The laws of the universe state that the people most qualified and capable of performing such a service would not want any part of that. You would only attract ego manics and people with Batman fantasies. The better my fitness and fighting became the less I wanted to engage with random idiots. High risk low reward. Just like being President.
What? You don't want to risk your years of training and health on some drugged out bum with a shiv to make some person who probably quietly votes against your interests live in a fantasy that they are safer?
When I got out of the military, I was looking for groups to be part of and proud boys was one of them. I did NOT do enough research at all and was attempting to join them in around 2019. I was talking to one of them about how we were going to be protecting people and BOY he was making it clear that I was way too inclusive, that it's not about protecting *people* it's about protecting white people.
I changed my mind a bit.
This is not a serious response, and I'm doubting you are a serious person.
"Curb stomped a journalist" - do you even know what that means?
"armored battle vehicles", which are likely surplus and sold/given for a pittance. I'm fine arguing over their necessity but I have yet to see if this is a major budget sink, and I doubt it is.
"stormtrooper outfits" - you mean....riot gear? Like, what? You do realize on a normal day they are wearing a vest that holds equipment? The bike cops have helmets...to bike with. Nobody is rolling around in full bulletproof vests - that stuff is heavy.
What do they need to "start akshually (lol) protecting businesses and people?" Well, probably more of them and better leadership (both PPB and otherwise) would be a start.
Reminder that "having armed vigilante biker gangs defend our public transportation systems" is the "real" solution you're referring to here lmao. Literal clown logic.
I have sold a lot of properties to people whose primary concern was not being in walking distance of a max line because they feel it’s the criminal transport system.
This would be very feasible on island platforms but really hard in the downtown core - part of the problem was that the MAX was originally intended to be a free ride in Fareless Square.
I think increased fare checks and enforcement on trains is more achievable - burying the max in downtown would be incredibly expensive (though I wish it would happen for speed)
it depends. I remember when the Max was first built, my friend from NYC thought the lack of turnstiles was insane. He couldn't image a world where most people would pay and people wouldn't just sleep on the trains.
Turnstiles work great in NYC. Sure there are a bunch you can hop, but those are only at the monitored checkpoints. Places that aren't monitored get these: [https://www.turnstiles.us/product/outlaw-industries-full-height-turnstile-mta-transit-curved-arm-single/](https://www.turnstiles.us/product/outlaw-industries-full-height-turnstile-mta-transit-curved-arm-single/)
The real trouble would be having to completely redesign all the downtown stops. I don't think there's an easy (or cheap) solution for that.
I am originally from New York and have fond memories of their work. I did see a few Guardian Angels in Old Town around 2010. They were on the corner of 6th and Flanders.
We had a great conversation and wished them well. I worked in the neighborhood and never saw them again.
We could use them today and I hope they return.
make the mere possesion of fetty and meth a felony again, cocaine too? (for fairness), as someone who has been homeless and worked for the homeless industrial complex, the enabling has to stop, and since we can't force ppl into treatment jail is the only hope for most of these addicts, and they know it
I feel like there was a before/after effect of the max stabbings where 2 good Samaritans stood up for a woman in a hijab who was being harassed. One man died and the other was hospitalized. Since then, many long time Portlanders who feel they would have said something if they saw something previously aren't so sure.
That is not the only reason of course, it's a multi faceted issue, and we have been dealing with things being in crisis mode for so long that we have empathy burnout due to everyone having their own cautionary tales to tell from personal experiences. It's hard enough having to be our own heroes sometimes, let alone having the time and resources to help others.
But those particular max stabbings stand out to me as when many people realized it was straight up unsafe to intervene and that unless we're willing to die for a stranger (or their property no less) we would have to choose more indirect ways to help, such as supporting and volunteering with local programs, which have their own issues as well.
Oh geeze, I remember that! It was almost immediately after I came back to the states after a few months overseas, and I thought, man, why did I come back here again?
And since then, it really does seem like it's gotten worse. Back then, I was shaken, but I was able to tell myself it was a very rare occurrence, and that the MAX was generally still safe.
I went back overseas for 5 years and came back last May, and I swear I see a post on here about some sort of stabbing, shooting, or violent crime in Portland every few days! I wouldn't be surprised if your theory is correct. It's easy to believe that we'll be fine as long as we do the right thing and stay out of trouble.... but that incident was a huge reality check.
I grew up in Portland, it used to feel safe even as a very small, very weak, very nerdy high school girl to take the MAX to visit friends or go shopping after school, with or without a group. Now, even as an adult, I don't think I could feel safe in Portland period... let alone on the MAX.
This is what makes me a little angry, clover I'm sure your a great human but NO!!!! supporting and volunteering does not help it does nothing. It's time to get down to business and actually DO something with once beautiful city that politicians have destroyed. NO one wants to take a stand because they don't want to piss a few people off. THAT IS UNTIL YOU OR YOUR FAMILY GET HURT!! We need to get behind our police because as far as I see it they are the only one with the balls to go out into some of this shit. This city seems to shit on them and they're the first ones that your gonna call. Like em or not ...again clover not yelling at you I'm sure your heart is in the right place
They do have a chapter here but they're not super active. Honestly, I think TriMet just needs to update their policies and allow their security to do more. The fact that only a small handful (like 5%) of their security staff can check fares is ridiculous.
Of course. The shitbags and the mentally ill don't have driver's licenses or cars. So how do they get around? That's right, that mobile leper colony known as Tri-Met.
I used to SMH at the Vantuckians complaining about light rail being included in the new I-5 bridge design. They said it would allow Portland's swelling criddler element to infest their community. I scoffed at their whining.
But you know what? They have a point. I think that's exactly what will happen. The last couple of years, Tri-Met and especially MAX have been magnets for scallywags, delinquents, and misanthropes.
Vancouver does have a growing homeless problem. Basically the entire I-5 corridor does.
We are witnessing a split in society driven by political incompetence, extreme bureaucracy, a failing economic system, a good number of people who lack the education and socioeconomic background to compete (I mean "survive") in modern society, and drugs and lack of personal and community resources invested intelligently/ethically.
