We have some more numbers for the money we're throwing at the homeless problem. Keep in mind that statewide we probably have 12,000 people who are unsheltered on any given night and almost 2,000 of them live in Portland.

"$200 million housing, homelessness package sails through Oregon House
The bulk of the package, $130 million, funds Gov. Tina Kotek's request to begin addressing unsheltered homelessness in much of the state."

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/oregon-house-housing-homelessness-200-million/283-3f77ae27-8510-42a9-b56c-1f1fe09c5ded

In theory that might give Portland enough money to run their camping program for a year. That might give them enough tent sites for about half of their unsheltered people. Hey, no problem. They're made of money in Portland.

"Portland officials detail plans to spend $750 million on clean energy "

"It’s budget time in Portland and, in some bureaus, things are looking rough."

"Freshman City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez just slapped a hiring freeze on the fire bureau. Portland Parks & Recreation is removing 243 light poles from 12 city parks. Money is tight, the parks bureau says, so only two parks will get their poles replaced,
and that will take 16 months.

As bureaus jockey for dollars for the fiscal year that begins July 1, one very new part of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is instead scrambling to spend an embarrassment of riches: the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund.

For the three fiscal years ending this coming June, PCEF will have raked in $344 million. And although officials are allocating it as fast as they can, they will begin next year with $275 million in the bank—making PCEF one of the largest loosely
restricted pots of money in the state.

PCEF emerged from a 2018 ballot measure, charged with cutting climate-altering emissions by funding climate projects that train and employ people of color and benefit low-income neighborhoods.

Back then, the focus was weatherization of existing housing and building clean energy job skills. As passed by voters, PCEF could only make grants to projects led by local nonprofits.

In October, the Portland City Council made big changes to the rules governing PCEF, allowing city agencies and for-profit companies to apply directly for climate contracts. The council also fast-tracked $40 million to plant more trees in Portland and $60
million to make low-income housing projects more energy efficient so they produce fewer emissions—projects shepherded by the parks and housing bureaus, respectively."projects over next 5 years."

"Part of the problem is, PCEF continues to have far more money than it ever expected. The measure’s chief petitioners said in their November 2018 Voters’ Pamphlet statement that the proposal “will bring in $30 million every single year to clean
energy projects, home energy efficiency weatherization, and green infrastructure.”

Voters approved that concept 65% to 35%. The fund raised money through a 1% surcharge on sales at large retailers, like Walmart and Target, but receipts have been far above expectations."

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/03/01/as-difficult-city-budget-approaches-portland-clean-energy-fund-is-flush/

I mentioned that Oregon may suffer from too much democracy. Portland is a good example of this.

TB

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Technobarbarian <technobarbarian@gmail.com> wrote:

We have some more numbers for the money we're throwing at the
homeless problem. Keep in mind that statewide we probably have 12,000
people who are unsheltered on any given night and almost 2,000 of them live in Portland.

"$200 million housing, homelessness package sails through Oregon House
The bulk of the package, $130 million, funds Gov. Tina Kotek's request to begin addressing unsheltered homelessness in much of the state."

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/oregon-house-housing-homelessness-200-million/283-3f77ae27-8510-42a9-b56c-1f1fe09c5ded

In theory that might give Portland enough money to run their
camping program for a year. That might give them enough tent sites for
about half of their unsheltered people. Hey, no problem. They're made of money in Portland.

"Portland officials detail plans to spend $750 million on clean energy "

"It’s budget time in Portland and, in some bureaus, things are looking rough."

"Freshman City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez just slapped a hiring freeze on
the fire bureau. Portland Parks & Recreation is removing 243 light poles
from 12 city parks. Money is tight, the parks bureau says, so only two
parks will get their poles replaced, and that will take 16 months.

As bureaus jockey for dollars for the fiscal year that begins July 1, one very new part of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is instead scrambling to spend an embarrassment of riches: the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund.

For the three fiscal years ending this coming June, PCEF will have raked
in $344 million. And although officials are allocating it as fast as they can, they will begin next year with $275 million in the bank—making PCEF one of the largest loosely restricted pots of money in the state.

PCEF emerged from a 2018 ballot measure, charged with cutting climate-altering emissions by funding climate projects that train and
employ people of color and benefit low-income neighborhoods.

