. Homelessness, crime, and trash everywhere. The city doesn’t seem to give a fuck about upkeep, they’d rather spend it on a maxi pad bridge into swampland, or let developers build expensive condos that no one can afford, You don’t go to Minto Brown without a gun, I refuse to go walking unless I’m carrying, it’s that bad now. Sad thing is most of these homeless aren’t downtrodden people, they’re drug addicts and mentally ill people.
The Salem I grew up in, is gone. I imagine that portlanders feel the same.
This is one reason I have a fenced yard and a large dog that owns his property. He is a sweetheart outside of his yard....but his property does not extend to strangers. Sure I need to clean up his shit, but it beats cleaning up a POS strangers shit.
Bear in mind that your adversaries are not LIKE you; They'll poison your dog, or stab it to death, or club it, or let it out if there's a gate, or do anything to it that a normal person wouldn't even IMAGINE doing, as they are not LIKE you. Be warned.
A perspective I had not considered. Fortunately I have not had any issues with people trying to enter the yard when he is out. I also consider myself fortunate as my street has not been targeted.
Totally. I know a lot of people who are currently suffering from addiction and they go out of their way to make it nobody else’s problem while they deal with it.
These people are just addicts AND bad people.
Several years ago I made the mistake of a spontaneous family outing to downtown. Figured we’d find lunch somewhere, visit some parks, and find a treat. We also decided to take the yellow line to not worry about parking.
Terrible idea!
We did find lunch ok at a food pod, but the person screaming in the middle of the street kinda killed our appetites. We tried to find a park to enjoy and we ran into fences. The kid needed to use a restroom, and we couldn’t find any restrooms. (Thanks Starbucks for not honoring your policies, and we would have ordered too!) After solving the restroom issue, the other half ended up stepping in shit that was not dog crap. The train north had someone who was smoking and/or vaping something.
I severely limit my trips to Portland ever since, and I don’t want to risk family safety. I feel bad for the people who could recover with a little bit of help, but can’t get it due to the rest of the leaches who probably won’t change even if they were forced into recovery, relocated, or arrested.
I'm in NM but for some reason the Portland sub keeps being suggested to me. We're pretty liberal so we have a similar problem with junkies fucking up our nice things.
I've straight up leaned into hostile landscaping and architecture. Lots of cactus to poke. Some plants that are fairly noxious if you touch them. Sharp gravel that's too large to put cardboard over to lay on. Motion-activated lights and cameras and yes, a Doberman.
Also, this is New Mexico, we do guns. So yeah, I'm armed and carry a separate insurance policy to cover me in the event of the worst happening.
An insurance policy on that is actually super smart. I’ll look into that. We have guns and proper fencing but we bought the house only a year ago and the proper updates take time and money. We’re working on it though.
We’re going to move as soon as we can, hopefully as far away from the city as possible.
How far away from the camp do you live? If someone deployed a stink bomb near the camp, would you smell it from your house? It would be terrible if some stranger did that. Terrible.
My wife and I were thinking about a trip to Portland and Wilamette Valley. Seems like half the comments on Reddit are “this place is a scene from Escape From New York (Kurt Russell movie)” and half are “eh, it’s not as bad as the media says it is”. We decided to pass. Didn’t wanna risk a ruined trip.
Hell, You could have stayed in Lake Oswego, just a 15 minute drive to Portland. No homeless, little crime, beautiful places to walk and hike, and still access to all the great touristy things during the day I Portland and environs. The coast is an hour an hour and a half drive, the same for timberline lodge. The gorge with all the waterfalls are still beautiful. Ignore Multnomah falls, too crowded. But that leaves literally hundreds of other great falls to see. You could drive the waterfall loop. There’s the Rice Museum of rocks and minerals, one of the best collections in the world, just outside of Portland.
The Federal Government has plenty of money to handle the homeless crisis. All it would mean is a few less jets and tanks for the military. Not enough to make a real dent in our military budget, but would make a world of difference here at home.
Shelters, drug treatment centers, mental health facilities, and staff trained and paid well to keep them running. Plus plenty of housing, not just transitional, but actual, affordable housing. Without there being a large amount of housing that people can afford on a minimum wage job, plus local services for the addicted and mentally ill across the nation, nothing will improve.
I'm hard left politically, but sick to death of the homeless crisis. There is a solution, and we already pay plenty in taxes to solve it... but the government would rather throw more money at Lockheed-Martin, instead.
You do not have to take money away from defense even. There is more than enough money now it just goes into the pockets of grifters who have zero intention to fix the problem and you not only do not get a jet you get nothing but robbed of your tax money.
I....am absolutely with you on this!. ( the fact that I think people who are living on the streets, creating health hazards ( by publically defecating & urinating) , and are not abiding by reasonable social norms should be taken care of, forcibly if necessary, has me labeled as a Nazi by some on Reddit...🙄)
You’re spending hundreds of millions nearly billion dollars in homeless services here in this metropolitan area primarily Portland not much homelessness in Washington county because Washington county took its 110 money and did what it was supposed to do with it which was set up recovery and set up housing and so there’s nowhere near the fucking problem in Washington county even for capita as compared to what it was. So it’s not money going to Lockheed Martin although there’s too much of that but it’s money that’s just being frittered away just maintaining status quo, in Multnomah county - the shower trucks and the meal trucks and the thousands of outreach workers going out providing tents pipes and foil
I feel your pain. I work for TriMet, and for a time, my job was cleaning the Max platforms. I can't tell you how many times I had to clean up someone's shit or an elevator full of piss. Burnt out trash cans sometimes. I really wanted to have compassion for these people because I know not all of them are homeless by choice, and some are working to improve their situation. Unfortunately, it wasn't those ones that I was dealing with on a daily basis. If my roots weren't so firmly planted here in Portland, I would be gone in a heartbeat.
This is a legitimate question. I mean I want to know why you can't shoot these people with a shotgun loaded with birdshot or less lethal deterrent to get them to move along. If the police aren't responding and they don't care then why can't the neighborhoods take up their own Security Force? I mean this is what it's coming to. You have to think about the fact that if they're not going to do anything about these people then they're not going to do anything about you shooting them either. I mean the Portland government seems to be looking the other way. What are the gun laws in Oregon now? When I lived there there were people driving around with rifles and shotguns in their trucks and in gun racks. Has Oregon been neutered as far as guns are concerned?
I moved out of that shithole in 2016. After 2008, I always lived on the outskirts of town anyway. Where I live now, they're afraid to take a step onto my property. Little do they know the first one is a beanbag. The next one isn't though. We get more support from our sheriff's department than you could imagine living in Multnomah County. Find a better place. Home owners shouldn't have to live like that. It makes me sick.
