PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) –In January, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler vowed to take action to help struggling businesses and homeowners of the city’s Central Eastside with a 90-day reset plan with the goal being to clean up the Eastside and make it feel safer.
Now, five months later, people in the Central Eastside are still seeing issues that beg the question, did the 90-day reset plan actually help?
Jason Trabert lives in the neighborhood and told KOIN 6 his car has been shot and he sees cars broken into frequently. He’s also fed up with graffiti, trash, open drug use, and dealing with people who are in the throes of a mental health crisis.
“We have a problem and the city sees it. They say they need to do things with a sense of urgency, but it just isn’t there,” said Trabert. “I’m here 24/7, this is my place for me to sleep, when I can’t sleep because I have to work on protecting myself, that’s an issue.”
He said he’s lived there for five years but is considering moving if crime and livability in Portland’s Central Eastside don’t improve.
When Trabert’s concerns were taken to Mayor Wheeler, he said that he disagrees and that things have been improving for the Central Eastside.
“First of all, I’d fundamentally disagree,” said Wheeler. “The data shows, objectively, as we’ve increased police patrols, added lighting, as we’ve stepped up livability efforts around graffiti abatement, we’re seeing crime go down”
Wheeler told KOIN 6 that he thinks they need to double down on the 90-day resets and work with the city council to take them citywide.