Last night we had folks trying to break in to the empty duplex next to me. I chased them away as they tried to tell me the owner wanted them to get them ready to rent. Since I know the owner I knew it was bullshit.

This morning I awoke to both of my work ladders ($500) being stolen. The alley behind me had more campers. Meanwhile as crime goes up and our neighborhood gets worse we have folks on the city council who seem to not want to support our police officers.

So my advice to all of you is to be sure you have the ability to protect yourself. Please do not be that person who says, “if I only would have had a way to fight back.” It is dangerous, as they are not afraid to come onto your property and steal. We have good cops here. If they were allowed to do their jobs they would not be quitting.

Burglaries, mail theft, stolen property, tires slashed. We even had video evidence and nothing happened. Criminals that cause destruction and steal from us..walk around unpunished. Several of my neighbors have run into the guy who slashed all the tires... he was never even arrested.

The camps are popping up all over. With Fred Meyer gone all those junkies and thieves have to find somewhere else to make up for not having 1.5 million in merchandise in their coffers.

I picked up 62 needles in the alley. A guy was urinating right across from the Catholic School. not even trying to hide what he was doing.

More and more folks wandering around,.. by the way I have only ran into one out of the dozen or so I talked to that are from Portland. One guy at Lents Park told me some lady feeding them told them to make sure they say they are from here.

The slow spiral of the new toilet bowl we used to call Portland.

Very sad!