Gresham, OR

Butler Creek Park

Running time: 56:46 + 2-minute kick

Back in the Hood ‘hood one last (?) time. Stayed at the Quirke’s in the Highland neighborhood. Butler Creek was just a couple of blocks away. I found the trail (non-paved) that snakes along the creek and ran it down to the Springwater Trail and back up. Beautiful run. It was cool, and the terrain was varied. Some good inclines, which were challenging both ways.

I was pleasantly surprised by the green space in this neighborhood, which I was aware of but had never explored. There were a couple of pond/wetlands, and some offshoot trails, and one playground. I saw almost no trash, which is a definite plus. Even down by Springwater, there were no homeless encampments or drug droppings, which I was half-expecting.

It you have been to Portland in the past few years, you know there are a lot of homeless people with tents and camps on public property. It is all through the city. Areas that were once popular walking trails now have old cars and encampments on them. City sidewalks around parks are semi-permanent housing for the homeless. Admittedly, it is still no picnic for the homeless, but I imagine it is somewhat stressful for homeowners and business owners as well.

Interestingly, we watched the new George Carlin documentary with our friends Debbie and Dennis, whose house we stayed at two nights at the end of our visit to Oregon, and homelessness is one of the issues Carlin included in his somewhat searing criticism of American society and culture. In particular, I was struck by his recognition of the NIMBY phenomenon – Not In My Back Yard.

I felt a little sheepish when I heard the NIMBY declaration, because I have had conversations with other middle-class white folks about how awful the homeless problem is, but I think my perspective is that it is awful for all of us who have to drive by, maybe walk by, certainly avoid it, not that it is awful for the homeless. I find myself sympathizing with the homeowner who has human feces in his yard, rather than the person doing the dumping. Isn’t sheepish an interesting word? Am I feeling sheepish because I am lost in the flock?

I actually kind of liked Carlin’s partial solution – let them live on golf courses. I have a set of golf clubs. I was planning to get back into the game after a few years of non-golf, but I would be willing to sacrifice it. At least the public golf courses – they are already owned by the municipality. I doubt that there is one overriding solution that will work permanently to solve the homeless “problem,” but a proper living space is very likely one piece of the puzzle. Why not golf courses?

There are so many adjacent related issues to homelessness in need of creative attention. I imagine there are some worthwhile ideas out there not being given ample support. Will I be the person who picks up a torch and carries it? Other than this blog post, not likely. I do feel, however, that I need to think about it more thoroughly. It is easy to feel hopeless, as Carlin often did, about the shitshow our society/culture has become.

And it is also easy, for me at least, to acknowledge that the planet will be fine in the long run – humans will flame out and take thousands of species with them, and the planet will go on without us. That understanding is really tough, though, when you know you will leave kids and grandkids behind when you go.