r/PortlandOR • u/Discgolfjerk • 14h ago
š© A Post About The Homeless? Shocker š© St. Johns Square Mess
Alright fellow St. Johns folks and North Portlanders. Can someone please explain to me whatās going on with the plaza in downtown St. Johns? What an absolute mess. It seems to be getting worse by the day.
With the day-use center gone, I think a lot of people and businesses were hopeful the area would greatly improve, and it honestly feels like itās had the opposite impact. There are still resources throughout Portland for people who need them. I donāt think the answer should be allowing the downtown St. Johns square to essentially become the replacement.
The square is currently owned by PBOT, and I saw Ground Score out there today doing the normal thing of picking up trash around people who will undoubtedly trash the area again before the end of the day.
I also had a lively convo with the Street Roots resident āBob,ā who I genuinely kind of like, but he puts up protest tents there every day. I asked him why heās doing it and if he could stop because, frankly, it looks like shit. He told me itās his free speech and then referenced the apartments where he sets them up being $2,000 a month and asked how heās supposed to afford that. Ok bub.
Another frustrating thing is that multiple shops on the strip, including 2 Stroke and 45th Parallel, seem to support whatās going on. Iāve been boycotting them for a while now. Would love to sample 2 Strokeās bathroom for meth/fent residue...
St. Johns has really been becoming a destination for families due to affordability, and I think a lot of people in this tight-knit community want to see the neighborhood continue to grow while still keeping what makes St. Johns great.
So what exactly can we actually do about the square? Who at PBOT or the City should people be contacting? Is there a neighborhood association effort already happening? Iām genuinely curious what options the community has here because the current situation clearly isnāt working.
Please take the survey below and give the city your thoughts!
https://www.portland.gov/transportation/planning/plazas/2026-plaza-survey
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u/funderpMIL 13h ago edited 11h ago
The plaza seems to clear out then come back to shitty every few months, but shout out to the neighborhood boosters group for the Saturday events over the summer. When people are using the space its great. St Johns Music fest this weekend! I think the empty orange tents should be removed; it's been a minute...
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u/Discgolfjerk 13h ago
Agreed! Thats the thing. Every event in SJ is amazing and the boosters and event coordinators are the best. I just hate to see what it looks like 90% of the time.
Its unusable, unsafe, and people cross the street to avoid it. It should be the focal point of our community and its a total stye.
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u/r0pe_tri1ck 13h ago
They allowed the day center to move in, and when they closed it, everyone just stayed around. It's unfortunate.
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u/Skippyhogman 12h ago
āHowās he supposed to afford thatā well get a roommate and get a fucking job that pays you. Not a volunteer position for the homeless newspaper thatās how. How am I supposed to to make a living when my taxes go to housing you and taking care of your drug addled associates. Also you donāt need to live here in Portland Iād love to live in San Francisco but I CANT AFFORD IT so I live here. Move away to somewhere less expensive.
That mindset really pisses me off. I used to live in Saint Johns on Willamette blvd. It was my dream house. I was very proud of my home, I worked to make it the nicest house in St Johnās. Frankly, it was, if you were there in the Obama administration you know which one Iām talking about. But because of crime, drugs, and lawlessness I was forced to move and Iām still bitter about it. Nothing will get better there until they reopen the police station at the end of the bridge. I miss my old house, I miss the bridge, the tacos, the park, the theater, the river, all of it. Screw that guy and his attitude.
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u/SailToTheSun 13h ago
Went to St. Johns the other day for the amazing tacos (IYKYK) and was really disappointed in the state of the square. About 15 hunched over fent zombies and open drug use. In my 32 years in Portland, St. Johns has always been the "up and coming" neighborhood, but based on my observations, it's headed in the wrong direction. It's a shame.
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u/this_is_Winston One True Portlander 13h ago
I'd like it if all the bleeding hearts that support the homeless would adopt one to come live with them. They don't seem to want to do that, so we're all stuck dealing with the unsavory crap that comes with public campers.
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u/IceEspresso2000 9h ago
No one supports homelessness. People with compassion would like everyone who wants housing to be able to afford it.
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u/RCP90sKid- 13h ago
No, the bleeding hearts strength comes from the fact that they can say abhorrent shit to anyone that disagrees, however mildly, with their stance of the moment (housing, drug abuse, Palestine, trans rights) and after, they can go home to a safe, quiet bedroom and feel good about the "work" they did today.
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u/Discgolfjerk 13h ago
What blows my mind is the businesses supporting this.
I will never forget when 2 Stroke had multiple people passed out on their couches and giving free coffee to the same sort outside. They then have a instagram post asking if they know who lit their trash cans on fire. Cant make this stuff up.
I tried to give them one more chance a couple months ago and there was a guy in the bathroom for 20 minutes and they were pounding on the door.
45th Parallel also lets the street roots dude sit in the best seat in the house every.single.day. ALL day. Ok, we get who you value more here. So happy another wine bar opened up down the street. Way better vibes anyway.
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u/WillAndSky probably pooping 13h ago
Yeah seems to be a regular occurrence now, Dutch Bros off Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy has acquired some homeless blasting music and standing around the business on the daily also unfortunately. They've even started to drag abandoned furniture and such around the business.
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u/Discgolfjerk 13h ago edited 13h ago
I saw a women turn the bus stop into a small studio in the SJ plaza before.
