What upsets him is that it happened downtown. Had it happened "in the numbers" where I live, he wouldn't have even commented.

More police officers to reduce crime?

That's so old fashioned, Jack. Once they come into contact with PPB, we've failed them. We need to put music and arts back into schools to prevent future homicides.

Maybe start up a high risk internship program in City Hall? The kids are high risk, of course, not City Hall.

Maybe start up a high risk internship program in City Hall?

Yeah, thats a wonderful idea with Mayor McFeely in charge.

Not to worry as its only Gang "Related" activity as was reported by the Newsies. Not the real stuff. Sorta off-Broadway if ya kno what I mean.

Embrace the diversity and pay your fare.

Amen, Jack.

Mayor's back from his boondoggle trip to Toronto. Toronto said they loved him so much for his superior green ness I was hoping they had kept him. No such luck. Talk about bad luck. The rumor mill was going a while back there was a high profile businessman planning to run for the Mayorial spot in 2012. Come to find out he lives outside the city limits, and has no intention of moving.

Maybe there's an outside chance, Wheeler won't get elected as state Treasurer, leaving him available to trounce Mayor Adams in '12.

I love him on the news: "If you know a gang banger who has an illegal gun, turn him in." Don't worry about revenge -- Mayor Creepy will watch over you.

Maybe Adams could stop forming or extending urban renewal districts to stop some of the $65 million annual dollars taken from basic services to feed to his developer buddies in the yuppie playground pearl and the SoWhat.

Thanks
JK

Somebody needs to tell Opie that these thugs ain't from Mayberry, and they don't play by the rules. A few years ago, a friend made the mistake of telling the police that he "heard shots" from a gang-related shooting. He didn't actually SEE anything, but he made a statement. That put his name in the public record, which made it possible for the gangbangers to find him. After being threatened, he moved house in the middle of the night, fearing for his life, to a somewhat safe distance of 300 miles away. He didn't come back for a year, after the heat had died down.

What shocked me about the latest shooting is that there's a police mini-precinct on NW 2nd just north of Couch, and they tend to be out in force at that time of night. When the bars start emptying, they close off Couch and post officers to scan the crowd. That area is probably the most crowded place in Portland right then, full of too many people who've had too much to drink.

I'm guessing that all the officers that are normally there were responding to the fight at 3rd & Couch. Having more officers on hand _might_ have made a difference, and it might not have. I wouldn't ascribe rational thought to gang members shooting on a crowded street.

I attended the annual OT/CT bar owners' summit a few months ago, and the police were worried about just this sort of thing happening then. They're on the lookout for gang activity, but there's only so much they can do. They can't arrest people until they've broken the law, and they can't be on every block of every street.

Gang-related violence is a symptom, and there's only so much that can or should be done to treat symptoms. Better to treat causes. What causes and strengthens criminal gangs? Poverty, prohibition, and high prison populations would be my top 3 candidates. Reduce all 3, and you'd reduce the number of gang members. But that would require changing the status quo, which those in charge have a vested interest in maintaining. They hope your fear will make you willing to trade a little more liberty for a little more (perceived) safety. Don't be fooled.

Gang intervention efforts do have a salutary effect, if properly funded and staffed.

I'm not trading anything. But I'm sure not going to be downtown in Portland after dark on a weekend unless there's a darned good reason. I don't know what we'll do in a few years when our kids want to do it.

There is no mytery here. Police know exaclty how to deal with this problem.

They are prohibited from doing so by politicians.

In this case the worst kind of politicians. Inept, dishonest and creepy.

There's only one thing to be expected from that combination. More trouble at every turn.

The topic matters not. Creepy and company are incompetent scoundrels who produce mayhem.

SO ANGRY ABOUT DWNTWN SHOOTNG. WHR IS TH LV??? CNT WE AL JST GT ALNG??? :-( #teamadams #boohoo #qcenter

The mayor is understandably angry at such flagrant zoning violations. The King area, and Killingsworth in general are zoned for shootings. Stabbings must occur beyond 82nd. City hall bathrooms have there own special zoning regulations.

Budget cuts in gang enforcement??

Yes, Mayor be angry, how about at yourself for problems in our city? Be a figurehead if you must, please hire someone in your office to manage and be financially accountable.
Too many people on your staff with "sustainable"?
Our city cannot sustain this lack of wise leadership.

No mystery is right...
Huge numbers of local residents are being callously disenfranchised by urban planners and their enablers in office, which is making those residents angry. Some of those residents are less resilient to disenfranchisement and they're getting even angrier and are feeling they have little left to lose, especially when standard procedure for local security forces seems to be to just silence the noncompliant with sniper fire.

I would imagine our Mayor to be righteously indignant and will promise to do something about it, after all he is a politician, so we're always going to hear it's just a little gang activity over here, or a crazy person over there, whether it is or not.

jc,

Urban planning to move more and more people into density and where some are living in little cells, "glorified" or not, doesn't help the situation.

Much has been written about access to nature being taken away from people. Papers have been written about the value of nature to children. Some of the young people do not have the opportunity to go outside the UGB to the coast or mountains to get away from the city.

Ben, please, the police only give an eff when they feel like it. The pols have no control over the cops or they would not be committing homocide as frequently as they do with no consequences.