Back then, the focus was weatherization of existing housing and building clean energy job skills. As passed by voters, PCEF could only make grants
to projects led by local nonprofits.

In October, the Portland City Council made big changes to the rules
governing PCEF, allowing city agencies and for-profit companies to apply directly for climate contracts. The council also fast-tracked $40 million
to plant more trees in Portland and $60 million to make low-income
housing projects more energy efficient so they produce fewer emissions—projects shepherded by the parks and housing bureaus, respectively."projects over next 5 years."

"Part of the problem is, PCEF continues to have far more money than it
ever expected. The measure’s chief petitioners said in their November
2018 Voters’ Pamphlet statement that the proposal “will bring in $30 million every single year to clean energy projects, home energy
efficiency weatherization, and green infrastructure.”

Voters approved that concept 65% to 35%. The fund raised money through a
1% surcharge on sales at large retailers, like Walmart and Target, but receipts have been far above expectations."

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/03/01/as-difficult-city-budget-approaches-portland-clean-energy-fund-is-flush/

I mentioned that Oregon may suffer from too much democracy.
Portland is a good example of this.

TB

Thank God. I was worried we weren’t going to get any more of this news that’s so important to mankind of the world… or personkind or LGBTQABCLMNOPkind.

--
“If you love me I will always be in your heart. If you hate me I will
always be in your mind.” - Donald ‘William Shakespeare’ Trump

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

George.Anthony wrote:

Technobarbarian <technobarbarian@gmail.com> wrote:

We have some more numbers for the money we're throwing at the
homeless problem. Keep in mind that statewide we probably have 12,000
people who are unsheltered on any given night and almost 2,000 of them live in Portland.

"$200 million housing, homelessness package sails through Oregon House
The bulk of the package, $130 million, funds Gov. Tina Kotek's request to
begin addressing unsheltered homelessness in much of the state."

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/oregon-house-housing-homelessness-200-million/283-3f77ae27-8510-42a9-b56c-1f1fe09c5ded

In theory that might give Portland enough money to run their
camping program for a year. That might give them enough tent sites for
about half of their unsheltered people. Hey, no problem. They're made of money in Portland.

"Portland officials detail plans to spend $750 million on clean energy"

"It’s budget time in Portland and, in some bureaus, things are looking rough."

"Freshman City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez just slapped a hiring freeze on
the fire bureau. Portland Parks & Recreation is removing 243 light poles
from 12 city parks. Money is tight, the parks bureau says, so only two
parks will get their poles replaced, and that will take 16 months.

As bureaus jockey for dollars for the fiscal year that begins July 1, one
very new part of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is instead
scrambling to spend an embarrassment of riches: the Portland Clean Energy
Community Benefits Fund.

For the three fiscal years ending this coming June, PCEF will have raked
in $344 million. And although officials are allocating it as fast as they
can, they will begin next year with $275 million in the bank—making PCEF
one of the largest loosely restricted pots of money in the state.

PCEF emerged from a 2018 ballot measure, charged with cutting
climate-altering emissions by funding climate projects that train and
employ people of color and benefit low-income neighborhoods.

Back then, the focus was weatherization of existing housing and building
clean energy job skills. As passed by voters, PCEF could only make grants
to projects led by local nonprofits.

In October, the Portland City Council made big changes to the rules
governing PCEF, allowing city agencies and for-profit companies to apply
directly for climate contracts. The council also fast-tracked $40 million
to plant more trees in Portland and $60 million to make low-income
housing projects more energy efficient so they produce fewer
emissions—projects shepherded by the parks and housing bureaus,
respectively."projects over next 5 years."

"Part of the problem is, PCEF continues to have far more money than it
ever expected. The measure’s chief petitioners said in their November >> 2018 Voters’ Pamphlet statement that the proposal “will bring in $30
million every single year to clean energy projects, home energy
efficiency weatherization, and green infrastructure.”

Voters approved that concept 65% to 35%. The fund raised money through a
1% surcharge on sales at large retailers, like Walmart and Target, but
receipts have been far above expectations."

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/03/01/as-difficult-city-budget-approaches-portland-clean-energy-fund-is-flush/

I mentioned that Oregon may suffer from too much democracy.
Portland is a good example of this.

