Crisis in the Northwest: After decades of progressive politics, are voters “above the tipping point”?

This is the first story in a series about the addiction and homelessness crisis plaguing Oregon.

SALEM, Ore. – It was a quiet morning, save for a man screaming incoherently behind the Oregon State Capitol. He walked back and forth, occasionally flapping his arms, and didn’t seem to mind the January drizzle.

Inside the building, lawmakers milled in and out of meetings, trying to figure out how best to address homelessness, mental health and addiction in the next legislative session.

“We’re in a crisis, and it’s easy to see that,” Republican Rep. Lucetta Elmer told Fox News Digital. “Something has to change, and Oregonians want that change.”

Tara Fall takes a photo of a man smoking meth in Portland’s Chinatown neighborhood on January 10, 2024. (Hannah Rae Lambert/Fox News Digital)

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On a sidewalk in Portland’s Chinatown neighborhood, a man with curly brown hair hanging from beneath a beanie struggled to light a meth pipe. He tried to block the wind with his pink, swollen fingers, but the wind was too strong. So he put a woolen blanket over his head. The next moment, he appeared in a cloud of thick smoke.

Tara Fall took the portrait.

“It’s really sad.” She said she was then asked what it felt like to record that moment. Before she could continue, another man began shouting obscenities from under the Portland Timbers blanket. “And it’s scary sometimes,” she said. “We should probably move.”

Fowle grew up on the Oregon coast and bought a home in Portland in 2018. She loved everything about Portland: the culture, the food, and especially the weather.

But in 2020, she was feeling increasingly hopeless. At night, the sounds of violence could be heard coming from her home. She had to call her children out of her garden when a man with a machete passed by. A nearby home had been shot at multiple times, making it difficult to distinguish between new and old bullet holes.

“I can’t walk out the door without something weird happening,” she said.

What she heard on the news and on social media did not match what she witnessed in real life.

So she picked up a camera and began documenting what she saw, hoping to add some artistic flair to the trash piles that plagued the city. She chats with drug users and homeless people while taking portraits of them.

Northwest Crisis: Are Oregonians ‘past the tipping point’?

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These days, her most famous photos depict human waste splattered on walls and sidewalks as the city’s homeless community faces a surge in rubella rubella, a waste-borne disease. be.

Those who mock the “Portland liberal asshole” on X often don’t know what to make of Foul’s appearance. The homeschooling mother of four, with short hair, piercings, and a tattered band T-shirt, rarely shouts “Trump voters,” instead saying she “voted for this.” That’s why he regularly receives obscene accusations like, “Everything that happens to you is your own fault.”

“Okay,” she said. “Looks like I voted for poop.”

Tara Fall has lived in Oregon most of her life and moved to Portland in 2018. But since then, the city she loved has become the place she would move to if given the chance. (Hannah Rae Lambert/Fox News Digital)

“We are in danger”

In the 1800s, settlers flocked to the Land of Milk and Honey in search of fertile soil and agricultural prosperity. Over time, Oregon has become famous for its breathtaking natural scenery. Willamette Valley residents cherish being just an hour from the coast and an hour from the Cascade Mountains—lumber, craft breweries, and coffee shops.

That beautiful scenery has been desecrated.

Graffiti, tents and trash litter sidewalks and roadsides as Oregon battles one of the highest rates of homelessness. Fentanyl deaths jumped more than 67% last year, the largest increase in the nation, according to an analysis by Families Against Fentanyl.

Although Oregon remains safer than the national average, the state’s violent crime rate jumped 16.6% from 2019 to 2022, according to FBI data. Auto thefts jumped nearly 50%, with 551.5 thefts reported per 100,000 people in Oregon in 2022 (compared to the national average of 282.7).

In a poll conducted last year by DHM Research, only 29% of Oregonians said the state was heading in the right direction.

“We’re completely on the wrong track,” Elmer said. “We’re in a health crisis because of the drug use epidemic. We’re in a justice crisis because we can’t deal with people who break the law. We’re in a generational crisis.”

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Online, more dismissive conservatives are celebrating Oregon’s current downturn, pointing to it as an example of progressive policy failure. A Republican hasn’t ruled Oregon since the 1980s. Democrats control both houses of Congress. The predictable comment is that this is something voters have brought upon themselves, and that conservatives who remain should flee now.

“I hope [Oregon] Clackamas County Commissioner Ben West said, “A lot of what has happened is that there is no balance in Oregon…Politics is downstream from culture and elections have consequences.” .

Both parties have indicated they intend to repeal the state’s landmark drug decriminalization law during the February legislative session. Democratic lawmakers are considering reinstating involuntary commitments. City leaders, including the city of Portland, hope the Supreme Court will give them the power to restrict homeless people camping on public property.

“I think voters and residents are past a tipping point,” West, a sixth-generation Oregonian, said of the state’s political climate. But he is not convinced that lawmakers will do more than “nibble at the edges” of reform.

Tarps and belongings line up in an empty parking lot in Portland, Oregon, on January 10, 2024. (Hannah Rae Lambert/Fox News Digital)

“If downtown Portland collapses, the entire state of Oregon collapses.”

Fowle is among 56% of Portlanders who said they would leave the city in a recent poll.

“That would be sad because I love this place and I used to tell everyone it was the best city in the country,” she said. “I had a lot of pride in Portland.”

She said she has scrolled through Zillow many times to look at potential places to move, but because of high interest rates and housing costs, “it’s not a good world to move to.”

“So I think a lot of people feel trapped,” she says.

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Oregon’s population will decline for the first time in nearly 40 years in 2022, and the decline will continue into 2023, according to recent Census Bureau estimates. High-income earners left Multnomah County in droves in 2020-2021, taking with them more than $1 billion in tax revenue. .

“This shows how unique and critical these times are,” said Mingus Mapps, Portland’s city commissioner and mayoral candidate. “We have to get this right. What we need to focus on is homelessness, public safety and economic vitality.”

Oregon’s problems are most evident in Portland. Outdoor drug use, RVs and tents on the block, vandalism, office buildings still unfilled after the pandemic.

“There’s no question that Portland is going through a difficult time,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said. “We experienced an unprecedented number of worst-case scenario crises simultaneously.”

That’s why Gov. Tina Kotek made Borough’s recovery a top priority after taking office last year, deploying state troopers to help crack down on fentanyl trafficking. She recently announced a series of proposals that she hopes will boost economic activity in the city. That includes a thorough effort to remove graffiti and trash, as well as a push to remove remaining 2020 plywood. The latter got people laughing and rolling their eyes. Local residents have become accustomed to the sight of boarded-up windows.

The Portland City Council welcomes Kotek’s vision. Downtown Portland is an “economic engine for both the city and the state,” Mapps said.

“If downtown Portland collapses, the entire state of Oregon collapses,” he said. “That’s not allowed.”

Portland City Commissioner Mingus Mapps and Mayor Ted Wheeler agree that homelessness, drugs, public safety and livability have been major issues in the city over the past several years. (Hannah Rae Lambert/Fox News Digital)

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As local leaders await the results of Oregon’s special legislative session, which begins on February 5, West said Oregon and the Northwest are “absolutely worth fighting for.”

“There’s still a lot of good people here and a lot of great people throughout this state,” he said. “Great companies and people working hard to make Oregon better. That’s why I want to fight alongside those people.”

Ramiro Vargas contributed the accompanying video.