The idea of us becoming the new Detroit isn't so funny anymore. It's happening right before our eyes.

In my entire life I have had one car stolen, and that was from the Lloyd Center.

Not in Chicago, but here in Portland.

At the Lloyd Center.

Things got so bad for a homeless man that he became violent. Police had to shoot him when he threatened others, then came after a police officer with a razor knife.

After the shooting at Lloyd center mall last night three young men were taken into custody, and two handguns were recovered.

I agree that Portland is becoming more dangerous, but I find it hard to blame all these social ills on the police bureau.

Jack B asked in an earlier post what would happen in Portland if a cop here was ever indicted, then gave an example where this occurred in another state following the killing of an unarmed motorist. My guess is that things here would be business as usual. Cops here would just try to the best they could with what they have in the environment they work in. Just happy I don't have to do that job.

I don't think it's all being blamed on the police. The elected city officials continue to make irresponsible decisions, from money to management. The core important programs / issues are being overlooked in favor of unnecessary soccer fields, covering reservoirs, and overpaying for a post office. We keep voting in the same people. It's genetics 101: stay in the same gene pool, and adverse effects result.

The idea of us becoming the new Detroit isn't so funny anymore. It's happening right before our eyes.

I'm not sure Detroit is exactly the comparison you're looking for:

http://tinyurl.com/yjqtjp4

Then again, maybe it is.

"Four more days 'til Monday. If you're heading to Portland, remember to duck and cover."

And don't forget your CWP hardware, especially if you go by MAX, and always be prepared if you go to Lloyd Center.

Granola, Bikes and Keep Portland Weird (but safe)!

This country and this city are sick!
I can't remember a time (56 years old) where I was so troubled by current events, Vietnam included.

Our culture and our priorities just keep sliding down the toilet.

What's happening to this country/city?

This VIDEO isn't about Portland but it sure sounds familiar.

I wonder what the outcry would be if a PPB officer saved the life of a innocent shopper at Lloyd Center, by shooting and killing a gang member that was firing away ????

But the usual suspects would still find away to blame the cop....

"But the usual suspects would still find away to blame the cop...."

Really?

Is that how that black women in the car, trying to escape the police, did she have a gun that was shooting innocent people? No.

Is that what Humphreys was doing to Chasse, when his knee thumping killed him? No.

Or the cop with the rifle, shooting the guy in the back? No.

Or this guy, shooting to kill a man with an X-acto knife? No.

None of these now dead woman and men had guns, nor were they shooting innocents like the gand banger example you give.

But, just to be clear, I support cops killing armed gang bangers shooting innocents in malls. I am all for that... shoot away!

I can't remember a time (56 years old) where I was so troubled by current events, Vietnam included.

Really? More than 100 cities in the US had riots when Martin Luther King was assassinated. That same year was the Chicago "police riot" at the Democratic convention. And that was just 1968. There were civil rights protests, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI was wiretapping everyone under the sun, the Cuban Missile Crisis and a few other incidents nearly set off nuclear war...I can think of a lot of things that were more troubling from back then, even though I was just a kid. But then, I was enough of a geek I took an after-school class on how to use a Geiger counter and calculate radiation exposure in third grade.

Really? More than 100 cities in the US had riots when Martin Luther King was assassinated.

I remember all that of course, and that was indeed troubling, but that was the civil rights era and things were changing for the better, or at least they were trying to.

People were standing up for their rights, not sitting silently while the cops take over control of our country.

I don't remember ever being scared during one of those duck and cover either air raid simulations either. We had fun, of course I was a little kid then.

The riots were bad but who the heck went into the ghettos?

Nobody I knew!

This is a completely different feeling, I used to think the new world order was just some nonsense made up by the paranoids among us.

I don't think that anymore.

Social change for the better is over apparently, we are backsliding into an abyss, of course it's just my opinion, hopefully I'm wrong!

Remember the Vietnam war?
There was Walter Cronkite at the front lines showing us the reality of war.
Now we get nothing.
Draft resisters headed to Canada, now Canada sends people back for that!

The Portland police just keep executing citizens, and there is nothing we can do?
You gotta be kidding!

1968? Chicago? Yes but even before that in 1951:

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM68ZW_1951_Race_Riots_Then_Now_Cicero_IL

I lived but a few blocks from that event. A best friend lived right next to it and I couldn't go there for days.

AL M said: The Portland police just keep executing citizens, and there is nothing we can do?

Laughable Al, laughable.......

What Larry said.

The kid glove handling of the Lloyd Center armed conflict vs the instant execution of yet another lone, unarmed mentally disabled person makes absolutely clear that this is a federal civil rights issue. One after another unarmed mentally ill get executed on the spot, while a GROUP of armed gang bangers already shooting get peacefully rounded up. If the Police Chief and elected officials of Portland don't know what is wrong with this picture, then we need new ones.

Forget Shrunk, where is the US Attorney?

Laughable Al, laughable.......
If you think that is funny than good luck to you!

I don't find it funny, especially since it keeps happening.

People, calm down. Portland is a safe city and has been getting safer every year (check the numbers). The difference is we now have 24hr news and blogs where a small number of people can vent over and over and over again.

I recommend that people seek out the Bill Hicks bit about watching CNN for 16hrs straight. Then open the window and listen to the birds singing before you start stockpiling guns and butter.

Portland is a safe city and has been getting safer every year (check the numbers).

I did check the numbers. It's not.

I recommend that people seek out the Bill Hicks bit about watching CNN for 16hrs straight. Then open the window and listen to the birds singing before you start stockpiling guns and butter.

I liked Bill Hicks. What station are the cops watching, I wonder?

The difference is we now have 24hr news and blogs where a small number of people can vent over and over and over again.

Yeah, people never really talked or staged protests before the Internet.

People were standing up for their rights, not sitting silently while the cops take over control of our country.

People were getting the crap kicked out of them for standing up for their rights. By the cops. As for things changing for the better, I doubt that a lot of the people who were getting the crap kicked out of them by the cops really felt that having people like Richard Nixon and his cronies in charge of things were a great improvement.

Sherwood maybe you can share some of your happy drugs and rosie colored glasses with the PoPo and they will mellow out a bit.

Jack, educating police about cutters would not have changed this situation. The officer, obviously in uniform, had his gun drawn and told the unfortunate soul to drop his knife multiple times. However, he kept advancing. The officer did not have time to consult the DSM IV and diagnose him. The officer could only conclude that this person wanted to stab him or wanted to commit suicide.

Dyspeptic: What planet are you from when you say this person was unarmed? Are you saying he was holding the blade in his mouth: (thank you, I'll be here all week).

Darrelplant: Your response to Al M was spot on. For once I agree with you.

Funny how none of the cop haters mention this latest info about the perp...

http://www.kptv.com/news/22955576/detail.html