Several weeks ago, a group of active and well-meaning people organized a
civility summit in Portland. Held in the cavernous ballroom of the Portland State
University student center, it was something of a tragic farce – not because it
wasn’t decently organized, and not because its aims aren’t laudable and even
necessary . . . but because it was hijacked. Badly.
Carole and I went, skeptical but hopeful and supportive. A panel of
nonprofit leaders, local elected officials, and law enforcement officers related
stories of recent, disturbing incidents of incivility in Portland, as well as acts
of assistance and kindness. The former included accounts of abusive street
behavior, a vagrant begging leftovers from passersby and then disgustedly tossing
the food in the gutter because he doesn’t like pasta, and drunk and disorderly
young people from the suburbs whooping it up downtown or on the MAX light rail
train.
One story showed that deteriorating behavior on the streets could (and
probably has) cost the city huge amounts of money. A representative of Travel
Oregon, the nonprofit that promotes tourism and conventions, was taking a pair
of event planners from out of town around the city when a panhandler accosted
them, wouldn’t take no, followed them onto a MAX train, and made them fear for
their safety. The impact of a lost 2018 convention event and possibly the
spread of the story to other planners could conceivably be in the millions.
This and other stories were noted in an op-ed in the Portland Business Journal a week later.
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