I read the recent letter to the editor about a proposed commuter ferry with a mix of bewilderment and dismay, (“Readers respond: Ferry could help revitalize downtown,” May 16).
Portland doesn’t need a ferry or a new food cart or another out-of-touch policy gimmick recommended by some echo-chamber politician or national think tank.
It’s about safety. Portland’s woes and lack of post-pandemic recovery relative to other parts of the nation reflect several things: misplaced priorities; nihilism; and the disproportionate power granted to the city’s leftist activist class, abetted by the so-called progressive echo-chamber elite which rules over the city. The activist class doesn’t prioritize public safety and the elite live in a world insulated from the consequences of the policies they prescribe for everyone else. The incestuous relationship between these two groups has blinded them to the basics of what is needed to bring working and middle-class households back to enjoy what the city has to offer.
It’s about safety. The natural instinct of people to protect themselves and their families from the risk of harm. Families are not going to bring their wives, husbands, daughters, sons, grandparents or even their dogs into a city to run the risk of getting stabbed by a needle, stepping on human feces, mauled by aggressive dogs, accosted by the mentally unstable, ceaselessly panhandled by individuals looking for their next fix or worse.
It’s about safety.
Nathan Oleson, West Linn
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