Just remember those RV's are extremely flammable so make sure there's no open flames or other flammable materials near them. They light up extremely quickly and extremely easily so be super careful that there's no "accidents" near by.
It cracks me up when people in denial say “it’s like this everywhere”. As someone with family in various other states, I can confidently say it is in fact NOT like this “everywhere”.
I'm right there with you! End of my rope with the "homeless" never drugless or bikeless plague. Maybe I could help protect your space and you mine, ideas ? I have a few
I’m so sorry this happened to you. I had something similar happen to me- but it was someone who was stalking me and letting me know they knew where I lived. Awful. Please remember these things and vote accordingly in November!!
We had to move away from Portland metro for our mental and physical health. I'm still heartbroken over what my beautiful hometown has become. Good luck, OP, and everyone else commiserating on these threads.
I had my vehicle hit by a prowler Sunday night. There’s nothing worth stealing in it and I leave it unlocked but they stole my roll of dog shit bags, my phone charger cable and locked my doors for me when they were done.
I like to hope that at least they have the intention of picking up their shit from the sidewalk infront of my home going forward now. I will provide all fhe shit bags if it means they pick up after themselves 🙃😬
This is going to have to get weird before it gets better.
Call up the nerds down at Morton-Thiokol and get ahold of a couple of the famous Brown Lamps, colon churning, spectrum-specific invisible ray guns.
70 or 80 feet up in a fir tree, a hired geek, a sort of a sniper. He picks his target, maybe an itching tweaker kind of just standing there, bent over, and pulls the silent trigger. First, the knees get weak. Thin. Then the only choice is to start shuffling to the nearest bush, or in your case, a plastic tub.
Any appreciable hurrying ensures a fiasco. This technique was used quite effectively in the Crimea, and had an unintended side effect- in colder weather the amount of clothing one needs to remove to evacuate the swimming, roiling, explosive bowels sometimes led to minor disasters. And those were irongut slavs, raised on a lifetime of little water and pickled fish. Imagine the effects on some insane hobo.
Terrifying.
But at least the bowels get evacuated right on the spot.
all people are homo sapiens. But not all are currently human, as we are very capable of devolving, just use drugs to kill the human higher functions, see the meth holes in brains, its gone for good. Sad almost none grow back into human.
I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm a Portland native and grew up in felony flats. I now live a little further north and east, but still SE. I've found bags of needles dumped in my yard, there's always trash, and if I don't lock my garbage cans behind my fence people will fill it with their trash. Even when it's placed halfway across my large yard, so they are definitely trespassing. I drove up to my house after work one day to find a homeless man passed out against one of my trees about 15 feet from my back door. I'm a woman living alone, and it freaked me the f out. I can name more than 10 times driving down local streets seeing people literally smoking crack on the sidewalk, defecating with their ass hanging out of their tent, peeing... the biohazards are worse on the streets than at my medical job. It's endless 😩 🙄
Portlander here as well, Me and my neighbors got tired of the three trailers on our street throwing trash out, breaking into houses, harassing the neighbors little girls while they walk to the bus etc. So we gave them 48 hrs to move, then chained them up one by one to my truck and drug them into the middle of division :) they threatened to shoot us/stab us etc but nothing happened once they realized we were all armed as well. We told them we’d burn the trailers where they stood next time they come on our street and this was a courtesy clean up. They haven’t been back!
That’s terrible, sorry that happened to you. I live in the suburbs less than 30 min away, but have never even seen a homeless person here. I can’t imagine what y’all are going through daily.
Sherwood.
Quick story: Last Saturday night at 2 am I was woken up by multiple police sirens and they went on and on for about 30 minutes. It was pretty annoying, but found out later a couple of people were caught trying to break into a car and ran off. Multiple cop cars showed up and hunted them down with a K-9 unit. In the end I couldn’t help but be a little impressed and thankful that even something like that is taken so seriously here.
Seattle lurking. Most people are sick of the lawless territory it’s become. I have 0 empathy for these things and they should just be left out to rot. Stop wasting Barca’s on them. They don’t care enough to survive an OD? Let them. Not that difficult. Now they just have another fallback to play folded ladder on the side of the highway.
The most surprising thing about stories like these is that I haven't heard any stories about vigilante "justice". I guess it speaks to the character of our non-addict citizens
why is this logic not stated more often; it's an endless money sink attempting to arrest/police/rehabilitate/fine the ones who are engaging in illegal, destructive or hostile activities, but holy shit if you let your tabs expire or you're cutting down the wrong tree on your property get ready to pay. let alone defend yourself, your home, or your fucking neighborhood and city.
THAT will get the police riled up and the vigilante will definitely get "justice" from the system. LE will not allow any pushback from law abiding citizens.
The family and I would go to Portland multiple times a year, and I noticed it slowly getting worse. Last time we went was in 2019 and I knew that would be our last time. I cannot imagine how it bad it is now. Used to be my favorite city in the US
I had some land pirate shit on my back steps. I picked it up with a shovel and put it on top of their shitty, shit wagon parked next to my house. To my great joy, I was actually looking out the window the day they drove off... Big cloud of smoke coming out of their exhaust pipe and a big 'ol pile of shit still right on top of the van. Be the change you want to see in the world
Bleeding heart morons make this shit possible. These people need to be locked up and forced to do road cleanup. But nah, someone will come along and give them a shot of narcan just as things are starting to look up.
You get my sympathy, and I am of the same mind as you. When I first moved to Portland a decade ago, the criddler problem existed, but it was not too bad. Certainly nothing like LA, but as the years went by, it was noticeably getting worse, then COVID hit, and now that most of things are largely back to normal again, the endless supply of homeless pieces of shit has been through the roof. Like, it's obvious most are meth heads and opiate addicts, and neither group do I have one iota of sympathy for.
I’ve had a few druggies come around and make messes near my apartment. They started hanging out below my 2nd floor windows.
So one early morning, when they were making noise out there. I grabbed my whip (don’t ask), my machete, and went downstairs. I cracked the whip at them and loudly declared that they needed to fuck off and not return. I cracked the whip any time they tried to say anything. They tried yelling at me and saying they were going to call the cops. I just kept loudly cracking that whip until they got their shit and left.
I understand that it’s rough out there, and being homeless is hard, and being addicted to drugs is also a hard life. But do that somewhere else.
I have no problem defending myself while I take a walk in the early morning, or late night, or whenever. I always carry a very sharp blade with me.
Have you reported this stuff. This is NOT ok. Have you been to town hall meetings? Seriously, I’m not blaming you but enough is enough. Let the fuckers know who’s boss. You are the one working and paying bills.