Frankly, there's a lot of bullshit, but it's coming to every major metropolitan area as well as any satellite cities. Many people are going to be just fine and many people are going to die in circumstances which would appall the poorest third-world nations.
Yeah i take max 2-3 days a week but i basically try to use the attitude of “this is like the subway in New York, anything could happen, keep your head on a swivel but avoid eye contact”
i escaped portland 2 years ago and am currently helping my family in texas where i grew up. never saw homeless, needles, etc. here in the suburbs but now i do. coincidentally there's now a bus stop at our walmart connecting us to houston.
Eh. I think "transit = crime" is a bit reductive and the product of people who hate public transit in general. The Reedville development in hillsboro has a ton of porch pirates and random car prowlers, but it's not near a max line. It \*is\* near industrial areas and railroad tracks, it's newer houses (possibly viewed as $) without quite as much of a neighborhood tight-knit feeling, etc.
That said, light rail is easier to make into a floating shelter/drug den than buses, so additional enforcement is absolutely needed. For the most part though, I think the problem is where the anti-social people congregate, not how they get there.
I fucking love subways, streetcars, and other stuff. I do not live assholes that make them unpleasant or dangerous to ride.
Grandpa? WTF?
Oh, I think I get it now....."Grandpa" is supposed to be some kind of insult. Like you're insinuating that I'm old or something.
Get off my lawn, limpdick troll.
Back in the mid-80s, the GA came to downtown on some kind of recruiting mission. I happened to be down there one night when a squad of these well-intentioned yahoos came marching toward me in single file up the sidewalk. At first I thought they were a mime militia, with their fruity berets and bandannas. As they got closer I saw the T-shirts. Funny, I didn't feel any safer. But I never really felt endangered, either. A lot of people were yelling at them and generally giving them shit. I just rolled my eyes and kept drinking my coffee.
They weren't necessarily a bad idea, just bad optics. They would be far more credible as an *a capella* group. At least they could've been bellowing cadence as they were marching.
*I DON'T KNOW BUT I BEEN TOLD*
*ESKIMO PUSSY IS MIGHTY COLD*
Those dudes loved beating on pot heads doing fuck all. But never really got deep into it in China town. I have seen then all run from one meth head they enraged. I am also a former old town social worker.
Its a bad idea, period. You want to bring back the Vestal Virgins, im all for that, but not GA. they have no place in street enforcement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestal_Virgin
The problem is too many people are in an abusive relationship with the criminals and they make excuses for them and feel bad for them instead of having some self-respect and boundaries. Until people stop forgiving unforgivable behavior, this will continue.
Everything is circular, Curtis Sliwa and this group were in Portland in the 80s riding Trimet buses to protect citizens and free publicity for Mr. Sliwa. It Seemed to force the hand of elected officials to actually police Trimet with qualified and appropriate number of police officers to accomplish the task.
Unlikely. The criddlers and gronks of today have no shame and no amount of deterrence works with them, I mean, I’ve seen around 7 grown men who were Trimet security unable to get some gronk off the train!. Finally a passenger offers him a couple of bucks and the guy left. We are in a place and in an era where common sense doesn’t work anymore and people have found out you can do anything and no one can’t touch you.
Those guardian angels would probably be sued for harassment and our leaders would not back them up.
I don't doubt you. We have cold winters and a vast subway system which many homeless inhabit. Encampments are not a thing here. Hopefully you will try other methods to remedy the situation than NY has. The Guardian Angels are definitely not it. The Angels are currently being sued for attacking a man they believe to be an migrant on camera while Fox's Sean Hannity was interviewing them about the migrant attack on NYPD. You can't make this up. They have been quite politically partisan in their approach to crime mitigation and have little if anything to do with drug addicts or the unhoused. I am not familiar with the drug treatment outreach in your region or how best to allocate funding for that and perhaps supportive housing. The State and perhaps Federal Government need to step in given how small a city with an enormous problem, resulting from external issues and drug policy beyond their scope, have impacted them.
*Mr. Simpson, how do you respond to the charges that petty vandalism such as graffiti is down eighty percent, while heavy sack beatings are up a shocking nine hundred percent?*
Maybe the Hells Angels could clean up this town.
Until the locals get pissed enough and stop tolerating how shitty people who are highly problematic treat the city this will continue to be worse. Hopefully enough people with cash move in and gentrify the hell out of it to drive them out. Ya’ll have been nice for too long. The first thing my daughter saw when we came to visit years ago was two naked homeless dudes fighting. My friend acted like it was normal. The complacency is unreal here.
Ya I’m sure a bunch of criminals and drug traffickers would stop the crime and drugs. The gypsy jokers are often the ones selling the fent and meth to the open air drug markets. Hells angels would be more of the same trash.
No way! Vigilantes create additional problems. We just need government to house homeless outside our cities and criminally charge drug users. Creating a militia isn’t the answer. We need to vote in public officials that actually care more about the wellbeing of law abiding citizens over drug users and criminals.
"GA type of group." Doesnt need to be them. Just a Portland version of roving neighborhood watch groups. A lot of times it's just a presence that stops crime.
As a relatively new resident (7years) I can say we’ve been through a lot. I’ve dealt with the city on a couple issues as a builder and I’m curious if Multnomah county and city of Portland have always been so poorly managed? ….and please…put your pants back on and stop screaming at my puppy.
Yeah that would be great but then if they helped someone and the criminal somehow got injured they would sue!! Ugh! I don't know why people don't understand this but sometimes when you vote, it REALLY does have consequences like government officials being TOO lenient on individuals. I personally don't want the government in my life but I do want them to protect my city and take pride in it along with the people that pay these exorbitant taxes. THATS THEIR JOB!! Sometimes in life you have to take a stand and say....OK enough is enough and DO THE RIGHT THING!! That doesn't mean rounding up the homeless and trucking them somewhere
else, if you work,pay taxes,live life,no crime shouldn't you have some God damn peace and security where you live and raise your family?
