↙↙↙PDX Interfaith Clergy Resistance

Alternatives to calling the police in Portland Oregon

“Every single person waiting in line needs someone to just talk to them. There’s so much need out here I can feel it. Can you?” said Jenn, a shelter referral specialist at Blanchet House. To get real lasting help you need a phone, you need to be able to leave a message and be contactable, you need to be able to hold for long periods of time while you call resources, you’re told to come back on another day, all while you’re moving from place to place trying to survive. Most shelters require you to leave during the day. At night they have bed bugs. It’s hard to keep trying and keep hoping.

We need to send the most effective response available to 911 calls involving people in crisis and that includes Portland Street Response. PSR handles thousands of emergency calls a year - sending highly trained professionals to nonviolent crises instead of armed police officers.

Just like I said!!! ⬇️⬇️⬇️ wweek.com/news/2023/07/1…

Unbelievable that @CommissionerRG & @DanRyanPDX are citing a Portland Business Alliance funded push poll to defend undermining charter reform over the only poll that matters - how Portlanders voted at the ballot less than a year ago.

🧵 Important progressive wins are currently UNDER THREAT at City Hall: ➡️ Portland Street Response is quietly being stripped of funding ➡️ City Commissioners are trying to revoke critical charter reforms ➡️ SOON: PCEF and PAC are going to face a hostile council for code approvals

Sign the petition to save Portland Street Response (PSR)! We need to fully fund and expand PSR, the city program that sends mental health workers — instead of police — to 911 calls related to people having behavioral health crises outside. At Blanchet House, we rely on PSR almost daily to respond to people in distress outside our doors. There is no equivalent to PSR. When someone is experiencing a mental health episode it's not appropriate to call the police. They need mental health workers to sit with them and unpack their complex needs in order to get them appropriate care. Please sign the petition at friendsofpsr.com

"Ryan said he'd be "all in" for the new government structure if voters approved it, and Gonzalez told OPB after he was elected in November that "we’ve got to implement charter reform as approved by the voters." But they seem to have changed their tune."

Glad to hear you’re an advocate of our awesome @PDXStResponse Comm Gonzalez! We look forward to seeing your efforts to strengthen this pioneering project created by visionary local leader @JH4PDX

Brilliant & devastating critique of US sanctions on #Syria By @frrodriguezc Professor at @josefkorbel School at @UofDenver thehill.com/opinion/congre…

This is what occupation looks like. #SaveMasaferYatta

Might be nice if they just used that $14.2 million to pay their damn employees. #UnionsForAll #HotUnionSummer

Our intrepid intern Thomas came up with the idea to check out all of the public restrooms available to people experiencing homelessness in Portland. First up is the Portland Loo located on NW Glisan at 5th Avenue. Thomas reports, “No toilet seat. It flushed and had water at the outside hand washing station. No hand sanitizer in the holders and no toilet paper.”

Sawyer isn't the only mayor in the state to engage in similar behavior. Baker City Mayor Matt Diaz has also shared hateful memes on Facebook recently. opb.org/article/2023/0…

OPB was able to review a private law enforcement group on Facebook. We found that Newport, Oregon, Mayor Dean Sawyer - a former police officer - has been posting hateful content since at least 2016. opb.org/article/2023/0…

@alankesslr If it’s Blue sky yes

Many people are telling us that cars drove around Old Town last night throwing lit fireworks at people experiencing homelessness. That is assault on another human being! People living on our streets must be treated with dignity and protected from violence.

The Supreme Court's recent rulings were sadly predictable for anyone who understands the hard-right agenda. Their goal has always been to install Justices whose job is to turn back the clock on our freedoms, on decades of constitutional decisions, and on our continuing struggle to “form a more perfect union” that includes all of us. Let's vote out their political enablers and rein in the dark, subversive money that supports them in their quest to reverse a century of progress.

Sending all the love and support to Jamari Woodard and his family during is recover. 🙏🏽🤎👑 katu.com/news/local/con…