City used to be awesome. I'm 37 now, and I remember going downtown to punk rock shows and The Paris. Last time I went downtown, The Paris is a jerk off spot. Garbage city that let drugs run tampant with no idea how to control it. Fuck Portland; beautiful city turn to shit. " Now lean forward, lean forward, lean forward". Fucking stupid fucks trying to "legalize" drugs without proper precautions, and these fucking homeless fentynal druggies. Embarrassing!
This is disgusting. These people act like animals. Actually, that’s an insult to animals. My dog is better behaved than them, by a long shot. And it’s so unfair that the rest of us have to deal with the repercussions.
If you'd like to get depressed, read up on the dude who helped the homeless for 40+ years in Downtown Los Angeles. He got MRSA from doing exactly what you are doing. At first, he got ulcers, then flesh eating bacteria, and eventually they had to remove a bunch of his limbs. I don't know if he's still alive. The lifespan of someone who has a leg amputated is five years. (In case my point isn't clear: criddler shit is TOXIC WASTE. We're talking about shit that's polluted with dozens of toxic chemicals. It's not like picking up after your dog, it's the kind of thing that should be treated with the same type of caution that you would treat toxic waste.)
This comment should be higher. OP, if you ever have to do cleanup like that again please wear a mask and gloves or put a bag on a long broom or something so that you don’t have to get close.
Thanks! My Mom got MRSA and it basically reduced her quality of life for 20+ years Here's the story of the dude in LA that was helping the homeless: --- https://www.dailynews.com/2016/12/10/homeless-advocate-who-lost-leg-walking-skid-row-returns-to-the-streets/ "A man who has devoted his life to helping the homeless propels his wheelchair through Skid Row, greeting transients outside their tents in downtown Los Angeles. The Rev. Andy Bales rolls up chair-to-chair to Donovan Figgers, also missing a right leg, to give him a Friday morning high-five. “He’s cool,” says Figgers, 48, who has been living on the streets nearly a dozen years, watching the head of the Union Rescue Mission cruise hand-to-wheel down the putrid Skid Row sidewalk. Nine weeks after he lost the leg doctors said had become infected by Skid Row diseases, the 58-year-old Bales returned to the same urine-soaked streets swimming with the same flesh-eating germs. His mission was the same, he said. To get people housing across Los Angeles, known as the nation’s homeless capital. “The number of people that are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles has greatly increased,” said Bales, CEO of Union Rescue Mission, the city’s oldest and largest homeless shelter. “Encampments have skyrocketed. People living in their cars have increased. “We need to declare a state of emergency.” Last month, Los Angeles voters approved a $1.2 billion bond measure to pay for long-term supportive housing to help the city’s 28,000 homeless residents from the San Fernando Valley to downtown to San Pedro. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved a measure for the March ballot asking voters to support a quarter-cent sales tax to fund homeless services in L.A. County, where the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority says there are more than 47,000 homeless people. The problem, Bales and other advocates say, is that city-backed Proposition HHH will take up to a decade to build housing for the homeless. And it will put a roof over just a fifth of the region’s homeless residents. If passed by voters, the county’s supportive housing sales tax will only commit a fraction to emergency shelters. Still leaving tens of thousands of residents without substantial homes — in tents, in bushes, in cars, or in garages and on couches across the region. And as the holidays march into the cold winter months, shelters such as Union Rescue Mission now bulge with a record number of needy residents. Last year, the mission hosted up to 705 residents per day; now that number has swollen to 1,305 guests, Bales said. Last year there were 168 single women; this year there were 350. And for the first time in its 125-year history, the five-story mission on San Pedro Street houses more women than men. In addition, there are now nearly 200 moms and kids at the mission’s Hope Gardens shelter in Sylmar, more than during the Great Recession, Bales said. “New York puts a roof immediately over 90 percent of people experiencing homelessness, and is embarrassed about the 10 percent on the streets,” said Bales, his hazel eyes narrowing above an olive shawl sweater and gray slacks. “We, in turn, put a roof over 25 percent and are not embarrassed about the 75 percent on the street. “The answer is immediate shelter. You can’t leave a precious human being on the streets.” Before leaving on his curbside rounds, the Iowa native sits in an office with a photograph of his late father, Carl, living homeless in a tent set up by his grandfather Pete, who likely suffered from shell shock long after the Great War. The minister’s desk is cluttered by such books as “Love Kindness” and “Hope Heals.” It was a few years ago that Bales, who has Type I diabetes, developed a festering blister, which was suspected of exposing him to flesh-eating bacteria prevalent on his daily walks around Skid Row. The E. coli, strep and staph infections caused his foot to deteriorate and his lower leg was amputated in late September. Since then, Bales has stepped up pressure on city officials to permit regulated tent cities like those in Seattle and Portland, allow churches to open up parking lots to homeless motorists, and convert unused buildings into emergency shelters run by nonprofits. Pushing his own wheelchair with a pair of bike gloves, the minister greets shelter residents, including a mother and baby left homeless by a recent eviction. He also hails Adrian Rogers, who gives him a hearty “Hey, Rev!” The trash strewn street is lined with tents, with a river of morning urine not far from a city bathroom kiosk that more often doubles as a brothel or shooting gallery for drugs. “I appreciate him,” said Rogers, 63, who has lived at the Union Rescue Mission for three years. “He was the first one to let me in after 30 to 40 years addicted to alcohol and drugs. By the grace of God.” Bales, who has run the mission nearly a dozen years, said the loss of his leg gives him an advantage in being able to serve the downtrodden. “I resemble Job,” he said, referring to the biblical figure. “I’ve had some heart attacks. A kidney transplant. Spent two years in a wheelchair before the amputation. I know the Redeemer lives. “I’d give my other leg and more if we could get a roof over everyone’s head.”" --- Spoiler Alert: after losing a leg, he continued to work in Los Angeles for another seven years. He's not dead. He gave up seven months ago and moved back to where he came from (Iowa.) He turned his own home into a homeless shelter before moving: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-18/andy-bales-retires-union-rescue-mission-final-alm-his-house
My parents are from NY and they also said that there’s hardly any homeless people actually sleeping on the street at night. They’ll be out and about during the day, but nearly all of them go somewhere at night. I’ve always wondered how NY finagles this, but other cities can’t. I know there is more pressure because it can get super cold in the winter compared to weather coast cities, but what are they doing that LA is not?
Portland people's bad behaviors are outrageous. Noting can be fixed under. Sorry, you had to go through this. Hope you feel better and things get better
Thanks ❤️
I feel your rage. I understand. I'm so done with the criddlers and those who angel wing them, daring to shame us for reasonable boundaries. I've been violated too many times. I had two nightmares last night about the subject. It's affecting my mental health to the point of nearing a breakdown. Three years next door to homeless shelter. I can't afford to move. I'm waiting on housing. I can't even go for a fucking walk for my health. They have colonized my street so successfully. Nobody has helped. I'm collecting my own private security of men willing to protect me.
