PORTLAND, Oregon — On a sunny late-summer afternoon, Logan Whalen stood outside his barbershop in downtown Portland. Two homeless people who were huddled in a doorway nearby were using illegal drugs.
He said drug deals sometimes happen openly on his block. “I’m tired of it. It’s mostly a nuisance, but it can also get a little bit scary,” he said.
Portland is nothing like the “war zone” that President Trump has described in recent speeches while calling for a deployment of National Guard troops in the city. It’s a foodie town, with high-end shops, restaurants and boutiques. On this day, the business district was busy with locals and tourists.
But after years of effort by local officials, on many streets there are still signs of homelessness, often complicated by severe addiction and mental illness. Whalen described one recent encounter where a homeless person blew fentanyl smoke in his face.
“Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order.” – DONALD TRUMP
Logan Whalen runs a barbershop in downtown Portland, Oregon. He says “compassion fatigue” is growing over the city’s homelessness problem.
“I’m gay, very much a liberal Democrat, but compassion fatigue is a big thing,” he said. “I don’t want to walk on the street [to avoid homeless people]. I want to walk on the sidewalk.”
Trump’s answer to growing frustration, and fear, over America’s homelessness crisis includes a plan to expand use of a legal process known as civil commitment.
He says that in more cases, judges should be able to force people to accept medical care for addiction and mental illness.
“Our once-great cities have become unlivable, unsanitary nightmares, surrendered to the homeless, the drug-addicted and the violent and dangerously deranged,” Trump said …