TB

Thank God. I was worried we weren’t going to get any more of this news that’s so important to mankind of the world… or personkind or LGBTQABCLMNOPkind.

Among a statistically significant number of some others, you literally
left out D and Z people. Are you anti-inclusive?

--
bill
Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 7:09:36 AM UTC-7, George.Anthony wrote:

Technobarbarian <technob...@gmail.com> wrote:

We have some more numbers for the money we're throwing at the
homeless problem. Keep in mind that statewide we probably have 12,000 people who are unsheltered on any given night and almost 2,000 of them live in Portland.

"$200 million housing, homelessness package sails through Oregon House
The bulk of the package, $130 million, funds Gov. Tina Kotek's request to begin addressing unsheltered homelessness in much of the state."

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/oregon-house-housing-homelessness-200-million/283-3f77ae27-8510-42a9-b56c-1f1fe09c5ded

In theory that might give Portland enough money to run their
camping program for a year. That might give them enough tent sites for about half of their unsheltered people. Hey, no problem. They're made of money in Portland.

"Portland officials detail plans to spend $750 million on clean energy "

"It’s budget time in Portland and, in some bureaus, things are looking rough."

"Freshman City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez just slapped a hiring freeze on the fire bureau. Portland Parks & Recreation is removing 243 light poles from 12 city parks. Money is tight, the parks bureau says, so only two parks will get their poles replaced, and that will take 16 months.

As bureaus jockey for dollars for the fiscal year that begins July 1, one very new part of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is instead scrambling to spend an embarrassment of riches: the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund.

For the three fiscal years ending this coming June, PCEF will have raked in $344 million. And although officials are allocating it as fast as they can, they will begin next year with $275 million in the bank—making PCEF one of the largest loosely restricted pots of money in the state.

PCEF emerged from a 2018 ballot measure, charged with cutting climate-altering emissions by funding climate projects that train and employ people of color and benefit low-income neighborhoods.

Back then, the focus was weatherization of existing housing and building clean energy job skills. As passed by voters, PCEF could only make grants to projects led by local nonprofits.

In October, the Portland City Council made big changes to the rules governing PCEF, allowing city agencies and for-profit companies to apply directly for climate contracts. The council also fast-tracked $40 million to plant more trees in Portland and $60 million to make low-income
housing projects more energy efficient so they produce fewer emissions—projects shepherded by the parks and housing bureaus, respectively."projects over next 5 years."

"Part of the problem is, PCEF continues to have far more money than it ever expected. The measure’s chief petitioners said in their November 2018 Voters’ Pamphlet statement that the proposal “will bring in $30 million every single year to clean energy projects, home energy
efficiency weatherization, and green infrastructure.”

Voters approved that concept 65% to 35%. The fund raised money through a 1% surcharge on sales at large retailers, like Walmart and Target, but receipts have been far above expectations."

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/03/01/as-difficult-city-budget-approaches-portland-clean-energy-fund-is-flush/

I mentioned that Oregon may suffer from too much democracy.
Portland is a good example of this.

TB

Thank God. I was worried we weren’t going to get any more of this news that’s so important to mankind of the world… or personkind or LGBTQABCLMNOPkind.

Well darn. I thought you might like that one because it's a much better example of liberal lunacy than any of the Fakes News trivia you post. Portland can't blame the politicians for this one. They voted for a big beautiful package and I'd be
willing to bet that most of them thought the big retail stores would pay for it. I don't think they would have bought it if they were selling that same package with a direct sales tax. We don't have a sales tax here because the majority of Oregonians don'
t want one. They voted for a special hidden sales tax. While the city needs more money for regular services they have a ton of money for their big beautiful environmental program.

Portland has alway been opposed to Walmart. That's one of the reasons they only had two stores in Portland when they decided to completely leave the city. Portland's special environmental tax might have been part of their decision to get out of
the city.

TB

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

bfh <redydog@rye.net> wrote:

George.Anthony wrote:

Technobarbarian <technobarbarian@gmail.com> wrote:

We have some more numbers for the money we're throwing at the
homeless problem. Keep in mind that statewide we probably have 12,000
people who are unsheltered on any given night and almost 2,000 of them live in Portland.

"$200 million housing, homelessness package sails through Oregon House
The bulk of the package, $130 million, funds Gov. Tina Kotek's request to >>> begin addressing unsheltered homelessness in much of the state."