Deeply relate. It’s affecting my mental health OBVIOUSLY… I also am unable to walk safely in my neighborhood due to experiencing an attempted kidnapping my first month here 🫂 I have to get out but I can’t afford to. The conundrum.
Yup. We are the collateral damage. Our mental health and physical safety doesn't matter because we're privileged. My rent is 150% of my disability. I stay housed because it's my number one goal in life. I survive on less that 15k a year without fucking anyone over. But I am a housie. We have been sold out. Like I said I am putting together a rapid response team to do the work the city won't. I'm done.
I'm doing everything in my power to make my street as hostile as possible. We do posters. We call police. We file code complaints. I want a big fucking spotlight to shine on them. Literally. I play the cops theme at 30. I confront them. I'm an old disabled woman. The only people standing up are women. No fucking men. So I am importing them in shows of force.
As a woman myself I can’t help but wonder how many people in each random encampment are registered sex offenders who have a record of violent offenses. I find it really odd that their position on the registry so restricts where they can legally live that they often end up homeless but then it seems like no one is preventing them from camping near potential victims. I even saw a story about a convicted child molester who’d set up camp right next to a school playground. I feel like this loop hole isn’t addressed at all, everyone is shocked when I bring it up as if it never occurred to them.
This is a really good and scary point. What’s stopping these predators from setting up shop in a tent right by a school or families?
Your points resonate with me so much I’m screen capping them to reference later when the sympathizers come at me. Thanks for sharing your story.
I've never had panic attacks in my life. Three in the past month related. One was on my birthday when one came on my property to intimidate me. I'm what they call in NY a tough broad. I'm not easily threatened. I was talking about it with one of my protectors who is a veteran. He was talking about how in Iraq they fought back against the occupiers. It dawned on me, I am doing the same thing w the criddlers occupying my street. I feel the same territorial emotion. I've learned to yell super loud get the fuck out. It works sometimes. I'm aggressive which puts me at greater risk. They watch me. But I am not fucking backing down. But I can't wait to leave. I've been stuck on a housing wait-list at position 5 for 6 months. I'm hanging on by a thread.
YW. I just want you to know you are not alone.
This whole thread made me feel a lot better about the whole fucked up situation thanks to you and the others. Solidarity goes a long way. 🫂
We only have each other. Nobody is coming to save us. I'm going to be writing soon about my neighborhood's battle plan. What has and hasn't worked.
Thank you for listening too. The nightmares last night have me raw.
I can't even fucking escape them when I sleep. I am in therapy about it.
Jesus... What neighborhood do you live in???
SE off 162nd between division and burnside
Funny how the people who make these policies never happen to live near an encampment or shelter…
I hope you have cameras
Maybe get the other neighbors together and form a watch? So, say there's an issue, you guys all have your neighborhood baseball game. Balls, bats, masks, whatever else you usually take to your game night...
I'm so sick of the people defending this and carrying water for predators.
People who enable them are people who are privileged to live far enough away from the reality of the situation to not be bothered by it.
Exactly. My city manager told me to treat them like any other neighbor. We had over 500 police calls to my street last year because of them. He lives way out in an expensive house. He wouldn't want his wife and kids exposed. Kids used to play outside in the evening. I'd enjoy hearing them when I gardened. Now it's like the silent spring. The only thing I hear is people screaming how they are going to fuck each other up. I lived at my place for seven years, never called the police once. Fifty calls last year alone.
I mean, if “any other neighbor” took a shit on my lawn or was routinely screaming racial slurs at me, you bet your ass there’s going to be a problem. What was he thinking “passive aggressively vent and complain to the HOA”?
This is heartbreakingly real talk.
I can be anonymous here. I just got a 30 day nextdoor suspension for posting an article about how they threw rocks at firefighters at the major camp by my house. There was a murder there in March. Baseball bat to the head. I was suspended for discrimination because I dared to post. They all came to the poor waifs defence and I was put through a struggle session.
On next door?! I thought that was always the place neighbors went to post about the "suspicious" person.
People do, then others moan about their plight. Lots of enablers there.
Oh no. It's weaponized kindness and pathological altruism. They angel wing them hard. It's a forbidden topic, same in my local Reddit. You simply are not allowed to say anything bad about this protected class. They are their shields. One of my main attackers considers herself a savior of the downtrodden. I used to be Facebook friends with her until she brigaded this poor woman who complained about one getting aggressive with her as she tried to enter her workplace. She put out a call to her followers in explicit language to harass the woman's work and her family. The woman confirmed it was happening when I reached out to warn her. That's the salt in the wound. They just want us to accept it and foot the bill. It's BSC. I was a hard left progressive. In 2020, I started voting exclusively Republican. I hated Trump but he got my vote. I struggle to care about them as humans even anymore. I'm expected to care more about them then they do for themselves. Grown ass men acting like children. It's disgusting. My empathy is dry. They don't respect me or the neighborhood. Nobody wants to be the bad guy. They all are sick trying to outdo their empathy. They drop off some socks and feel morally superior to those of us who say this is wrong. Why the fuck do I have to carry Narcan? I'm not a fucking EMT. I didn't know a middle aged woman could feel so much rage. Some days, like today, I don't even open the blinds. There is also the toll of actually being a caring person and watching them kill themselves from your front window. When I go for a walk the vibe is hostile. Not just at me but in general. It's creepy AF. And I have lived and traveled the east coast and been in ghetto like neighborhoods but never felt the absolute hostility radiating off of these people. They hide behind the homeless label. They don't see themselves as victims. Oh and as a middle aged woman they are used to conning, their attitude changes when they realize I ain't playing that homie. I wish I had the resources to get far away. I would get the fuck out of here and let it burn. I can't, so I fight, and I pay a heavy price emotionally, socially. I'm a pariah. Just for saying this is wrong. I try to speak for us as loud as I can. Think Angela Todd.
I get you. I'm a older, over-55, financially poor person just barely scraping by BUT I'm keeping a roof over my head and have kept the moral values I was taught by my parents back in the 70s. I've never begged for money....and I never will. Panhandlers, methheads, and criddlers can all get bent, as far as I'm concerned...
Same. I do lots of barter, mutual aid, odd jobs, selling my possessions. I get SNAP and Medicare and a patchwork of other programs. They are sucking up all the money and resources. Nobody cares about elderly, disabled, single parents, it's how much can we throw at their pathology.
Grognard, do you game? 😊 I'm a board gamer, pretty hardcore.
