For a “small, scrappy agency” with “dwindling resources” Preble Street has been lately spending plenty on self-promotion in the Portland Press Herald.
Their public relations blitz (yes, Preble Street has a dedicated PR department) is intended to sway public opinion into thinking Preble Street can do no wrong.
The truth is that for the last 20 years Preble Street has been ignoring the well-supported concerns of the neighborhood in which its programs operate. And now PS is desperate for a city permit to allow a change of use of their former resource center into yet another Bayside shelter. It’s because of Preble Street’s lack of accountability and their low-barrier policy that the City of Portland has such a large population of homeless to begin with.
If Preble Street is allowed to operate another shelter in the Bayside neighborhood it will only make the homelessness situation in the City of Portland worse.
Jay York
Portland
Send questions/comments to the editors.
