Health of Portland must be measured by its residents | Letter

The man shooting up outside my kitchen window at 5:45 a.m. this morning is not the problem. He is a symptom of the declining quality of life of Portland’s citizens.

Because our exorbitant property taxes merely polish the silver for tourists and property developers. It must be thrilling to use our money to lunch over lofty new projects that only take our minuscule parking and further clog our streets with temporary visitors. Visitors who statistically don’t spend money here and — face it — don’t care about Portland residents. Their money solely lines the pockets of corporate investors who largely live out of state.

How about this: For every parking garage, hotel, condo, restaurant or office building that gets green lit in Portland, an equal-sized mental health facility must accompany it. Let’s judge the health of this city by how empty our streets and intersections are of people who are clearly in need. Quality of life in this city must be measured by the people who live here, not by how well visiting tourists and investors are accommodated.

Claire Winston-Wade
Portland

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