Mayor Dion is moving in the right direction on addiction crisis | Letter

When it comes to Portland’s policies on addiction problems on our streets, forget for a moment the cost burden on property taxpayers (as some past and present city councilors have apparently done).

Consider current policies that haven’t worked, as evidenced by increasing homeless populations and intoxicated public displays, resulting in challenges for others to compensate for Portland City Council’s complacency: city staff picking up contaminated needles and sanitation residue in public places; hospital emergency staff exposed to violent offenders; business and property owners cleaning up areas around their stores and buildings — while apologizing to customers for the person outside screaming obscenities.

These were not the accepted conditions on Portland’s streets years ago, when the city
council diligently worked with businesses and citizens to revitalize our desolate downtown,
which was in economic collapse. They were not our traditional mores (accepted customs,
attitudes, observances) exemplified to visitors and our children.

The sights and sounds that today’s unfortunate schoolchildren are exposed to should be intolerable to all councilors. Some councilors seem incapable of understanding the negative life consequences to children and incapable of accepting the need for policy changes to help improve these conditions.

Let’s ask those running for Portland City Council this November if they will support Mayor Dion’s rational and humanistic approach to benefit residents, visitors and the addicted by
instituting constructive changes to the city’s addiction policies (“Portland mayor calls for drug treatment sentencing option to curb downtown crime,” Sept. 10).

Robert Kahn
Portland

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