Portland scooter user fed up with sidewalk drug use
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Keith Martin is a small business owner who said he moved to downtown Portland for the coffee shops, the restaurants and the conveniences. He relies on his scooter and the Portland Streetcar to get around his neighborhood.
But his neighborhood right now is littered with tents blocking the public right of ways, groups of people openly smoking or dealing drugs right outside the Safeway at SW 10th and Jefferson.
Martin, 72, was one of the numerous handicapped plaintiffs in the Americans with Disability Act class action lawsuit that the City of Portland settled last summer. The settlement required tents and campsites be removed from sidewalks to be in compliance with the federal law.
Despite some improvements after the lawsuit, he said accessibility issues persist.
“That’s what scares me when I’m downtown and there are people doing drugs openly. It scares me sometimes. They come out and chase me and yell at me and I feel like I shouldn’t have to be scared to go outside,” Martin told KOIN 6 News.
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He’s disappointed in the city and county leadership’s lack of focus on making the city safer and more enjoyable for residents.
“The job of a leader is to have a positive image and to create goodness for a community. And if all of us are feeling despaired, we keep paying our property taxes, but we can’t get our scooters on the street. And what does that mean? That means it’s been a massive failure in a will to make this a great place to live,” he said.
“We expect a fair exchange. Pay our taxes, do our work, and have a safe place to live.”
When downtown Portland businesses and amenities close because of untenable conditions, Martin said, it takes away from the flavor of the city. He wants leaders to have one top priority: to create a positive environment for the community.
“The reason I moved downtown, which is for the coffee shops, the restaurants, the conveniences. Each time one of those closes, it’s like a little cut,” he said. “It’s just one more nice feature cut away from the town that you come to live in.”
Statement from the mayor’s office
In a statement to KOIN 6 News, Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office said the ongoing problems at the Safeway at SW 10th and Jefferson are being addressed in an ongoing fashion.
The City said it’s continuing to post and remove problematic campsites in the area daily and is spraying and cleaning the sidewalks daily. During last week’s removal, the city’s outreach team reports numerous people accepted shelter offers.
Wheeler’s office said Portland police are continuing their targeted missions in this area. KOIN 6 crew saw the Bike Squad and a state trooper clearing out a group of open drug users today.
The Mayor’s office said PPB is also working with Safeway security to help out and met with Safeway executive management this week. The city’s Public Environment Management Office identified some priority areas in the neighborhood to get graffiti removed, the area cleaned and get better lighting.
The mayor is also “very concerned about the bottle drop recycling at Safeway and other markets across the city.” His office has received many complaints from businesses about the Bottle Bill.
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