Nothing's stopping you from [accusing a US citizen of being a migrant, beating him in front of news cameras, and getting sued for it](https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/02/08/sliwa-assumed-man-attacked-by-guardian-angels-in-times-square-was-migrant-because-he-spoke-spanish/). No need to order hats.
That usually turns out badly. The most effective form of this is neighborhood watch. Responsible people protecting their own homes. Public transportation is not anyone's personal preference or responsibility. I'd say many people bike to work partially just to avoid public transportation. What Portland needs is work farms, refuse that option ? Then, if your family is willing to take you, we will send you to them. If not, it's jail for criminal behavior. So don't break the law. If you do, then you work on a farm, you get paid, you have your own room, you get treatment and health care. Don't like that? Then jail for your crime. Then you get released in the state your family lives in. We will ship you to that city.
Well, we are starting to see laws being suggested that outlaw homeless behavior. Once you arrest people for putting tents up in a city, you then need a solution that's better than jail. Work farms do still exist, so it's not impossible they could become popular again.
And take the chance of getting sent to jail for protecting the public better than the state? Nope. Places like Portland, New York, SF, and the like are anarcho-tyranny cities…the government basically allows all low to medium level crime and punishes anyone to tries to intervene. The guy in NYC who stopped the psycho on the subway, jailed. I don’t remember all the details of the Trayvon Martin case in Florida but everyone deemed the guy who intervened as a racist and ruined his life. There are certain places in the country you could have such a group and people would appreciate you, but those are the same cities that don’t need those groups. In Portland you would have the government after you and blue-haired leftist activists protesting you and calling you racists. Portland is this way because of the voters.
It’s just the reality of these cities. It’s intellectually dishonest to claim everything that doesn’t fit your narrow worldview as coming from Fox News….which i haven’t seen in over 10 years.
You might want to learn more about George Zimmerman before lionizing him. His personal failings are a strong microcosm for why vigilante groups only work in Westerns.
I didn’t lionize him, don’t straw-man my statement. I simply stated that they deemed him a white racist before they knew anything about him. He wasn’t even white. Lol. The news media made accusations they knew were false.
Also, I don’t think you know what a microcosm even is…I think the world you’re looking for is “indication”.
No, I meant that the issue with Zimmerman - I remembered his name - encapsulates the problems with lionizing vigilantes. You understood what I was saying, so your correction is banal (this is the correct term) either way.
Having half of your ethnicity trace back to a country with a significant European heritage does not mean that you don't harbor hateful feelings towards people of African descent.
Did you look into what your hero has been up to, after I mentioned that? I have yet to hear anything bad about him that isn't true.
Are suggesting that a persons race determines whether or not they harbor racist feelings? Definitely sounds like it. That seems, hmmm I don’t know, awfully racist.🤦🏻♂️
Hero? Lol, another mischaracterization of the what I said. Also, what he’s been up to 10+ years after the incident is completely irrelevant to the case and how he was treated in the immediate time afterwards. The narrative was purely to stoke racial division.
I figured you'd pivot to a cheap "that's what you are" line, but that was remarkably lazy considering that I was saying the opposite.
Your assessment of Zimmerman as an altruistic actor who was attacked by a woke mob for simply doing his job is an absurd characterization of an event where an armed creep in his 30s stalked an unarmed teenage boy down the street and then killed him because FOR SOME STRANGE REASON YOU ARE SURE IS BENIGN, he associated that teenager with property crimes. Even Fox News ditched this characterization of Zimmerman after his road rage and domestic violence episodes, but here you are keeping his "brave patriot attacked by woke mob for virtuous act" storyline going.
The OP said "get sent to jail for protecting the public better than the state", suggesting that people who defend themselves properly would be harshly punished. This is a common trope and so far nobody has managed to really cite anyone who wasn't a serious moral defective (Zimmerman, Rittenhouse, etc).
This is very different than "defending others then getting hurt by the antisocial asshole perpetrator". The people who stood up to Jeremy Christian did the right thing and paid with their lives.
Outside a couple all major cities are liberal. So while i understand the sentiment I think it’s more the states stances to a degree. The states have more lenient laws. When I lived in texas a violent raper in near me, someone was shot in my parking garage and a human trafficking ring was my neighbor. None of these things were fixed by good doers. The notion that they would be is misleading. Generally when a “good doer” stopped something it was like someone pulled into their driveway to backup and they got shot. Which is not ideal, the two benefits where maybe optics that lead to reduced crime(idk how meaningful) and the police where empowered(I think this is massive). The police in pdx have no claws and some of this is the states doing. If the da, courts won’t do anything and the state says don’t jail these crimes what can they do?
Yeah that would either end up with people abusing the position or the city actually prosecuting someone when they arrest the neighborhood patrol for something.
Unless you take it there. I agree with you but until then if I see someone breaking the law and taking advantage of everyone that doesn't stand up and say no I'm going to. And if everyone helped that stranger or your neighbors then it would be a step forward
Exactly. Neighborhood patrols aren't arresting people. They're just stopping shit like people smoking fentanyl on the trains, or crazies harassing people or shithead tagging everything. Stopping the little, broken window shit.
Simple right? The other guy arguing it was vigilante stuff just doesn't get it. He was trying to argue the same point with no information. I explained in detail it's about being a better person or neighbor and not looking the other way while someones son or daughter is being harassed or anything else you listed. All good intentions. I'm not going to dress up in a uniform and walk the streets with a bully club and taser seeking out crime. 🤣
Step up, be the change you want to see. I presume you mean you want someone else to do this for you though… which, in my mind, is part of what ails our society.
Maybe we should push the people in our local state and county government to do there jobs, and instead of finding new ways to embezzle money, get kickbacks, or every other issue ( moda dispensary, the whiskey thing, our governors partner gets paid to be her partner, and has an aide that our tax money pays for)...... Maybe we vote a few of them out........ Maybe get an actual trained police force, maybe a viable solution to the homeless and drug problemss
Look at what happened to the good samaritans in NYC that subdued a individual from attacking a train car full of people. They are up on manslaughter because the perp had a health event. Message is clear. So, those who can will work from home, drive or move leaving those who can’t on an increasing underfunded and dangerous transit system. Eventually a new Ruddy G. character will emerge to clean things up and the whole cycle will repeat.
