Trash Talk About Portland
As the buds are starting to form at the International Rose Garden, it is become increasingly clear that we need to face this looming trash problem.
Kristina Edmunson is the Communications Director for the Oregon Department of Justice. She is a 6th generation Oregonian.
The headlines about Oregon’s largest city have been harsh recently.
Portland was recently called “Trash City” (KGW), “Dumptown” (The Oregonian) and “Buried in Trash” (KATU). These catchy headlines stem from the mounds of trash, abandoned vehicles, and impromptu dump sites that seem to line streets, parks and highway overpasses of Portland. So much trash accumulated during the pandemic, and now the task of dealing with it all is a little overwhelming.
There is some irony that these headlines are popping up right during the springtime, because spring is typically the season of roses for the Rose City. But, just as the buds are starting to form at the International Rose Garden, it is become increasingly clear that we need to face this looming trash problem.
As we have begun to reemerge from the pandemic, so many parts of our beloved city no longer feel the same. Although, I suspect Portland is not alone and many cities also feel different than what they did pre-pandemic. The restaurants, shopping centers, indoor gathering places that make a city feel vibrant have all been significantly altered. For Portland, the heartbeat of our city feels different than it did a year ago.
These headlines made me wonder: Is it really the trash that is the problem, or is it something else?
To partially answer the question, I went to my email box. It has started to feel like so many people are moving away from Portland, eager to leave a hard and challenging year behind. Friends, neighbors, colleagues, and others are flooding my email box with what feels like the same farewell notice. “After a year to reflect”, many of the emails start out with, “the timing just feels right to leave Portland.”
I guess a global pandemic, a year with kids home from school, remote work and all of the pandemic life stressors will make people reconsider where to live, and how to spend their time. Should we be alarmed?
What exactly is the city, county or state doing about the piles of trash throughout Portland (and perhaps other Oregon cities)? While this certainly cannot be the reason so many people are leaving Portland, it certainly cannot help.
The good news? There are some wonderful non-profits working on the trash issue. Ground Score is a non-profit program that employs people (often houseless, or housing insecure, but not always) to clean up after big events. In this case, while it is not one big event (like the Rose Parade) to clean-up, they are offering to help. They have recently partnered with the City of Portland to hire people at $20 an hour to clean up. One recent story said their employees had already cleared 15,000 pounds of trash.
Multnomah County, and Metro also have plans to address the trash. These plans include hiring people, including Oregonians recently out of prison, at $20 an hour to pick up garbage. The non-profit SOLVE has also been sending out volunteer crews. Metro says it wants to hire six new two-person crews for trash pickup, also paying $20 an hour.
Cities change. Cities grow. Even with all this trash, there is no shortage of people who want to move to Portland. For each family I see leaving Portland right now, a new family arrives. Those two neighbors who emailed me recently to say they are moving? In the last couple of months, two new families (each from out of state) took over their houses. And, you know what? These new families love Portland. They are thrilled to live in the Rose City, and they can’t wait to explore springtime in Portland.
So, perhaps this is just the season of life. People come and people go. Trash or not. I’m looking forward to sunnier days ahead.
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