A Tuesday post on the subreddit community for Portland claims that residents in the city’s West End neighborhood received a flyer asking citizens to contact city officials over public health and safety concerns caused by the homeless encampment on the Western Promenade.
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The flyer lists several events that it claims have taken place at the Western Prom encampment in recent weeks:
- June 28, 2023: Outdoor furniture, bikes, plants, BBQ grills stolen from multiple West End homes.
- August 3, 2023: Homeless man threatens the life of a West End home owner on his property and then collapses from drug overdose. Police let the man go with a warning.
- August 5, 2024: Homeless man from the West End encampment waving a machete at people walking on the Western Promenade. Police were called and they never reported back on their findings.
Portland Police Chief Mark Dubois did not immediately respond to a request for comment on these alleged incidents or the department’s policy on arrests of homeless individuals.
The flyer also says that hypodermic needles, trash, and litter are strewn throughout the Western Prom encampment, and that it has grown to nearly 110 tents.
[RELATED: Portland Police Investigating Death At Western Promenade Homeless Encampment]
The “Concerned Citizens of the West End” then make a call to action:
“We NEED your help. Please contact your City officials and express your concerns. These conditions will not improve without our PUSHBACK to the City,” the flyer reads.
The flyer then lists the contact information for Portland City Manager Danielle West, Mayor Kate Snyder, Chief Dubois, and District 2 City Councilor Victoria Pelletier.
“This [flyer] came as a mass mailing. Metered mail. Looks like using the voter file. Envelope said ‘Concerned Citizens of the West End’ but no return address or anything identifying who paid for it,” the Reddit user who posted the image of the flyer said in their post Monday.
“A mailing like this would cost a couple thousand dollars at least. Seems pretty sketchy this close to a mayoral election,” the user added.
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Several of the comments on the post agreed with the substance of the flyer, that the city’s homelessness situation has reached crisis level:
- East end, West end, Bayside, Rosemont, Downtown, It’s an issue everywhere and It’s time for the city to step up and take real action. This situation has reached a boiling point, it’s unsafe for everyone (the homeless included).
- I’m starting to have hard feelings for the “free needles” places, do any of those orgs clean up any of the needles they hand out? Seems like they’re keeping junkies safe while also endangering the public, thanksss….
- At this point I’m not even sure the city has enough resources to adequately address the issue. There are simply too many homeless people to find housing/shelter for reasonably. I’m all for humanitarian solutions but the situation has gotten so far out of control I don’t see how the city can even begin to clean up this mess. The State needs to step in if not the Federal Government
- “Why is this massive wound still bleeding profusely? I keep putting Band-Aids on it!”
- Citizens that see this in their neighborhood every day are fed up, and them starting to push back shouldn’t surprise anyone.
- It’s easy to be hands off on the homeless issue until its your neighborhood they’re living in.
- The housing crisis is a difficult subject to discuss. It’s a lot of things. However, some of these “displaced” individuals are career criminals and crack heads. Low level drug “dealers” who contribute to overdose deaths. There was literally a murder behind the county jail. Someone was nearly bitten to death last month. This isn’t just a “housing crisis”. It’s a crime and mental health issue.
- You all voted for it, so enjoy it.
2 Comments
The city is almost done housing the 2,000+ illegals. Giving them EBT, clothes, phones, no interest car loans, sharia compliant bank loans, free college. Im sure theres plenty of resources left to help the campers. Go give them a ziplock with hygiene products and a box of crackers. Check back in a few days, maybe there will be a cot in the shelter that still smells like africa. What? You cant say thank you? I dont understand why they wont go stay in a grimey shelter where you have to be through the door by 5pm or they lock the door…Have a cold stale ham sandwich. No? I guess they just dont want our help. -shrug-
Every day, Every Year, Portland and Maine continue to decline under the slow decay of the liberal voter and “Leadership.”
Their arsenal wholly consists of Inaction, Indecision, Confusion, Grandstanding, Virtue Signaling and Casting blame on the GOP and their supporters.
I don’t care what party helps the country, I don’t play the ideological game but it is sad to see the “leaders” who sit aside, deaf, dumb and blind, subscribe to a hard, unwavering stance of utter of cowardice.