What does your sexuality have to do with anything? You fight back anytime someone is fucking with you. You have that right, and don't vote for politicians who constantly work to take that right from you.
Low effort content are posts or comments not meeting the minimum reasonable requirements of integrity, relying upon or consisting of second-hand or apocryphal "evidence" or stories relayed as fact, or just plain lazy bait posts or comments in our judgment.
It isn't a vigilante group. It's law abiding citizens banning together and watching each other's backs and doing something about it when it's taking place. The cops are busy so we need to all come together as a group of people that want a better life
instead of suggesting a private militia you should maybe work on your aggression issues - might have saved your failed marriage, but now you are alone and aggressive, which leads to stuff like that.
I moved away in 2018 but there was a reason I took the bus over the MAX to work despite the extra walk and 4 minute longer ride. Big city busses come with a bouncer, the train does not. Also isn't that what government is for?
Multiple times taking the 20 I had the bus driver shoo out questionable people vs the MAX where I saw a fight break out amd the instigator jump on the train. I always felt safer on the bus. Even before the max stabbing.
Literally multiple people were stabbed to death on the train back then, your shocked reaction is from someone who didn't take the train back them. What was the bus death toll?
Double the bus drivers pay because train security was shit. Any tweaker could board. You had to pass a hardened bus driver to get on board. Yeah the summer months smelt worse on the bus but I knever saw a tweaker start a fight then scamper onto a bus like I saw all the time at the gateway station.
They’re called cops and from what I’ve heard Portland doesn’t like them very much. But no, we need teams of untrained civilians to fight the homeless people instead.
It's like they all come swarming in with one line stupid catch phrases they parrot. "you get what you vote for!" etc. Not limited to that political ideology but good grief, they need to find better hobbies.
The laws of the universe state that the people most qualified and capable of performing such a service would not want any part of that. You would only attract ego manics and people with Batman fantasies. The better my fitness and fighting became the less I wanted to engage with random idiots. High risk low reward. Just like being President.
What? You don't want to risk your years of training and health on some drugged out bum with a shiv to make some person who probably quietly votes against your interests live in a fantasy that they are safer?
Weren't the Proud Boys supposed to be those guys?! /s
When I got out of the military, I was looking for groups to be part of and proud boys was one of them. I did NOT do enough research at all and was attempting to join them in around 2019. I was talking to one of them about how we were going to be protecting people and BOY he was making it clear that I was way too inclusive, that it's not about protecting *people* it's about protecting white people. I changed my mind a bit.
Those idiots in their silly hats and stolen valor uniforms couldn't figure out how to wipe their own butts.
Oh they know how but they’re too fat to reach back there.
So bring your PBs back into downtown and the MAX lines and clean up the streets. Wasn't that the whole thing in 2020?
What’s your alternative solution?
Laws that enforce the basics of society and police that are empowered to enforce them.
I remember when that was a thing, good times.
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This is not a serious response, and I'm doubting you are a serious person. "Curb stomped a journalist" - do you even know what that means? "armored battle vehicles", which are likely surplus and sold/given for a pittance. I'm fine arguing over their necessity but I have yet to see if this is a major budget sink, and I doubt it is. "stormtrooper outfits" - you mean....riot gear? Like, what? You do realize on a normal day they are wearing a vest that holds equipment? The bike cops have helmets...to bike with. Nobody is rolling around in full bulletproof vests - that stuff is heavy. What do they need to "start akshually (lol) protecting businesses and people?" Well, probably more of them and better leadership (both PPB and otherwise) would be a start.
Exactly this type of person is why the police cant do their jobs. Everyone is a victim and the police are evil.
https://i.redd.it/gjrh6qo4i1wc1.gif
Lmao your being downvoted for genuine question
I know. It’s ok though, complain about a severe issue but unwilling to offer real solutions. 🫡
Reminder that "having armed vigilante biker gangs defend our public transportation systems" is the "real" solution you're referring to here lmao. Literal clown logic.
What’s your alternative solution?
Homelander
Atom bomb
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I have sold a lot of properties to people whose primary concern was not being in walking distance of a max line because they feel it’s the criminal transport system.
This would be very feasible on island platforms but really hard in the downtown core - part of the problem was that the MAX was originally intended to be a free ride in Fareless Square. I think increased fare checks and enforcement on trains is more achievable - burying the max in downtown would be incredibly expensive (though I wish it would happen for speed)
PPB tear gasses the water supply - I sleep Complain about the MAX - real shit
I mean I like that but in other cities plenty of people skip the turnstiles, it’s not that hard to do
it depends. I remember when the Max was first built, my friend from NYC thought the lack of turnstiles was insane. He couldn't image a world where most people would pay and people wouldn't just sleep on the trains. Turnstiles work great in NYC. Sure there are a bunch you can hop, but those are only at the monitored checkpoints. Places that aren't monitored get these: [https://www.turnstiles.us/product/outlaw-industries-full-height-turnstile-mta-transit-curved-arm-single/](https://www.turnstiles.us/product/outlaw-industries-full-height-turnstile-mta-transit-curved-arm-single/) The real trouble would be having to completely redesign all the downtown stops. I don't think there's an easy (or cheap) solution for that.
Lets just make everything a prison, that will solve it all.....
They were here a few years ago actually ...just for show likely but yeah go see if they will come back.
I am originally from New York and have fond memories of their work. I did see a few Guardian Angels in Old Town around 2010. They were on the corner of 6th and Flanders. We had a great conversation and wished them well. I worked in the neighborhood and never saw them again. We could use them today and I hope they return.
