Downtown group: Portland guides accosted in streets
Summer guides working for the Portland Downtown District have experienced “a few incidents” of feeling threatened or being accosted by people on the street, the group said in an email.
As a result, the downtown nonprofit group is asking businesses to provide temporary shelter for its summer guides if they are feeling threatened, the Portland Press Herald reported.
In the email, Portland Downtown District Chairman Michael Mastronardi wrote that police have been informed of the incidents, warning businesses about “the return visit from last year’s camouflaged group of aggressive beggars and thieves.”
Mark Swann, director of the nonprofit Preble Street, a social services group that focuses on issues of homelessness, told the Press Herald that Portland Downtown District should reach out to his group to help respond to such incidents, as it has in the past. He added that the email’s characterization of street people is “over the top and insensitive.”
Three city councilors and Trish McAllister, a city attorney who deals with public nuisances, told the newspaper that they hadn’t heard about the incidents. Portland police weren’t immediately able to identify the reports surrounding the events. Mastronardi didn’t elaborate on the incidents, saying he wishes to speak with the district’s other board directors first.
City Councilor Ed Suslovic told the Press Herald that he plans to address aggressive panhandling in a July meeting for the council’s public safety committee.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments