Danger in Portland?

A scary experience in a city of contrasts

Portland, Oregon, is a city of contrasts:

spacious city streets sheltered by lovely vegetation are bisected by rugged new development areas. 

Gracious older buildings and well-dressed people mingle with a numerous and visible homeless population. 

Beautiful mature trees shade elders on benches at a riverfront park filled with whizzing exercisers of all kinds, as a large family of poor kids splash semi-naked in a public fountain. Fancy fine dining restaurants compete with hand-lettered signs on food trucks. 

Shiny highrises soar over short, squat brick buildings with doors swathed in graffiti. 

A glossy Tesla is parked beside an abandoned lime-green rental scooter used for public transport. 

Very good coffee perks near a faux Mexican cafeteria sporting a dollar menu.

We’d lucked out when we arrived in Portland, just missing a record-breaking heatwa…