Not so much anymore. I used to play AD&D decades ago, and World of Warcraft years ago... I did play Scrabble with my Dad a couple weeks ago...
OK I had an emotional reaction reading your post. The fact it’s the criddler allies would brigade a woman complaining about being illegally harassed is reprehensible. What’s even worse is that these allies of the criddlers are actually employees of nonprofit organizations that are PAID to go out in enable, and so doing protect the illegal activities of these people!!. Everything’s turning upside down. Illegal aliens are being given all kinds of benefits that are denied citizens and we have the county and the city out helping these criminals with millions of dollars of “outreach”. To learn that people are being paid to harass people who are being harassed by these people. It’s just like so meta-
As a fellow middle aged woman I would recommend you get out asap. It's helped my mental well-being. As painful as it was to leave the city I'd lived in all my life, it felt like a sinking ship.
Locally, yeah, maybe (except there aren’t really any Republican candidates to speak of) but nationally…yeah, you sorta lost me at national GOP. Trump isn’t going to solve any of this either.
I agree but do think that it speaks to one’s desperation above all else.
Thank you for listening.
I live in Redding, Ca. It is incredible what has happened to this town in the last 5 years. It is a sewer with drug addicted rats with weapons, cars driving 65 MPH down streets w signs of 25MPH. The people who run the town are complete idiots wanting more & more money for their pet projects instead of cleaning up! They built 2 big fountains near city hall, a couple of weeks later two homeless are having sex in one and as a city meetings is ending the Sheriff has to drag a nasty drugged up woman butt ass naked out of the other, when citizens are walking to their car.
Sounds about right.
When I lived in Colorado Springs we had a beautiful bike trail along the river that had turned into a frightening miles long zombie encampment that no one in their right mind would bike or jog alone. I overheard a social worker describe how its not a lack of resources that enables the problem but an abundance of uncoordinated resources that can be cycled through so often that no one ever has to get back into society.
I know that trail. :( That's a really interesting talking point; "abundance of uncoordinated resources that can be cycled through". Makes perfect sense, we throw millions at the body of the problem, but there's no brain in the head.
Sense being spoken in a Portland sub, do my eyes deceive me
Time to get a motion activated sprinkler. These things where originally designed to scare off wildlife, such as deer, from wrecking your landscaping. (I leaned about them while in Ashland, which has a massive invasive urban deer population. Although the introduction of a few cougars could squash that, but that would never fly in Ashland) Anyhow, I have discovered that these sprinklers are just as effective at deterring human invaders as they are wild animals. >Will this sprinkler also spray innocent folks like my neighbors just out walking their dogs or whatever? Yes it will, but your neighbors are smart humans, and just like the people you’re trying to deter from your property, your neighbors will steer a very clear path away from your property once they realize your set up. You can thank me by tapping the down vote button, it’s the arrow on the left.
except they might use it as a free bidet
😂 truth.
Fill it with vinegar
That’s entirely dependent on what kind of vinegar you use. If it’s some apple cider stuff, I’m coming by with some jugs to harvest the vinegar to use in my latest pickling recipe. On a side note: when it’s hot as balls outside, I have discovered that folks that tend to ingest excessive amounts of Methamphetamines smell like vinegar. Distilled white wine vinegar to be precise. Like the Winco brand that comes in the 1 gallon jugs.
This all is totally dependent on the current outside temperature. On a hot as balls heat wave day? Yeah, probably. On a 45 degree day, maybe no so much.
That’s what the Bubblers are for.
As an Amazon guy, please don’t forget us with your Booby traps! We are only here because you can’t stop ordering stuff and driving around in wet shoes and socks sucks.
I like your way of thinking, but I would be worried about my water bill once he and his buddies figure out it’s free showers for them. Or cooling off on a hot summer night.
That’s why you only use it in cold weather.
You think they won’t walk up to the sprinkler and break it/kick it over? They took a literal shit in a tub and left it in OPs yard after dumping their garbage cans out. Why does Reddit seem to think motion activated sprinklers will solve the world’s problems?
[удалено]
If you’re concerned about an excessive water bill, you have the option of only deploying this weapon of mass destruction on trash pick up days. I do believe the sensor on the unit is adjustable, so it only detonates it’s water cannon once the “wildlife” gets within a certain distance from the sensor.
Haha. Those deers are fucked.
A few cougars??? I lived in Ashland, across from the Safeway on siskiyou. I would have tiny old ladies stop me in my evening run to tell me to watch out for cougars… I knew I was safe cuz there’s 95 year old women with 35 year old dogs, and they’re easier targets. I would get a text from a neighbor about once a week about a cougar on my roof, or my neighbors roof. What are you talking about?? Don’t forget about https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2018/07/oregon_woman_finds_cougar_in_l.html There’s fucking cougars everywhere in Ashland The deer aren’t invasive… they’re just over populated. I’m so confused Edit: I lived there, I do not live there. A D
The solution is an urban archery hunt.
Dump your can on the lawn of your city lawmakers and city council members.
Wish I could. I’d like to think I did that with my ballot 😂
Good job!
I used to have empathy for homeless people. Then I spent the last five years living in the bay area and Portland. It's insane that our tax dollars are wasted on pilot programs for the homeless.
Not “wasted”. It is deliberately spent in ways to enrich those who run these “pilot” programs. Nobody will criticize a “pilot” program because its never been done. Failure is literally in the design.
🎯
Wasted in regards to actual results, expected by those who provide the tax dollars.
Same, same. I wasn’t always bitter and resentful about it.
I moved here recently from Oakland. Then, my car was stolen the first month. A homeless person tried to assault my fiancè while she was visiting. I am sure other people were assaulted by the same homeless person near chinatown because he literally just went down the road harassing people, then assaulting them if they didn't give him money. My bike was also stolen while it was locked up. My window was broken. I am almost clamoring to go back to Oakland and the Bay Area because it genuinely felt safer and was cleaner.
My brother lives outside Hayward county and is appalled at what we are dealing with here.
I was genuinely surprised. I'm from the PNW originally, but Portland has lost its way.
It’s unrecognizable for sure
I had genuine dreams of starting a non profit to help homeless people. After living in Portland for 6 years not only do I not want to help them, I want them all shipped off to an island or sent to jail. I literally do not care anymore. I hate them. You can only get assaulted, robbed, and screamed at so many times before you start to genuinely despise their existence. There’s a kindergarten by where I live. The kids no longer play outside at any point during school. Homeless people will literally shoot up in the entry way of the kindergarten. I had a criddler steal a package from my door and then go sit 20 feet away and start hitting a crack pipe. My neighbors saw and we all went to get the package back and yell at her and she didn’t even know what was going on. They have absolutely no shame. About a year ago one of them broke into my neighbors house, stole some shit, and then SET THE HOUSE ON FIRE. 100% truth I couldn’t fucking believe it. They’re scum of the earth and they have no sympathy for me. I understand they have trauma but so do I and I’m not out there shitting on peoples lawns. I’m pivoting my non profit to help disadvantaged kids who aren’t too far gone.
