It's hard to take an article seriously when it claims no city has taken a hands off approach to enforcing laws and prosecuting crime.
Case in point: there's a guy shooting up outside my condo right now. No one bothers to call the police, because the police won't do anything. When he punched me two years ago during COVID, police said it wasn't worth doing anything because he didn't actually cause bodily harm to me.
Sorry you were assaulted and the outside of your home is a hangout for addicts. That sucks. I hope you can appreciate this cynicism:
it's your own fault for not being rich enough.
Moving, soon enough. I suspect my city government is happy to say good riddance to me, despite me living here for over a decade, volunteering and contributing to the community, and deeply loving many of the aspects of it and the people here.
Idk, I'm a progressive Bernie voter, but I've also seen how Portland has declined, and it's extremely real.
The article cites the fact that democrats don't directly cut police budgets. They don't have to. Rather, the morale at police departments in blue cities is extremely low. Cops in Portland know that the average person there hates them. Cops simply don't want to work in Portland, and so hundreds of openings stay unfilled.
Basically, the only way to fix this is to convince the cops that their elected officials have their back. Unfortunately, this basically means they hold your city hostage unless you vote for Republican leadership.
It's basically an unofficial police strike in blue cities.
Hey, at least I don't have to worry about speeding tickets anymore!
Case in point: there's a guy shooting up outside my condo right now. No one bothers to call the police, because the police won't do anything. When he punched me two years ago during COVID, police said it wasn't worth doing anything because he didn't actually cause bodily harm to me.