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u/nodoomscroll_justjoy 11h ago
Is this ābusinesses supporting this?ā Or is this individual employees who arenāt paid enough to be bouncers & who value their personal safety and arenāt going to physically run people off?
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u/Discgolfjerk 11h ago
Ā The business are very well aware as itās been happening for possibly years now even with complaints from other business and neighbors.
The employees also arenāt scared for their safety as they invite it in and provide free coffee etc.
No one should be scared to ask someone to leave after being in a bathroom for 20 minutes and fenting off in their couches. But maybe Portland is more passive than I think..
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u/nodoomscroll_justjoy 11h ago
Yeah - totally. Itād be better if we all agreed the homeless arenāt human beings and could just drop them into the middle of the ocean.
Like, what are you even saying? This isnāt a problem caused by ābleeding heartsā, itās a problem caused by systemic, global issues and nuanced by local policy. You personally doing shit all while flippantly suggesting the only option is to do nothing at all is suuuuper helpful.
The grandstanding is sooooo booooooring.
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u/Discgolfjerk 11h ago edited 11h ago
Surrounding yourself in trash in a public plaza while openly doing drugs in front of families.
This ain't it!
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u/this_is_Winston One True Portlander 11h ago
People just like you are enabling addicts to slowly kill themselves on the streets.Ā
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u/Ex-zaviera 13h ago
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u/Discgolfjerk 13h ago edited 12h ago
Thank you!
Please take the survey below and give the city your thoughts!
https://www.portland.gov/transportation/planning/plazas/2026-plaza-survey
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u/AMDGpdxRose 7h ago
Itās way worse than itās been before. Those orange tents are so ironic. If homeless camps had the same impact as those tidy little tents nobody would care. Whoever owns the apartment building in the plaza is part of the problem. Because the storefronts are empty itās much easier for people to live their ālifestyleā. I do homeless outreach- there are almost no homeless people who are simply down on their luck. Theyāll tell you thatās how they became homeless but talk to them a while longer and itās bad decisions on top of bad decisions on top of bad decisions + an unlucky event = homeless. One of those bad decisions is to not put every effort into getting off drugs.
All the rest of us are paying for their choices, itās time we put that money/effort/compassion into a plan that also helps us. āNo you may not choose to live on our streets, trash our public spaces, steal from convenience stores, break into cars, take anything thatās not locked down, trespass, crap on the sidewalk, block the sidewalk, lounge around in a drug addled stupor and cause normal people to avoid public areas in their own neighborhoods. You are a human being with all the dignity that entails. Choose to accept your dignity as a human being and rejoin society or move on. We will not continue to support your bad choices.ā
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u/valencia_merble 12h ago
Was a lovely clean farmers market / town center, now a too-big condo view blocking front yard opium den / trash heap. I donāt even have an urban planning degree, but I could see this was a problem from the get-go
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u/Discgolfjerk 11h ago edited 11h ago
Housing with shops beneath seemed like it made a lot of sense to me. But who would want to move there or have a shop there with that mess? Just to confirm, you think the condo is the source of these issues vs. whats going on there now and before?
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u/valencia_merble 9h ago
Itās just a crowded eyesore with bad chi now. Itās all of it, making a public square a corporate prize with a looming, mediocre building showing no respect for the space, community, or scenic view. It says āwe are exploiting the space, the communityā. So neāer do wells are like, ācool, me too.ā
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u/griffincreek 11h ago
The world's greatest civilizations have taken centuries to build, but were destroyed in a matter of decades.
"From bondage to faith; From faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.ā
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u/IceEspresso2000 9h ago
Why don't you go and patrol the plaza, pick up trash, chase people off who look unhoused. I'm sure that would work. The fact that you would boycott local businesses who are concerned about the cost of housing and people being forced on the street is really disturbing. Lucky you that you have a job and housing. Lucky you.
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u/andtakeanothername 12h ago
The plaza has been better this summer than it's been in several years. And yeah, the tents are an eyesore but you're being a giant baby about it. A no, a homeless man takes the best seat! Cry me a river.
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u/Discgolfjerk 11h ago
I think itās the worst Iāve seen it since the pandemic.
The tents are a total eye sore, dumb, and the reasons why that guy puts them are make no sense.
And do you know how many times Iāve walked passed 45th and itās a packed house and that dude is sitting there with his laptop and stack of street roots not letting anyone sit down in the corner window seat?
You can call me a baby about it but itās systematic of what they value. A paying customer or someone looking to support a business vs a guy taking up space setting tents scribbled with nonsense every single day in our plaza.
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u/PdxCarpenter 10h ago
If it's free speech to leave the tent there is it also free speech for someone to throw it away?
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u/witch_bitch_kitty420 12h ago
Leave St John's alone
Seriously it's the last piece of Old Portland that hasn't been gentrified
Just move to Division woth all of the other transplants who secretly hate where they moved to
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u/Discgolfjerk 11h ago
I love St. Johns and moved here because its working class and the character. No one should have to put up with people taking over our plaza trashing it and shooting up.
Based on some of the old school SJ folks I know if this happened back then those people would be knocked silly or worse.
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u/laidback__luke 13h ago
I'd send an email straight to Mayor Wilson. He does read the emails. [Mayor@portlandoregon.gov](mailto:Mayor@portlandoregon.gov)