[Norm K]

Native Portlander here, with lots of friends and family still there. Their assessment from within is the same as I see as a now-outsider: the city (and not just the city center - it expands far, far into erstwhile lovely neighborhoods) has become a sh!thole.

If Portland was a sports team (we'll use the Blazers since they've always been there) the city's fall would be like the Blazers going from 78-4, sweeping every series on their way to the O'Brien Trophy, to 3-79 the next ... with the same lineup.

It would be heralded, albeit not a positive heralding, as the greatest collapse in sports history. First to worst in an astoundingly rapid fashion.