Today in Portland, homelessness around the edges

Maybe it's the state of the world.
With Britain detaching from the EU, with new terrorist attacks weekly, or more often.  With new projects piled on me, though my existing projects are still underway.  Or maybe it's being hit up for cash on every street corner.

The one area of respite, of peace in this crazy world, seemed to be Mt Tabor Park.  I've seen hummingbirds up there, I've eaten thimbleberries that I was certain were my own private supply (cause I mean, how many people even know what they are).

Today, a tent, with a person inside.  Really?  Here in Mt Tabor?  Under the massive tree near the 71st Ave stairs and the tennis court.   Looked like someone in a sleeping bag/hammock swing kind of thing, inside a tent.

It shatters my peace a bit.  Our city is out of control.  I don't think the powers that be know what to do.  Every other week is a new idea about how to combat homelessness.  Last week it was a bond measure, some hundreds of millions.  It equated to $200K per unit.  Craziness, and some develooer's plan to line his pockets while there is desperation on in the air.

Just would like a little peace, and apparently I have to look a little farther now than my Mt Tabor.

Save My Mount Tabor

Tonight, a public outreach meeting, a chance for the City Water Bureau to hear from representatives of the Mt Tabor Neighborhood Association, and interested neighbors.

Why the City Council decided, without asking anyone, that they could go forth, tear out 14 old growth trees, dig a huge 10' wide trench, and a bypass pipe that would no longer supply the reservoirs with our drinking water (or any water).  Well, thank you to City Commissioner Amanda Fritz for making this meeting possible.

Now, as she points out, there will be bureaucracy to follow - a historic landmarks review commission, the Bureau of Development Services.  A formal process, and if it is referred to the City Council, 4 of 5 members have to say 'no' to this large and destructive process for it to not go forward.

An outcome of citizen involvement is that the City has now put forward alternatives to the 'base' approach, some of which cost money, but do not involve tearing out 14 old growth trees.  There is apparently a "tree mitigation" process, where 1" diameter of removed tree has to be replaced by 1" of planted tree.  Well, I'm sorry, but 496 1" trees do not make up for a 400 year old Douglas fir.

I am less convinced about needing to drink water from the reservoir, but I do want to save the trees, the historic structures, and the park as public property.  See www.mttaborpdx.org for more on all this.  By July they will probably make a decision.