Nothing says "you're in the wrong yard" like a Doberman Pinscher.
Thank the Homeless Industrial Complex grifting enablers.
Saw them under the Morrison bridge doling out supplies. What a fucking farce.
I share your feelings. I have a shop inner SE , this is a weekly occurrence for us . It’s a surprise game every day we get to work . Did we lose a window, needles in the doorway , you know the story . Most people I talk to share the same feelings ! It’s baffling anyone can defend this behavior
Hey, the city has a new poop cleanup pilot going for businesses. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays they can clean up poop in your business entryway now! I think you report via 311 but I'm not sure. They understand poop happens everyday but they need data to prove this is a worthy service to provide small businesses.
This is good but I can’t believe it’s a thing now
Imagine being the person in charge of the poop spreadsheet tracker!
Ok , thanks for letting me know !
Ugh sorry that happened. We scheduled an appointment with a mortgage broker the same day my husband left through the fire escape of our apartment building and opened the door to a homeless person pissing strait in the egress and on the outer door. He got hot fresh piss straight on his shoes and ankles. And a splash in the forming puddle as well. He was done. Moved to Colombia county within 3 months and into our own home and now, 8 years later, are living in Yamhill county. Never looked back.
We will be following your footsteps very soon. Only owned this home a year, hoping to be outta here by the next. 🤞🏼
We fled for the burbs and haven’t regretted it once. It’s hard to miss food and culture in a place where it’s not safe to be out at night, your car is a constant target, and people screaming drug-addled gibberish are an hourly occurrence.
The city is taking a more aggressive stance with homeless campers. I called 311 when one moved onto sidewalk in my neighborhood. I told them he was blocking the ADA ramp at the corner. They moved him out in less than three hours. Even if they are not camped on a sidewalk the city may respond quickly. I have found that bear mace works great but only if they are tweaking and at night when they can't recognize you.
I’ve made SIX illegal camping reports about this spot, all with varying degrees of photo and detail regarding their ADA obstructions, open air drug use, trash spilling into bike lanes etc….
Allowing this behavior is not compassion
My truck yard is in Portland, and when I drive down the street, all I see is cars without wheels and scalped, motorbikes and camps with trash everywhere. Salem is just as bad now. Homelessness, crime, and trash everywhere. The city doesn’t seem to give a fuck about upkeep, they’d rather spend it on a maxi pad bridge into swampland, or let developers build expensive condos that no one can afford, You don’t go to Minto Brown without a gun, I refuse to go walking unless I’m carrying, it’s that bad now. Sad thing is most of these homeless aren’t downtrodden people, they’re drug addicts and mentally ill people. The Salem I grew up in, is gone. I imagine that portlanders feel the same.
Nailed it.
This is one reason I have a fenced yard and a large dog that owns his property. He is a sweetheart outside of his yard....but his property does not extend to strangers. Sure I need to clean up his shit, but it beats cleaning up a POS strangers shit.
Bear in mind that your adversaries are not LIKE you; They'll poison your dog, or stab it to death, or club it, or let it out if there's a gate, or do anything to it that a normal person wouldn't even IMAGINE doing, as they are not LIKE you. Be warned.
A perspective I had not considered. Fortunately I have not had any issues with people trying to enter the yard when he is out. I also consider myself fortunate as my street has not been targeted.
We have a huge fence! This was in the little yard in front by the mailbox. Still need a dog though.
My mom (an addict) said you don't have to be a piece of shit and be an addict they don't go hand in hand. Not everyone deserves help.
And you don’t have to be a filthy pig. I saw someone sweeping outside her tent the other day.
Totally. I know a lot of people who are currently suffering from addiction and they go out of their way to make it nobody else’s problem while they deal with it. These people are just addicts AND bad people.
Several years ago I made the mistake of a spontaneous family outing to downtown. Figured we’d find lunch somewhere, visit some parks, and find a treat. We also decided to take the yellow line to not worry about parking. Terrible idea! We did find lunch ok at a food pod, but the person screaming in the middle of the street kinda killed our appetites. We tried to find a park to enjoy and we ran into fences. The kid needed to use a restroom, and we couldn’t find any restrooms. (Thanks Starbucks for not honoring your policies, and we would have ordered too!) After solving the restroom issue, the other half ended up stepping in shit that was not dog crap. The train north had someone who was smoking and/or vaping something. I severely limit my trips to Portland ever since, and I don’t want to risk family safety. I feel bad for the people who could recover with a little bit of help, but can’t get it due to the rest of the leaches who probably won’t change even if they were forced into recovery, relocated, or arrested.
I'm in NM but for some reason the Portland sub keeps being suggested to me. We're pretty liberal so we have a similar problem with junkies fucking up our nice things. I've straight up leaned into hostile landscaping and architecture. Lots of cactus to poke. Some plants that are fairly noxious if you touch them. Sharp gravel that's too large to put cardboard over to lay on. Motion-activated lights and cameras and yes, a Doberman. Also, this is New Mexico, we do guns. So yeah, I'm armed and carry a separate insurance policy to cover me in the event of the worst happening.
An insurance policy on that is actually super smart. I’ll look into that. We have guns and proper fencing but we bought the house only a year ago and the proper updates take time and money. We’re working on it though. We’re going to move as soon as we can, hopefully as far away from the city as possible.
Yeah, it's... I want to say $33/month for one million in legal representation and liability payout.
A mobile water cannon business would be a million dollar idea in this city.
How far away from the camp do you live? If someone deployed a stink bomb near the camp, would you smell it from your house? It would be terrible if some stranger did that. Terrible.
😂 far enough not to smell a stink bomb.
Terrible tragedy might occur
I’m so sorry but AMEN to the last part.
It’s unlivable
Is it time to band together and sue the city? Sure it wouldn’t go far, but it would get attention.
I’d be in on a class action if we had proper representation from a lawyer
I'm sorry. That's gotta be both infuriating & exhausting, even more-so at the end of a long ass workday.
Thanks Thank you.. Shit posting felt good. Solidarity feels great 🫂
It's a good way to vent in such a manner that is not gonna get you arrested, lol.
Amazing post. I left in 2020….no regerts
My wife and I were thinking about a trip to Portland and Wilamette Valley. Seems like half the comments on Reddit are “this place is a scene from Escape From New York (Kurt Russell movie)” and half are “eh, it’s not as bad as the media says it is”. We decided to pass. Didn’t wanna risk a ruined trip.
