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It will be news when a week passes without a dust-up at Portland Street Response, the city initiative to send mental health clinicians to people in distress. Last week saw two. First, WW reported that a visiting delegation from Detroit received advice from a Portland bureaucrat to meet with former Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who championed the program, rather than Commissioner Rene Gonzalez, who now oversees it (“Not in Front of the Guests,” June 28). Hours later, we broke the news at wweek.com that PSR program manager Robyn Burek was departing for another job in city government. Portland Street Response has become the locus of a civic poverty debate increasingly centered on whether helping people who live on the streets is enabling them to keep sleeping rough. Here’s what our readers had to say:
Just doing the Math, via wweek.com: “Why not visit Eugene and learn from the CAHOOTS program that has been successfully operating for 31 years? Why does Detroit insist on talking with Hardesty who is no longer in office and then devote their time ‘learning’ about a failing program in Portland?”
Genderless Rodent, Queerin’ it up!, via Twitter: “This makes Portland looks like fucking dinguses.”
Rocco, via Twitter: “Rene Gonazlez has dismembered this program. Unconscionable.”
circinatum, via Reddit: “I didn’t realize they can’t give out food and clothing anymore. That’s a bummer. Those are two great ways to deescalate a situation for people who don’t have those two things.”
Javier Sodo, via wweek.com: “All the PSR has done is enable homeless by passing out free tents, granola bars and cigarettes while criticizing housed residents as lacking compassion. Homelessness has only gotten worse since we have spent millions on these ineffective enablers.”
econoline, via wweek.com: “I will say one thing about PSR; they didn’t murder James Chasse. Honestly, the PSR probably saves more money in police settlements than it costs to run.”
rivercitywriter, via Twitter: “One of the things I’ve learned of Puddleton’s establishment is that any model of service that is viewed as effective to render aid to an overburdened commons is obstructed, vilified and ultimately swept from sight to preserve a mindless money-making mass. A sad age as I see it.”
Western_Mess_2188, via Reddit: “Once in bitterly cold winter, I found a half-naked woman lying face down on the sidewalk by my house. She had no shoes or socks on and had clearly been there in the cold for hours. I ran to her, and once I determined she wasn’t dead, I asked her if I could call her an ambulance. Despite the fact that she was bleeding from the eye, she refused. She was tiny, and I actually thought she was a teenager, but she insisted she was 20. I called PSR and waited 45 minutes with the lady. I called them back after 45 minutes, and they said no van had even been dispatched to us yet. I told PSR just forget it; I canceled the call and called 911. An ambulance arrived within five minutes, and the lady agreed to go to the hospital. What would PSR have done anyway? Given her socks, hand sanitizer and a granola bar?”
poupou221, via Reddit: “I am thinking there might be a misunderstanding about the purpose of the visit by Detroit officials. I am thinking they might be on a fact-finding mission as part of their yet-to-be-announced ‘At least we aren’t Portland!’ campaign.”
CORRECTION
A June 21 item in Murmurs asserted incorrectly that the Portland Police Bureau’s declining certification rate was due to the assignment of a new reviewer, Lt. David Jackson. In fact, Lt. Jackson made corrections to the bureau’s prior process and reviewed the cases after they were flagged by the ombudsman’s report. The report does not name the reviewers, instead citing “high turnover” as one of the causes for the declining certification rate. WW regrets the error.
LETTERS to the editor must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: P.O. Box 10770, Portland, OR 97296 Email: mzusman@wweek.com