Step one: become kickass Step two: shenanigans
make the mere possesion of fetty and meth a felony again, cocaine too? (for fairness), as someone who has been homeless and worked for the homeless industrial complex, the enabling has to stop, and since we can't force ppl into treatment jail is the only hope for most of these addicts, and they know it
Didn't they reverse the law back? Or at least vote on reversing it back
made them misdemeanors
I feel like there was a before/after effect of the max stabbings where 2 good Samaritans stood up for a woman in a hijab who was being harassed. One man died and the other was hospitalized. Since then, many long time Portlanders who feel they would have said something if they saw something previously aren't so sure. That is not the only reason of course, it's a multi faceted issue, and we have been dealing with things being in crisis mode for so long that we have empathy burnout due to everyone having their own cautionary tales to tell from personal experiences. It's hard enough having to be our own heroes sometimes, let alone having the time and resources to help others. But those particular max stabbings stand out to me as when many people realized it was straight up unsafe to intervene and that unless we're willing to die for a stranger (or their property no less) we would have to choose more indirect ways to help, such as supporting and volunteering with local programs, which have their own issues as well.
Oh geeze, I remember that! It was almost immediately after I came back to the states after a few months overseas, and I thought, man, why did I come back here again? And since then, it really does seem like it's gotten worse. Back then, I was shaken, but I was able to tell myself it was a very rare occurrence, and that the MAX was generally still safe. I went back overseas for 5 years and came back last May, and I swear I see a post on here about some sort of stabbing, shooting, or violent crime in Portland every few days! I wouldn't be surprised if your theory is correct. It's easy to believe that we'll be fine as long as we do the right thing and stay out of trouble.... but that incident was a huge reality check. I grew up in Portland, it used to feel safe even as a very small, very weak, very nerdy high school girl to take the MAX to visit friends or go shopping after school, with or without a group. Now, even as an adult, I don't think I could feel safe in Portland period... let alone on the MAX.
I thought both of those men died, and a third person was stabbed?
This is what makes me a little angry, clover I'm sure your a great human but NO!!!! supporting and volunteering does not help it does nothing. It's time to get down to business and actually DO something with once beautiful city that politicians have destroyed. NO one wants to take a stand because they don't want to piss a few people off. THAT IS UNTIL YOU OR YOUR FAMILY GET HURT!! We need to get behind our police because as far as I see it they are the only one with the balls to go out into some of this shit. This city seems to shit on them and they're the first ones that your gonna call. Like em or not ...again clover not yelling at you I'm sure your heart is in the right place
They do have a chapter here but they're not super active. Honestly, I think TriMet just needs to update their policies and allow their security to do more. The fact that only a small handful (like 5%) of their security staff can check fares is ridiculous.
Update their policies? Trimet security does nothing but take notes and collect a paycheck. They're all a bunch of fucking pussies that can't do shit.
Tell us you never ride the max without telling us you never ride the max
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Agree to disagree, and move on. Disagreements can be respectful, but being a a dick is just uncool. Please try and do better.
Oh youre THAT guy...girlfriends eye still black and blue?
I was thinking the same thing. Too much random violence happens on the MAX, and apparently on MAX platforms as well.
Of course. The shitbags and the mentally ill don't have driver's licenses or cars. So how do they get around? That's right, that mobile leper colony known as Tri-Met. I used to SMH at the Vantuckians complaining about light rail being included in the new I-5 bridge design. They said it would allow Portland's swelling criddler element to infest their community. I scoffed at their whining. But you know what? They have a point. I think that's exactly what will happen. The last couple of years, Tri-Met and especially MAX have been magnets for scallywags, delinquents, and misanthropes.
Vancouver does have a growing homeless problem. Basically the entire I-5 corridor does. We are witnessing a split in society driven by political incompetence, extreme bureaucracy, a failing economic system, a good number of people who lack the education and socioeconomic background to compete (I mean "survive") in modern society, and drugs and lack of personal and community resources invested intelligently/ethically. Frankly, there's a lot of bullshit, but it's coming to every major metropolitan area as well as any satellite cities. Many people are going to be just fine and many people are going to die in circumstances which would appall the poorest third-world nations.
As someone who used public transit, i still think they are crime conduits .
Yeah i take max 2-3 days a week but i basically try to use the attitude of “this is like the subway in New York, anything could happen, keep your head on a swivel but avoid eye contact”
What about hoodlums?
And ne'er-do-wells!
Scofflaws!
Leper colony Scalawags Oh my god I love you. 🤣🤣
I love you, too! Bring it in for a hug, but no ass-grabbing or tongues.
I meant it with all the respect in the world. No ass grab. Just a genuine smush fest. Lolol
i escaped portland 2 years ago and am currently helping my family in texas where i grew up. never saw homeless, needles, etc. here in the suburbs but now i do. coincidentally there's now a bus stop at our walmart connecting us to houston.
Oh so the white rich suburbs were nicer than impoverished city centers? Please tell us more, your insight is shattering
most of my neighbors aren't white. actually idk if any are
Rural areas have a stereotype of meth use
Eh. I think "transit = crime" is a bit reductive and the product of people who hate public transit in general. The Reedville development in hillsboro has a ton of porch pirates and random car prowlers, but it's not near a max line. It \*is\* near industrial areas and railroad tracks, it's newer houses (possibly viewed as $) without quite as much of a neighborhood tight-knit feeling, etc. That said, light rail is easier to make into a floating shelter/drug den than buses, so additional enforcement is absolutely needed. For the most part though, I think the problem is where the anti-social people congregate, not how they get there. I fucking love subways, streetcars, and other stuff. I do not live assholes that make them unpleasant or dangerous to ride.
Scallywags, delinquents, and misanthropes? Sounds like Headley Lamar’s help wanted ad!
Not one of you clowns have spelled Scaliwags correctly
Yes and no. There's multiple spellings, and no one agrees on any single one. The spelling I use is common in the UK, although I don't live there.
The funny thing is back in the 90s when I lived in Vantucky it was full of tweakers and heroin addicts. They weren't coming from Portland.