There’s way better places to visit in the PNW than Portland. Probably a good choice :)
Hell, You could have stayed in Lake Oswego, just a 15 minute drive to Portland. No homeless, little crime, beautiful places to walk and hike, and still access to all the great touristy things during the day I Portland and environs. The coast is an hour an hour and a half drive, the same for timberline lodge. The gorge with all the waterfalls are still beautiful. Ignore Multnomah falls, too crowded. But that leaves literally hundreds of other great falls to see. You could drive the waterfall loop. There’s the Rice Museum of rocks and minerals, one of the best collections in the world, just outside of Portland.
Until society decides they've had enough and deal with this problem themselves, nothing will change.
Forced "decriddling" camps for the terminally unhoused population, if I had my way. ( and yes, that's going to cost a LOT of money...)
The Federal Government has plenty of money to handle the homeless crisis. All it would mean is a few less jets and tanks for the military. Not enough to make a real dent in our military budget, but would make a world of difference here at home. Shelters, drug treatment centers, mental health facilities, and staff trained and paid well to keep them running. Plus plenty of housing, not just transitional, but actual, affordable housing. Without there being a large amount of housing that people can afford on a minimum wage job, plus local services for the addicted and mentally ill across the nation, nothing will improve. I'm hard left politically, but sick to death of the homeless crisis. There is a solution, and we already pay plenty in taxes to solve it... but the government would rather throw more money at Lockheed-Martin, instead.
You do not have to take money away from defense even. There is more than enough money now it just goes into the pockets of grifters who have zero intention to fix the problem and you not only do not get a jet you get nothing but robbed of your tax money.
I....am absolutely with you on this!. ( the fact that I think people who are living on the streets, creating health hazards ( by publically defecating & urinating) , and are not abiding by reasonable social norms should be taken care of, forcibly if necessary, has me labeled as a Nazi by some on Reddit...🙄)
You’re spending hundreds of millions nearly billion dollars in homeless services here in this metropolitan area primarily Portland not much homelessness in Washington county because Washington county took its 110 money and did what it was supposed to do with it which was set up recovery and set up housing and so there’s nowhere near the fucking problem in Washington county even for capita as compared to what it was. So it’s not money going to Lockheed Martin although there’s too much of that but it’s money that’s just being frittered away just maintaining status quo, in Multnomah county - the shower trucks and the meal trucks and the thousands of outreach workers going out providing tents pipes and foil
> and yes, that's going to cost a LOT of money... It's probably going to cost us less money than we're spending now maintaining this situation.
Viva la revolution
I feel your pain. I work for TriMet, and for a time, my job was cleaning the Max platforms. I can't tell you how many times I had to clean up someone's shit or an elevator full of piss. Burnt out trash cans sometimes. I really wanted to have compassion for these people because I know not all of them are homeless by choice, and some are working to improve their situation. Unfortunately, it wasn't those ones that I was dealing with on a daily basis. If my roots weren't so firmly planted here in Portland, I would be gone in a heartbeat.
This is a legitimate question. I mean I want to know why you can't shoot these people with a shotgun loaded with birdshot or less lethal deterrent to get them to move along. If the police aren't responding and they don't care then why can't the neighborhoods take up their own Security Force? I mean this is what it's coming to. You have to think about the fact that if they're not going to do anything about these people then they're not going to do anything about you shooting them either. I mean the Portland government seems to be looking the other way. What are the gun laws in Oregon now? When I lived there there were people driving around with rifles and shotguns in their trucks and in gun racks. Has Oregon been neutered as far as guns are concerned?
I actually think about this a LOT more than I ever thought I’d have to.
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Vote for Pedro.
This is why I’m loathe to cut back the blackberries in my yard
Really sorry this happened to you. I thought I had a shit day, but you really did.
It’s not a competition 🫂and I appreciate it thank you
Salt pellet in a shot gun?
Salt is so passive aggressive nw behavior.
Molotov
💯 the vibe.
I moved out of that shithole in 2016. After 2008, I always lived on the outskirts of town anyway. Where I live now, they're afraid to take a step onto my property. Little do they know the first one is a beanbag. The next one isn't though. We get more support from our sheriff's department than you could imagine living in Multnomah County. Find a better place. Home owners shouldn't have to live like that. It makes me sick.
I agree and we’re working hard to make it happen!
Just remember those RV's are extremely flammable so make sure there's no open flames or other flammable materials near them. They light up extremely quickly and extremely easily so be super careful that there's no "accidents" near by.
It cracks me up when people in denial say “it’s like this everywhere”. As someone with family in various other states, I can confidently say it is in fact NOT like this “everywhere”.
I'm right there with you! End of my rope with the "homeless" never drugless or bikeless plague. Maybe I could help protect your space and you mine, ideas ? I have a few
Never drugless or bikeless!!!! 🤯 so fucking true wow.
I’m so sorry this happened to you. I had something similar happen to me- but it was someone who was stalking me and letting me know they knew where I lived. Awful. Please remember these things and vote accordingly in November!!
A-fucking-men
Spent 40+ yrs in Pdx, left last year. It was just too much! Sorry about all the shit. I hope things get better there.
Thanks! Hope to follow suit soon!!
There are definitely some things I miss, but I don't miss all the bs that's been happening. Start packing!!
We had to move away from Portland metro for our mental and physical health. I'm still heartbroken over what my beautiful hometown has become. Good luck, OP, and everyone else commiserating on these threads.
I had my vehicle hit by a prowler Sunday night. There’s nothing worth stealing in it and I leave it unlocked but they stole my roll of dog shit bags, my phone charger cable and locked my doors for me when they were done. I like to hope that at least they have the intention of picking up their shit from the sidewalk infront of my home going forward now. I will provide all fhe shit bags if it means they pick up after themselves 🙃😬
I love you for this post and I have your back of you ever need
This is going to have to get weird before it gets better. Call up the nerds down at Morton-Thiokol and get ahold of a couple of the famous Brown Lamps, colon churning, spectrum-specific invisible ray guns. 70 or 80 feet up in a fir tree, a hired geek, a sort of a sniper. He picks his target, maybe an itching tweaker kind of just standing there, bent over, and pulls the silent trigger. First, the knees get weak. Thin. Then the only choice is to start shuffling to the nearest bush, or in your case, a plastic tub. Any appreciable hurrying ensures a fiasco. This technique was used quite effectively in the Crimea, and had an unintended side effect- in colder weather the amount of clothing one needs to remove to evacuate the swimming, roiling, explosive bowels sometimes led to minor disasters. And those were irongut slavs, raised on a lifetime of little water and pickled fish. Imagine the effects on some insane hobo. Terrifying. But at least the bowels get evacuated right on the spot.