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/oregon-house-housing-homelessness-200-million/283-3f77ae27-8510-42a9-b56c-1f1fe09c5ded

In theory that might give Portland enough money to run their
camping program for a year. That might give them enough tent sites for
about half of their unsheltered people. Hey, no problem. They're made
of money in Portland.

"Portland officials detail plans to spend $750 million on clean energy"

"It’s budget time in Portland and, in some bureaus, things are looking rough."

"Freshman City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez just slapped a hiring freeze on >>> the fire bureau. Portland Parks & Recreation is removing 243 light poles >>> from 12 city parks. Money is tight, the parks bureau says, so only two
parks will get their poles replaced, and that will take 16 months.

As bureaus jockey for dollars for the fiscal year that begins July 1, one >>> very new part of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is instead
scrambling to spend an embarrassment of riches: the Portland Clean Energy >>> Community Benefits Fund.

For the three fiscal years ending this coming June, PCEF will have raked >>> in $344 million. And although officials are allocating it as fast as they >>> can, they will begin next year with $275 million in the bank—making PCEF
one of the largest loosely restricted pots of money in the state.

PCEF emerged from a 2018 ballot measure, charged with cutting
climate-altering emissions by funding climate projects that train and
employ people of color and benefit low-income neighborhoods.

Back then, the focus was weatherization of existing housing and building >>> clean energy job skills. As passed by voters, PCEF could only make grants >>> to projects led by local nonprofits.

In October, the Portland City Council made big changes to the rules
governing PCEF, allowing city agencies and for-profit companies to apply >>> directly for climate contracts. The council also fast-tracked $40 million >>> to plant more trees in Portland and $60 million to make low-income
housing projects more energy efficient so they produce fewer
emissions—projects shepherded by the parks and housing bureaus,
respectively."projects over next 5 years."

"Part of the problem is, PCEF continues to have far more money than it
ever expected. The measure’s chief petitioners said in their November
2018 Voters’ Pamphlet statement that the proposal “will bring in $30
million every single year to clean energy projects, home energy
efficiency weatherization, and green infrastructure.”

Voters approved that concept 65% to 35%. The fund raised money through a >>> 1% surcharge on sales at large retailers, like Walmart and Target, but
receipts have been far above expectations."

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/03/01/as-difficult-city-budget-approaches-portland-clean-energy-fund-is-flush/

I mentioned that Oregon may suffer from too much democracy.
Portland is a good example of this.

TB

Thank God. I was worried we weren’t going to get any more of this news
that’s so important to mankind of the world… or personkind or >> LGBTQABCLMNOPkind.

Among a statistically significant number of some others, you literally
left out D and Z people. Are you anti-inclusive?

I happen to be a zist. Can’t stand letters that identify as zeds.

--
“If you love me I will always be in your heart. If you hate me I will
always be in your mind.” - Donald ‘William Shakespeare’ Trump

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Technobarbarian <technobarbarian@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 7:09:36 AM UTC-7, George.Anthony wrote:

Technobarbarian <technob...@gmail.com> wrote:

We have some more numbers for the money we're throwing at the
homeless problem. Keep in mind that statewide we probably have 12,000
people who are unsheltered on any given night and almost 2,000 of them live in Portland.

"$200 million housing, homelessness package sails through Oregon House
The bulk of the package, $130 million, funds Gov. Tina Kotek's request to >>> begin addressing unsheltered homelessness in much of the state."

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/oregon-house-housing-homelessness-200-million/283-3f77ae27-8510-42a9-b56c-1f1fe09c5ded


In theory that might give Portland enough money to run their
camping program for a year. That might give them enough tent sites for
about half of their unsheltered people. Hey, no problem. They're made
of money in Portland.

"Portland officials detail plans to spend $750 million on clean energy " >>>
"It’s budget time in Portland and, in some bureaus, things are looking rough."

"Freshman City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez just slapped a hiring freeze on >>> the fire bureau. Portland Parks & Recreation is removing 243 light poles >>> from 12 city parks. Money is tight, the parks bureau says, so only two
parks will get their poles replaced, and that will take 16 months.

As bureaus jockey for dollars for the fiscal year that begins July 1, one >>> very new part of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is instead
scrambling to spend an embarrassment of riches: the Portland Clean Energy >>> Community Benefits Fund.