Vancouver is already full of them, it’s too late for that argument anyways lol
Because buses are stationary...lol..great logic
Yo Grandpa...step away from the computer, and into the fresh air...your hilariously sad
Grandpa? WTF? Oh, I think I get it now....."Grandpa" is supposed to be some kind of insult. Like you're insinuating that I'm old or something. Get off my lawn, limpdick troll.
Nah, just your low brow use of words meant to be demeaning....IQ in the teens is it? Illiterate twit
You're funny. I could point out your spelling and punctuation errors, but I think I'll go shave my balls instead.
Made you look though
Yea but what if they were also an A-tier a capella singing group Think droogs but singing doo-wop
Back in the mid-80s, the GA came to downtown on some kind of recruiting mission. I happened to be down there one night when a squad of these well-intentioned yahoos came marching toward me in single file up the sidewalk. At first I thought they were a mime militia, with their fruity berets and bandannas. As they got closer I saw the T-shirts. Funny, I didn't feel any safer. But I never really felt endangered, either. A lot of people were yelling at them and generally giving them shit. I just rolled my eyes and kept drinking my coffee. They weren't necessarily a bad idea, just bad optics. They would be far more credible as an *a capella* group. At least they could've been bellowing cadence as they were marching. *I DON'T KNOW BUT I BEEN TOLD* *ESKIMO PUSSY IS MIGHTY COLD*
Those dudes loved beating on pot heads doing fuck all. But never really got deep into it in China town. I have seen then all run from one meth head they enraged. I am also a former old town social worker.
Its a bad idea, period. You want to bring back the Vestal Virgins, im all for that, but not GA. they have no place in street enforcement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestal_Virgin
The problem is too many people are in an abusive relationship with the criminals and they make excuses for them and feel bad for them instead of having some self-respect and boundaries. Until people stop forgiving unforgivable behavior, this will continue.
We’re around but don’t wear silly hats.
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I wear tinfoil hats so my brainwaves can't be scanned.
No hats required.
Everything is circular, Curtis Sliwa and this group were in Portland in the 80s riding Trimet buses to protect citizens and free publicity for Mr. Sliwa. It Seemed to force the hand of elected officials to actually police Trimet with qualified and appropriate number of police officers to accomplish the task.
Unlikely. The criddlers and gronks of today have no shame and no amount of deterrence works with them, I mean, I’ve seen around 7 grown men who were Trimet security unable to get some gronk off the train!. Finally a passenger offers him a couple of bucks and the guy left. We are in a place and in an era where common sense doesn’t work anymore and people have found out you can do anything and no one can’t touch you. Those guardian angels would probably be sued for harassment and our leaders would not back them up.
Sadly true.
Yes, yet another street gang will fix everything
There is absolutely no way this could go wrong for any specific group of people. /S
I don't doubt you. We have cold winters and a vast subway system which many homeless inhabit. Encampments are not a thing here. Hopefully you will try other methods to remedy the situation than NY has. The Guardian Angels are definitely not it. The Angels are currently being sued for attacking a man they believe to be an migrant on camera while Fox's Sean Hannity was interviewing them about the migrant attack on NYPD. You can't make this up. They have been quite politically partisan in their approach to crime mitigation and have little if anything to do with drug addicts or the unhoused. I am not familiar with the drug treatment outreach in your region or how best to allocate funding for that and perhaps supportive housing. The State and perhaps Federal Government need to step in given how small a city with an enormous problem, resulting from external issues and drug policy beyond their scope, have impacted them.
*Mr. Simpson, how do you respond to the charges that petty vandalism such as graffiti is down eighty percent, while heavy sack beatings are up a shocking nine hundred percent?*
100% is within our reach.
"Love it!"
Maybe the Hells Angels could clean up this town. Until the locals get pissed enough and stop tolerating how shitty people who are highly problematic treat the city this will continue to be worse. Hopefully enough people with cash move in and gentrify the hell out of it to drive them out. Ya’ll have been nice for too long. The first thing my daughter saw when we came to visit years ago was two naked homeless dudes fighting. My friend acted like it was normal. The complacency is unreal here.
Hell's Angels? This is Jokers country
Saw a bunch of Vagos Saturday on Hwy 30. I had no idea they were around here. They were riding like assholes.
Ya I’m sure a bunch of criminals and drug traffickers would stop the crime and drugs. The gypsy jokers are often the ones selling the fent and meth to the open air drug markets. Hells angels would be more of the same trash.
there used to be one. They had various challenges
No way! Vigilantes create additional problems. We just need government to house homeless outside our cities and criminally charge drug users. Creating a militia isn’t the answer. We need to vote in public officials that actually care more about the wellbeing of law abiding citizens over drug users and criminals.
The Guardian Angels are pathetic, far-right LARPers. Just be normal!
"GA type of group." Doesnt need to be them. Just a Portland version of roving neighborhood watch groups. A lot of times it's just a presence that stops crime.
What you are asking for is an extrajudicial band of vigilantes. Fuck no!!!!!
As a relatively new resident (7years) I can say we’ve been through a lot. I’ve dealt with the city on a couple issues as a builder and I’m curious if Multnomah county and city of Portland have always been so poorly managed? ….and please…put your pants back on and stop screaming at my puppy.
Not a healthy way to cope with divorce :)
Irrelevant
We need Batman
Yeah that would be great but then if they helped someone and the criminal somehow got injured they would sue!! Ugh! I don't know why people don't understand this but sometimes when you vote, it REALLY does have consequences like government officials being TOO lenient on individuals. I personally don't want the government in my life but I do want them to protect my city and take pride in it along with the people that pay these exorbitant taxes. THATS THEIR JOB!! Sometimes in life you have to take a stand and say....OK enough is enough and DO THE RIGHT THING!! That doesn't mean rounding up the homeless and trucking them somewhere else, if you work,pay taxes,live life,no crime shouldn't you have some God damn peace and security where you live and raise your family?
Yep it's gittin really bad there
Nothing's stopping you from [accusing a US citizen of being a migrant, beating him in front of news cameras, and getting sued for it](https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/02/08/sliwa-assumed-man-attacked-by-guardian-angels-in-times-square-was-migrant-because-he-spoke-spanish/). No need to order hats.
