Growing up in Portland, I never expected to live underneath the Hawthorne Bridge. But now, in the morning, 5:30 a.m., I look through the dark window north on the on-ramp of the Hawthorne Bridge, the majestic gateway to all things. So cool, so Portland. But we look through the window from the underside, dripping with cold dark slime on this night.
It’s like a telescope, looking down into the darkness of the cards! Misery is locked away in the shadows of industrial grit and grime. What a sore in the city’s social fabric and spiritual health! So large no amount of cannabis or tech money can hide it.
It’s the embarrassing result of the city’s 10-year plan to end homelessness, a battle they have shoved off on the city’s departments of transportation and parks and recreation. It forces us to add armed park rangers, now forced to deal with human rights issues that neither department is meant to handle or cover! It’s like sending a geological survey team to Iraq. Sure, the trucks look nice but they have zero ability to do anything, just like the police of our beloved Portland.
Yeah, sure it looks pretty good up on top in the sun. But just underneath an ugly truth lies, spreading to new parts of the city with every sweep, and pushing local neighborhoods and businesses into disaster. This management posture has given our beautiful city the underbelly of a warzone, complete with internment camps and debtors prisons like they propose for Wapato. It is the worst of many bad ideas that have cost us millions with zero results. We’ve gotten nothing but shrugs and excuses as further assurance the housing crisis continues to be a priority.
Take a walk to the dark window, looking up from beneath the Hawthorne Bridge. Take the loud alleyway full of garbage and excrement. Consider it your chance to see the results of millions of tax dollars. Take the stairs down. It might not be the lowest place in the city, but it’s the best view of the truth.
David Samson can be found selling Street Roots near the Multnomah County Courthouse in downtown Portland.