For the three fiscal years ending this coming June, PCEF will have raked >>> in $344 million. And although officials are allocating it as fast as they >>> can, they will begin next year with $275 million in the bank—making PCEF >>> one of the largest loosely restricted pots of money in the state.

PCEF emerged from a 2018 ballot measure, charged with cutting
climate-altering emissions by funding climate projects that train and
employ people of color and benefit low-income neighborhoods.

Back then, the focus was weatherization of existing housing and building >>> clean energy job skills. As passed by voters, PCEF could only make grants >>> to projects led by local nonprofits.

In October, the Portland City Council made big changes to the rules
governing PCEF, allowing city agencies and for-profit companies to apply >>> directly for climate contracts. The council also fast-tracked $40 million >>> to plant more trees in Portland and $60 million to make low-income
housing projects more energy efficient so they produce fewer
emissions—projects shepherded by the parks and housing bureaus,
respectively."projects over next 5 years."

"Part of the problem is, PCEF continues to have far more money than it
ever expected. The measure’s chief petitioners said in their November
2018 Voters’ Pamphlet statement that the proposal “will bring in $30 >>> million every single year to clean energy projects, home energy
efficiency weatherization, and green infrastructure.”

Voters approved that concept 65% to 35%. The fund raised money through a >>> 1% surcharge on sales at large retailers, like Walmart and Target, but
receipts have been far above expectations."

https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/03/01/as-difficult-city-budget-approaches-portland-clean-energy-fund-is-flush/


I mentioned that Oregon may suffer from too much democracy.
Portland is a good example of this.

TB

Thank God. I was worried we weren’t going to get any more of this news
that’s so important to mankind of the world… or personkind or
LGBTQABCLMNOPkind.

Well darn. I thought you might like that one because it's a
much better example of liberal lunacy than any of the Fakes News trivia
you post. Portland can't blame the politicians for this one. They voted
for a big beautiful package and I'd be willing to bet that most of them thought the big retail stores would pay for it. I don't think they would
have bought it if they were selling that same package with a direct sales tax. We don't have a sales tax here because the majority of Oregonians
don't want one. They voted for a special hidden sales tax. While the
city needs more money for regular services they have a ton of money for
their big beautiful environmental program.

Portland has alway been opposed to Walmart. That's one of the reasons they only had two stores in Portland when they decided to
completely leave the city. Portland's special environmental tax might
have been part of their decision to get out of the city.

TB

If the word “liberal” is anywhere in the equation it automatically qualifies as lunacy.

--
“If you love me I will always be in your heart. If you hate me I will
always be in your mind.” - Donald ‘William Shakespeare’ Trump

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 8:00:37 AM UTC-7, Ralph E Lindberg wrote:

I literally spent night before last in Portland (in the RV of course).
While some neighborhoods (mostly in the core) have a HUGE homeless
issue, it is certainly not something you see in every neighborhood.
The place we stopped obviously had "huge" local theft problem, as the long-term folk left things like bicycles and chairs just sitting next
to their RV.

Yeah, I'm just outside of the Portland city limits. They keep a pretty tight lid on things in the suburbs, so it's pretty normal out here. Last winter some friends were having a weekly meeting in a city park in Beaverton. They put up one of those
folding canopies that RVers and Flea market people frequently use because it was raining. The police quickly showed up to tell them they needed a permit for that. When they explained what was going on they let them keep their canopy. (This winter they
went back to meeting in a coffee shop.) I've talked with homeless people who say you need to be invisible out here. The result is that most of them end up in Portland in places that are easy to find.

Old highway 99W is now a major city street. You see people camping where they can along that street until you leave Portland and enter Tigard. Both of the Walmart stores near me are not allowed to allow overnighting. They have signs and their
parking lots are patrolled at night.

If I'm going to be overnighting here my long time preference is the rest stops on I-5 south of town. It's a little further to drive, but you aren't likely to be disturbed.