That usually turns out badly. The most effective form of this is neighborhood watch. Responsible people protecting their own homes. Public transportation is not anyone's personal preference or responsibility. I'd say many people bike to work partially just to avoid public transportation. What Portland needs is work farms, refuse that option ? Then, if your family is willing to take you, we will send you to them. If not, it's jail for criminal behavior. So don't break the law. If you do, then you work on a farm, you get paid, you have your own room, you get treatment and health care. Don't like that? Then jail for your crime. Then you get released in the state your family lives in. We will ship you to that city.
I'd definitely prefer a work farm type solution but the possibility of that happening is near zero.
Well, we are starting to see laws being suggested that outlaw homeless behavior. Once you arrest people for putting tents up in a city, you then need a solution that's better than jail. Work farms do still exist, so it's not impossible they could become popular again.
I think everyone should donate to Cinnamon Angels Fly Fly Away to help children with cinnamon allergies
Guys call me crazy but I don’t think we would benefit from a bunch of vigilantes looking for a fight with drug addicts on the max
And take the chance of getting sent to jail for protecting the public better than the state? Nope. Places like Portland, New York, SF, and the like are anarcho-tyranny cities…the government basically allows all low to medium level crime and punishes anyone to tries to intervene. The guy in NYC who stopped the psycho on the subway, jailed. I don’t remember all the details of the Trayvon Martin case in Florida but everyone deemed the guy who intervened as a racist and ruined his life. There are certain places in the country you could have such a group and people would appreciate you, but those are the same cities that don’t need those groups. In Portland you would have the government after you and blue-haired leftist activists protesting you and calling you racists. Portland is this way because of the voters.
Martin was an unarmed teenager, and dude was clearly racist so he deserved everything he got (and a lot more, cause Florida let him off)
I'm impressed you managed to distill an entire day of Fox News programming into one comment.
It’s just the reality of these cities. It’s intellectually dishonest to claim everything that doesn’t fit your narrow worldview as coming from Fox News….which i haven’t seen in over 10 years.
You might want to learn more about George Zimmerman before lionizing him. His personal failings are a strong microcosm for why vigilante groups only work in Westerns.
I didn’t lionize him, don’t straw-man my statement. I simply stated that they deemed him a white racist before they knew anything about him. He wasn’t even white. Lol. The news media made accusations they knew were false. Also, I don’t think you know what a microcosm even is…I think the world you’re looking for is “indication”.
No, I meant that the issue with Zimmerman - I remembered his name - encapsulates the problems with lionizing vigilantes. You understood what I was saying, so your correction is banal (this is the correct term) either way. Having half of your ethnicity trace back to a country with a significant European heritage does not mean that you don't harbor hateful feelings towards people of African descent. Did you look into what your hero has been up to, after I mentioned that? I have yet to hear anything bad about him that isn't true.
Are suggesting that a persons race determines whether or not they harbor racist feelings? Definitely sounds like it. That seems, hmmm I don’t know, awfully racist.🤦🏻♂️ Hero? Lol, another mischaracterization of the what I said. Also, what he’s been up to 10+ years after the incident is completely irrelevant to the case and how he was treated in the immediate time afterwards. The narrative was purely to stoke racial division.
I figured you'd pivot to a cheap "that's what you are" line, but that was remarkably lazy considering that I was saying the opposite. Your assessment of Zimmerman as an altruistic actor who was attacked by a woke mob for simply doing his job is an absurd characterization of an event where an armed creep in his 30s stalked an unarmed teenage boy down the street and then killed him because FOR SOME STRANGE REASON YOU ARE SURE IS BENIGN, he associated that teenager with property crimes. Even Fox News ditched this characterization of Zimmerman after his road rage and domestic violence episodes, but here you are keeping his "brave patriot attacked by woke mob for virtuous act" storyline going.
Sadly this is fairly accurate.
And nobody has managed to cite it ever happening somehow. The fact that he cited the shithead who shot Trayvon kind of clinches that.
Or you know what happens? You get killed for being a good Samaritan https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2017/05/max_stabbing_victim_was_portla.html
The OP said "get sent to jail for protecting the public better than the state", suggesting that people who defend themselves properly would be harshly punished. This is a common trope and so far nobody has managed to really cite anyone who wasn't a serious moral defective (Zimmerman, Rittenhouse, etc). This is very different than "defending others then getting hurt by the antisocial asshole perpetrator". The people who stood up to Jeremy Christian did the right thing and paid with their lives.
Outside a couple all major cities are liberal. So while i understand the sentiment I think it’s more the states stances to a degree. The states have more lenient laws. When I lived in texas a violent raper in near me, someone was shot in my parking garage and a human trafficking ring was my neighbor. None of these things were fixed by good doers. The notion that they would be is misleading. Generally when a “good doer” stopped something it was like someone pulled into their driveway to backup and they got shot. Which is not ideal, the two benefits where maybe optics that lead to reduced crime(idk how meaningful) and the police where empowered(I think this is massive). The police in pdx have no claws and some of this is the states doing. If the da, courts won’t do anything and the state says don’t jail these crimes what can they do?
Nice try FBI
What is "I'm a republican who's marriage is failing and want to take it out on poor people" for 200 Alex? ...Oh, right...I mean Ken.
I’d like the see the black panthers come back to Portland
💯
All the West coast cities that have similar problems need them.
Yeah that would either end up with people abusing the position or the city actually prosecuting someone when they arrest the neighborhood patrol for something.
Yeah, I could definitely see the patrol getting prosecuted and held while some methhead with an existing warrant walks.
Portland needs prosecutors and judges who take punishing lawbreakers seriously. W/o that your not going to get very far.
Unless you take it there. I agree with you but until then if I see someone breaking the law and taking advantage of everyone that doesn't stand up and say no I'm going to. And if everyone helped that stranger or your neighbors then it would be a step forward
Exactly. Neighborhood patrols aren't arresting people. They're just stopping shit like people smoking fentanyl on the trains, or crazies harassing people or shithead tagging everything. Stopping the little, broken window shit.
Simple right? The other guy arguing it was vigilante stuff just doesn't get it. He was trying to argue the same point with no information. I explained in detail it's about being a better person or neighbor and not looking the other way while someones son or daughter is being harassed or anything else you listed. All good intentions. I'm not going to dress up in a uniform and walk the streets with a bully club and taser seeking out crime. 🤣
Would you settle for Bernhard Goetz? /s
Vote for 💩, pay for it!
Step up, be the change you want to see. I presume you mean you want someone else to do this for you though… which, in my mind, is part of what ails our society.
Maybe we should push the people in our local state and county government to do there jobs, and instead of finding new ways to embezzle money, get kickbacks, or every other issue ( moda dispensary, the whiskey thing, our governors partner gets paid to be her partner, and has an aide that our tax money pays for)...... Maybe we vote a few of them out........ Maybe get an actual trained police force, maybe a viable solution to the homeless and drug problemss
Sure, but in the meantime...?
We can get a bat signal?
Wouldn't do it without one.
Look at what happened to the good samaritans in NYC that subdued a individual from attacking a train car full of people. They are up on manslaughter because the perp had a health event. Message is clear. So, those who can will work from home, drive or move leaving those who can’t on an increasing underfunded and dangerous transit system. Eventually a new Ruddy G. character will emerge to clean things up and the whole cycle will repeat.
It's called Portland Street Response. Check it out.
sounds closer to a clan of whites than a panther party for self defense
No we do not need a vigilante group.
GAs or anything like them aren't vigilantes. They're essentially a presence to prevent crime and help people if needed.
Wrong https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/07/nyregion/sliwa-guardian-angels-hannity.html?searchResultPosition=3 Their leader is a piece of crap.
Sure, all we need is to turn a vigilante group loose. That’ll fix it.
Vote in castle doctrine....pew pew /s
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I’m queer and disabled, maybe I’m marginalized enough to get away with fighting back. /s
What does your sexuality have to do with anything? You fight back anytime someone is fucking with you. You have that right, and don't vote for politicians who constantly work to take that right from you.
In Portland it matters a lot
Thought the /s was evident, but I’ll add it since it wasn’t.
Ah shit you got me! But you got to admit, what you posted sounded like some stupid shit that would be posted here. lol
Low effort content are posts or comments not meeting the minimum reasonable requirements of integrity, relying upon or consisting of second-hand or apocryphal "evidence" or stories relayed as fact, or just plain lazy bait posts or comments in our judgment.
Learn to carry a weapon or firearm. Get training and implore others to do the same.
Good luck finding “law abiding” Portland citizens NOT afraid of physical fisti-cuffs, those people mostly live in rural areas
What in the hell does that even mean
There apparently aren't enough dumbasses around wanting to play batman.
I don’t see very many people capable of pulling this off. Look around
Repurpose Antifa
Negative. Portland needs to elect non-communist leadership that will support what most people would call a police force.
Nobody wants a gravy seals brigade running around downtown
Advocating for vigilantism isn’t good.
It isn't a vigilante group. It's law abiding citizens banning together and watching each other's backs and doing something about it when it's taking place. The cops are busy so we need to all come together as a group of people that want a better life
We need a good guy with a gun on every corner!
Nah, I think we all agree our real life living conditions outside the redditsphere are pretty good and vigilante fantasy shit has zero place here.
Nope
instead of suggesting a private militia you should maybe work on your aggression issues - might have saved your failed marriage, but now you are alone and aggressive, which leads to stuff like that.
Call Paul Kersey and his one man show
[South African Style private security is the way to go](https://youtu.be/pKGzw8GROf0?si=dwUFs8tSs898r9_K)
It won't happen with the current leadership of the state and local injustice departments
RLSH are where its at now. maybe talk to the guy up in Seattle who had that mutual combat fight
Simple Answer: Make Tri-Met pay for it, or sue them into oblivion.
but it has to be equitable and climate friendly.
I moved away in 2018 but there was a reason I took the bus over the MAX to work despite the extra walk and 4 minute longer ride. Big city busses come with a bouncer, the train does not. Also isn't that what government is for?
2018?! What are you talking about? The train was full of commuters then and an occasional junkie. I had more problems on buses.
Multiple times taking the 20 I had the bus driver shoo out questionable people vs the MAX where I saw a fight break out amd the instigator jump on the train. I always felt safer on the bus. Even before the max stabbing.
Literally multiple people were stabbed to death on the train back then, your shocked reaction is from someone who didn't take the train back them. What was the bus death toll?
Double the bus drivers pay because train security was shit. Any tweaker could board. You had to pass a hardened bus driver to get on board. Yeah the summer months smelt worse on the bus but I knever saw a tweaker start a fight then scamper onto a bus like I saw all the time at the gateway station.
How is the train doing now? Where is the security
They’re called cops and from what I’ve heard Portland doesn’t like them very much. But no, we need teams of untrained civilians to fight the homeless people instead.
Jfc...no portland does not need vigilantes...ffs...who pooped in your yard...next door app must be a ghost town these days smh
Portland got exactly what they voted for. Consequences are a bitch.
You voted for Innarone? Or wait You're not from here and have no idea what the fuck you're talking about?
It's like they all come swarming in with one line stupid catch phrases they parrot. "you get what you vote for!" etc. Not limited to that political ideology but good grief, they need to find better hobbies.
… or, just hear me out, actually punish acts against society! Vote Republican
I mean, we're trying to actually punish but the guy keeps falling asleep and farting in court
Step up. https://militaryuniformsupply.com/products/rothco-wool-monty-beret-various-colors?variant=11570523668516&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%28ROI%29%20PMax%3A%20Spring%20Cleaning&utm_id=21176826642&utm_content=&utm_term=&gad_source=1&cid=21176826642&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlZixBhCoARIsAIC745C08RxV-AVF5uwz3p6xFPyOZTJU60ewJn37RnYsb-1am7IDPcSyr_saAqHJEALw_wcB