Socialist Portland City Councilor Wes Pelletier on Sunday gave a speech at an event in Monument Square in which he referred to his constituents as “creeps” and “sociopaths” for wanting the city to address the issue of homelessness, and called Mayor Mark Dion “f—ing stupid.”
The event was the inaugural pot luck meal hosted by a new nonprofit organization called “Food Not Bombs,” which plans to hand out food in Monument Square every other Sunday.
Earlier this month, the City of Portland announced that they would be working on efforts to “revitalize” Monument Square and Congress Street and make it cleaner and safer for visitors and residents.
The city said Portland Police would be increasing law enforcement presence in the area, and would be working in conjunction with the nonprofit Portland Downtown to open a new temporary community policing space in Monument Square.
The announcement came after several residents and business owners raised their concerns to the City Council regarding unsafe conditions in Monument Square caused by the presence of homeless people and drug users.
“When issues related to safety and quality-of-life issues on Monument Square were raised by local businesses, we took those concerns seriously,” said City Manager Danielle West. “Together with Portland Downtown, our goal is that Monument Square and Congress Street be safe, clean, and an attractive destination for workers, residents, and visitors.”
In his speech at the Sunday Food Not Bombs event, Pelletier called out constituents who have emailed the City Council with complaints about homeless individuals in Monument Square, referring to them as “sociopaths” and “creeps” for sending photos of homeless people to the Council and demanding action.
“The City Council has been getting so many emails of sociopaths who are sending pictures of people who are having mental crises or sleeping outside because they don’t have anywhere else to sleep, and talking about how disgusting it is, how we need to do something about it,” Pelletier said.
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He also directly attacked Mayor Mark Dion, calling his perspective on the issue “f—ing stupid” and criticizing the city’s decision to build a large, inaccessible homeless shelter on the outskirts of Portland rather than smaller, service-oriented shelters distributed throughout the city.
“The mayor will tell you that it’s because people just don’t want to use the shelter that they’re hanging out downtown — I think that’s f—-ing stupid,” he said.
“So what do we do about this? A lot of this stuff like this is directed action, but also I need people to feel as entitled as the creeps who keep emailing us do. Email the city council, tell them you want actual solutions,” he said.
Pelletier condemned the city’s collaboration with Portland Downtown, particularly their plan to deploy “cultural ambassadors,” which he described as “mall cops” intended to harass homeless people and keep them out of sight to create a “Disney World version of Portland” for tourists.
He highlighted the $750,000 cost of this initiative, arguing it diverts resources from meaningful solutions.
Pelletier pointed to a rejected proposal from two years ago that would have established smaller, accessible shelters with varied services, blaming the City Council and Mayor Dion for instead approving a “huge, mega shelter” that he described as overcrowded, noisy, and difficult to access, with limited services and insufficient bed availability.
