Kennedy Park

Justin Ellis looks at Kennedy Park and wonders why it has so man problems. I have to agree with some of the comments that it is a fairly weak article. The why part is fairly simple:

alcoholism
broken homes
racism
drug addiction
domestic abuse
poor education
disabilities
laziness
language barriers

When you have too much of the above in a concentrated area, which is typical in low rent / subsidized areas, the problems tend to be exacerbated.

So that may be the why (grossly generalized), but the real question is what is the solution. You can read the comments on the story to see who is blaming who, but the question remains as to how to solve it.

"I just kept wondering 'why?' Why does this keep happening?

It was dusk on Aug. 16, and less than 24 hours earlier a man had been stabbed to death in a soccer field next to Kennedy Park.

I found myself walking through the neighborhood doing what reporters do after violent crimes – asking people questions.

But the question I kept asking myself was why does this keep happening in Kennedy Park? Why does it seem like things don't change?

As big of a 'small city' as Portland is, it seems like crime has been concentrated on the stretch of land between Munjoy Hill and Bayside.

Armchair social anthropologists and Internet trolls are likely to say it's because Kennedy Park is a public housing development, or simply 'these people bring it upon themselves.'

But that generalization is simplistic (if not ignorant). While Kennedy Park may have generated a file folder overstuffed with problems, it's still a neighborhood where people are trying to raise families and generally get by each day."