PORTLAND BURDEN FROM DOWNTOWN TO HOMETOWN

Every city has a dream of tranquility, prosperity, and safety.

Portland, Oregon has a burden.

But what is the Portland burden? The city is supposed to be better.

Now what?

A Portland man, young, fit, a proven tough guy, was in Old Town over the weekend.

He lives near Portland State on the South Park Blocks.

Instead of walking home, taking advantage of Portland’s famous short blocks for a little exercise, he took an Uber.

Why did a thumper call for a ride instead of walking?

Fear. He got a ride out of fear, the same fear I’d have, you’d have, the fear of a Portland burden up close and personal.

What was he afraid of? What would send a shock of fear through a pretty fearless man?

At 8:34 p.m. Friday, police responded to a stabbing at Northwest Broadway and Couch Street.

Police arrested Kalil Clifford Ford, 20, of Portland, nearby. Ford is known to hang out at the corner, where several men were seen living in a tent, according to people who work and live in the area.

Ford was arrested last Wednesday, days before the stabbing, on an assault allegation. He was accused of assaulting a woman who used a walker on Northwest 14th Avenue, punching her in the head and striking her with a broom handle, leaving her bloodied. When stopped, he told police, “She made me assault her,” an affidavit said.

He was booked overnight, held until his court arraignment last Thursday and then released on his own recognizance.

My guy saw what happened and decided he’d rather ride than walk after that.

How about the rest of Portland? How do you get home?

Recognizing The Portland Burden

I felt the burden early. It was heavier than expected.

Northwest Portland was my neighborhood.

In the early 1980’s it was Portland’s answer to Greenwich Village. Not yet a victim of gentrification, NW 21st was not too clean or pretty and the rent was cheap.

Everything you needed was within walking distance.

Cinema 21 screened the widest variety of movies in town and still does. I was inside watching Personal Best.

I walked out to the sidewalk with the crowd and noticed weird reflections coming off the plexiglass bus kiosk across the street. I turned to the couple behind me.

“Do you see that?” I asked, pointing. “Let’s check it out.”

The reflections came from someone bouncing off the plexiglass.

A closer look showed two people, one pushing the other.

The street in those days had some homeless people who came up from Old Town. It was probably two drunks arguing, at least that’s what I expected.

Then I heard the voice, a woman’s voice.

Who walks by a situation where a man is punching a woman over and over?

I ended the situation by yelling at the guy and getting punched in the face.

But, it ended. They both turned on me later, but that’s another story.

An Extra Helping Of Burden

While my wife and I lived on Portland’s inner-east side with our baby, a horrible story broke on the TV news:

“In 1977, ++++ was convicted of robbery and sodomy and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released in 1986.”

“In 1987, ++++ was rearrested and convicted of rape, sodomy and multiple counts of robbery, and was again sentenced to 20 years in prison.”

“In May of 2003, ++++ was connected to the November 21, 1986 murder of 30-year-old Sara C. Zirbes.”

From:http://www.portlandonline.com/Police/pbnotify.cfm?action=ViewContent&content_id=474

“On Thursday, May 1, 2003, Homicide Detectives arrested 53-year-old ++++ on six counts of Aggravated Murder in connection with the November 21, 1986 murder of 30-year-old Sara C. Zirbes.  At the time of the murder, Zirbes lived in a home in North Portland, which was set on fire after the murder.  Zirbes had been the victim of a sexual assault.  The investigation was recently re-opened and ++++ was linked to the crime by a combination of forensic evidence and witness testimony.  ++++ has spent the last 16 years in the custody of the Oregon State Penitentiary on unrelated charges.  ++++ will be arraigned on Monday May 5, 2003.  Photographs of both ++++ and Zirbes are available, via email, from the Portland Police Bureau Identification at (503) 823-0382.  Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Cheryl Kanzler at (503) 823-0865 or Detective Paul Weatheroy at (503) 823-0458.  This investigation is continuing.”

What Else Is Continuing?

Portland life is continuing.

Earlier this month I sat with several friends at a sidewalk table at a coffee shop just south of downtown Portland. The scene was nearly identical – same businesses, same kind of traffic, human and vehicular – as when we’d met in the same place several years before. It looked friendly, prosperous and safe. 

So far, so good. No bodies bleeding; no women getting punched out. No Good Samaritan needed.

Before my outdoor visit with friends, I spent several hours touring around Portland, looking for overall impressions of safety in the city. I did notice some change in the homeless community – mainly that it is more scattered now than a few years ago, less downtown-centered but still about as substantial. But I did not get an impression of Portland as a notably, or specially, dangerous or damaged place, not a lot different than most large cities. 

And it’s certainly not a burned-down, destroyed shell.

2

Feelings about someplace change when news gets closer to home.

Like some feelings about Portland.

Portland baby boomers with long term residency see a different city than the man taking an Uber out of NW Portland instead of walking what felt like a gauntlet.

They see it on the news, not in person.

For example, older folks in the community see it differently than a front line medical worker.

Imagine the view when a gun shot victim is dropped off at the front door of the emergency department with four bullets in him. Pretty nasty sounding, like something out of NCIS.

Now imagine how the medical people felt when a second gunman shows up to finish his work, but sirens chase him off before he got his chance.

Not a big deal, you say? Not a big deal when an elevator with a direct shaft to another department might deliver a bad man?

It is a big deal when it’s your mom, dad, brother, sister, wife, husband is in the other department running to lock off the elevator against a hospital gunman.

Then it’s a big fucking deal because everyone you read about or hear about is somebody to someone.

That’s the forgotten part

Instead of someone from someplace else, it’s one of yours in your front yard.

And make no mistake, Portland is Oregon’s front yard, the place people see walking past, flying over, or driving by.

It’s Portland.

Not Beaverton, Hillsboro, or Tualatin; not Tigard, Lake Oswego, or Oregon City; not Salem, Eugene, or Klamath Falls; not Astoria, North Bend, or Brookings.

It’s Portland.

If you don’t like the way Portland reflects on the rest of the state, remember this:

It’s not going anywhere. Idaho isn’t adopting Portland, and neither is Northern California.

Washington has enough going on without Portland.

“If you call yourself an Oregonian with even the shallowest roots anchoring you here, then Portland is all yours.

“If you plan a visit from out of town, consider where you’d like to go, and where you might be stabbed or shot. Check that your health insurance is valid at the nearest hospital.”

No one wants to hear this at PDX: “Yes, I’d like a ticket to Beruit because it’s calmer than Little Beruit.”

Last word from Old Town:

Lucas Ritter, who lives on Northwest Couch Street less than a block from the fatal stabbing, said he’s disturbed by the killings but not surprised.

“It sucks to say, but I’m kinda used to it,” he said.

That’s his Portland burden, what’s yours?