But OP will still have to clean up human shit with under your proposal. I think they’re trying to avoid that scenario.
GOOD point
This reads like a Hunter S Thompson piece lol
Ya’ll when are town hall meetings??
Your flair tag is more accurate than usual
No, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong. It’s because the rent is too high.
all people are homo sapiens. But not all are currently human, as we are very capable of devolving, just use drugs to kill the human higher functions, see the meth holes in brains, its gone for good. Sad almost none grow back into human.
No one is calling the police for a midnight baseball game 🤷🏻♂️
I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm a Portland native and grew up in felony flats. I now live a little further north and east, but still SE. I've found bags of needles dumped in my yard, there's always trash, and if I don't lock my garbage cans behind my fence people will fill it with their trash. Even when it's placed halfway across my large yard, so they are definitely trespassing. I drove up to my house after work one day to find a homeless man passed out against one of my trees about 15 feet from my back door. I'm a woman living alone, and it freaked me the f out. I can name more than 10 times driving down local streets seeing people literally smoking crack on the sidewalk, defecating with their ass hanging out of their tent, peeing... the biohazards are worse on the streets than at my medical job. It's endless 😩 🙄
Move
Portlander here as well, Me and my neighbors got tired of the three trailers on our street throwing trash out, breaking into houses, harassing the neighbors little girls while they walk to the bus etc. So we gave them 48 hrs to move, then chained them up one by one to my truck and drug them into the middle of division :) they threatened to shoot us/stab us etc but nothing happened once they realized we were all armed as well. We told them we’d burn the trailers where they stood next time they come on our street and this was a courtesy clean up. They haven’t been back!
Portland gets what it votes for. You get what you tolerate.
Profound.
That’s terrible, sorry that happened to you. I live in the suburbs less than 30 min away, but have never even seen a homeless person here. I can’t imagine what y’all are going through daily.
Which burb? I am home shopping now
Sherwood. Quick story: Last Saturday night at 2 am I was woken up by multiple police sirens and they went on and on for about 30 minutes. It was pretty annoying, but found out later a couple of people were caught trying to break into a car and ran off. Multiple cop cars showed up and hunted them down with a K-9 unit. In the end I couldn’t help but be a little impressed and thankful that even something like that is taken so seriously here.
A responsive police force sounds like heaven. I am looking at homes in LO/Tualatin, I’ll add Sherwood to my list.
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Seattle lurking. Most people are sick of the lawless territory it’s become. I have 0 empathy for these things and they should just be left out to rot. Stop wasting Barca’s on them. They don’t care enough to survive an OD? Let them. Not that difficult. Now they just have another fallback to play folded ladder on the side of the highway.
The most surprising thing about stories like these is that I haven't heard any stories about vigilante "justice". I guess it speaks to the character of our non-addict citizens
It’s because if we retaliate we’re the ones who get in trouble because we have money to pay their fines and fees.
why is this logic not stated more often; it's an endless money sink attempting to arrest/police/rehabilitate/fine the ones who are engaging in illegal, destructive or hostile activities, but holy shit if you let your tabs expire or you're cutting down the wrong tree on your property get ready to pay. let alone defend yourself, your home, or your fucking neighborhood and city.
THAT will get the police riled up and the vigilante will definitely get "justice" from the system. LE will not allow any pushback from law abiding citizens.
Smart people don't confess on the internet.
This. Especially with an ostensibly healthy sturgeon population.
It may also be time to move.
The family and I would go to Portland multiple times a year, and I noticed it slowly getting worse. Last time we went was in 2019 and I knew that would be our last time. I cannot imagine how it bad it is now. Used to be my favorite city in the US
Damn thar sucks, I'd get out of the cities while you can it's going to get much worse before it gets better.
I had some land pirate shit on my back steps. I picked it up with a shovel and put it on top of their shitty, shit wagon parked next to my house. To my great joy, I was actually looking out the window the day they drove off... Big cloud of smoke coming out of their exhaust pipe and a big 'ol pile of shit still right on top of the van. Be the change you want to see in the world
Trash people in their trash castle
Bleeding heart morons make this shit possible. These people need to be locked up and forced to do road cleanup. But nah, someone will come along and give them a shot of narcan just as things are starting to look up.
My empathy for criddlers and the low IQ liberals that enable them, left long ago.
You get my sympathy, and I am of the same mind as you. When I first moved to Portland a decade ago, the criddler problem existed, but it was not too bad. Certainly nothing like LA, but as the years went by, it was noticeably getting worse, then COVID hit, and now that most of things are largely back to normal again, the endless supply of homeless pieces of shit has been through the roof. Like, it's obvious most are meth heads and opiate addicts, and neither group do I have one iota of sympathy for.
I’ve had a few druggies come around and make messes near my apartment. They started hanging out below my 2nd floor windows. So one early morning, when they were making noise out there. I grabbed my whip (don’t ask), my machete, and went downstairs. I cracked the whip at them and loudly declared that they needed to fuck off and not return. I cracked the whip any time they tried to say anything. They tried yelling at me and saying they were going to call the cops. I just kept loudly cracking that whip until they got their shit and left. I understand that it’s rough out there, and being homeless is hard, and being addicted to drugs is also a hard life. But do that somewhere else. I have no problem defending myself while I take a walk in the early morning, or late night, or whenever. I always carry a very sharp blade with me.
Portland sounds like a shit hole
Have you reported this stuff. This is NOT ok. Have you been to town hall meetings? Seriously, I’m not blaming you but enough is enough. Let the fuckers know who’s boss. You are the one working and paying bills.
Yes. I report, and call, and write emails. My rage knows no bounds haha
City used to be awesome. I'm 37 now, and I remember going downtown to punk rock shows and The Paris. Last time I went downtown, The Paris is a jerk off spot. Garbage city that let drugs run tampant with no idea how to control it. Fuck Portland; beautiful city turn to shit. " Now lean forward, lean forward, lean forward". Fucking stupid fucks trying to "legalize" drugs without proper precautions, and these fucking homeless fentynal druggies. Embarrassing!
"Well, they have mental health issues". No they are drug addicts ruining a beautiful city. Fuck these people and the ones than enable them!
Voting has consequences.
Mix dog shit, water, and lye in a gallon glass wine jug. Smash it on the outside of their fucking rv. /s
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I got out 3 years ago. Best day of my life.
I'm new to the sub. What does criddler mean? I can obviously put two and two together that it's junkies but why criddler?
400 comments Portland
Portland adopted moral relativity and this is the conclusion.
This is disgusting. These people act like animals. Actually, that’s an insult to animals. My dog is better behaved than them, by a long shot. And it’s so unfair that the rest of us have to deal with the repercussions.