Wheeler and Vega Pedersen Treat Portland Like A Violent Drunk Spouse

Could charges of domestic violence stick against Mayor Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pedersen?

For years, they’ve beat the city up by aiding and abetting the drug addicts and criminals who fill Portlandia’s public places with needles, tents, filth, and garbage.

The county actually spent a couple of million dollars supplying a hundred thousand tents and tarps for a homeless population of 6 thousand.

Then, like any repeat abuser, they offer a heartfelt apology and a promise to “do better.”

The latest came yesterday in an agreement to extend the city/county Joint office of homeless services.  That bureaucracy chews up very nearly a quarter of a billion of your tax dollars every year while accomplishing less than zero.

The promises would be laughable if they weren’t so tragic.

Count the concrete campers.  Cut the number of people living on the street by only 50%, a full 25 months from now.

Get at least three-quarters of them to stay in housing for at least 2 years.

Nothing in the city and county’s failures over the years makes even those modest goals believable.

For example, the county has been unsuccessfully trying for five years to replace a simple sobering center.  And don’t let them blame money.  Vega Pederson couldn’t even figure out how to spend 100 million dollars this year.  Democrats gotta be pretty damn dumb when they can’t figure out how to spend every dime we give ’em.

However, the two-year time horizon gives Lame Duck Mayor Wheeler time to find his exit ramp.

And I guarantee you, two years give Vega Pedersen plenty of time to think of new excuses and a new list of promises.