At a town hall on Tuesday night to discuss his sweeping plan to add 1,500 shelter beds by the end of the year, Mayor Keith Wilson responded to community backlash around the latest planned shelter in Northwest Portland.
“We have to address the suffering, and I believe that we can find a bed for every person in Portland in need every single night,” Wilson told a crowd of 500 at The Armory.
It’s been weeks now that a group of neighbors in Northwest Portland has vehemently and publicly opposed the shelter. The campaign is largely led by Todd Zarnitz, president of the Northwest District Association, who’s taken interviews with television stations to air his concerns and has hosted community gatherings to protest the shelter…