TB

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 8:17:41 AM UTC-7, Ralph E Lindberg wrote:

On 2023-03-21 17:59:05 +0000, Technobarbarian said:

On Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 8:00:37 AM UTC-7, Ralph E Lindberg wrote:

I literally spent night before last in Portland (in the RV of course).> >> While some neighborhoods (mostly in the core) have a HUGE homeless>
issue, it is certainly not something you see in every neighborhood.>
The place we stopped obviously had "huge" local theft problem, as the>
long-term folk left things like bicycles and chairs just sitting next>
to their RV.

Yeah, I'm just outside of the Portland city limits. They keep a
pretty tight lid on things in the suburbs, so it's pretty normal out
here. Last winter some friends were having a weekly meeting in a city
park in Beaverton. They put up one of those folding canopies that RVers and Flea market people frequently use because it was raining. The
police quickly showed up to tell them they needed a permit for that.
When they explained what was going on they let them keep their canopy. (This winter they went back to meeting in a coffee shop.) I've talked
with homeless people who say you need to be invisible out here. The
result is that most of them end up in Portland in places that are easy
to find.

Ya we actually live across the water from Seattle and Kitsap keeps a
tighter lid.
No homeless camps on public land (period), RVs are allowed usually one
night in public parking lots.
We did have a short term camp in Silverdale, where one county official
(in charge of that land) actually supposedly allowed a number of RVs.
But that got changed when they didn't keep the area picked up

Private land is up to the land owner, so that's where most of the
homeless end up. If the land owner doesn't complain

Old highway 99W is now a major city street. You see people
camping where they can along that street until you leave Portland and enter Tigard. Both of the Walmart stores near me are not allowed to
allow overnighting. They have signs and their parking lots are
patrolled at night.

If I'm going to be overnighting here my long time preference is
the rest stops on I-5 south of town. It's a little further to drive,
but you aren't likely to be disturbed.

TB

I'm trying to remember which Rest Area it was, north of Portland but
south bound on I5 (getting close to Vancouver), they must have had a homeless car/RV issue as the RV area was blocked. The car parking area
was signed with anything from 15min to 8 hrs and in the 15min we were
there a County Sheriff came through.

I know the Rest Area south of Seattle (north bound) developed such a
car/RV homeless problem they simply closed everything except the Semi/Weighstatiion parking for a time.

I assume that, as always, our state police are keeping a tight lid on things here. The rest areas south of here all seem to be pretty normal.

I want to add to a comment about your observation that the homeless problem is limited to parts of Portland for a sense of proportion. On any given night they figure there are close to 2,000 unsheltered people in a city of almost 700,000 people.
Portland is only about a third of the population of the metropolitan area. It's both the oldest and the most densely populated part of the metropolitan area. There just plain aren't enough homeless people to cause problems for the whole city.

Here the problem is mix of public and private property. Where the homeless people are a problem it is a problem. Now that they have become a problem for other people the government if finally starting to take this seriously, because a lot of those
people vote. It looks like we're going to be spending more money on homeless people and people with mental health problems. My, not so humble, personal opinion is that we need to figure out something we can do for seriously crazy people,that's more
humane than benign neglect.

The city is playing with the idea of converting office space downtown into apartments. They are only playing. The people who own the buildings told them their plan won't work before they voted for it. This is mostly older buildings where they are
required to meet the new earthquake standards, if they change what the building is being used for. The city told them that if they brought the old buildings up to current standards they wouldn't have to pay a development fees. They tried to explain math
to politicians. It's much cheaper to tear the old building down and start over with a new building than it is to retrofit that building. It isn't going to happen,

Which, good grief, reminds me of Bend when we were there last summer. I had been head of maintenance for two older motels that had been the original motels in what became a small chain of business class hotels. The old man and his family were
building new ones as fast as they could without borrowing a dime. I'm sure the old man is long dead and it looks like the family cashed out. Like most of the budget class motels in this country the old places in Bend are owned by people from Southeast
Asia, with the usual last name. Back when I lived in Bend the homeless problem had been mostly invisible. Now there's a homeless shelter on the street behind one of the motels and homeless people sleeping on the property on the back side of the motel.,
on what used to be the main street, until they built the bypass. The places where the homeless people used to hide are mostly covered with apartments, homes and businesses now.

Seaside and some of the other cities on the coast have a visible problem now, along with most, if not all of the cities on I-5. You see a lot more people overnighting in "unsanctioned" locations on the coast than you used to. This includes some
public parking areas where they used to chase everyone out at night.

TB

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)