Let them eat s'mores

When you cross the Columbia River from Portland, things look a little different. The place is laid out like California, the politics are purple, and they don't pay state income tax (except for the financial whales, of which there are few). Most folks over that way don't seem to want to emulate their neighbors south of the big water. They sure don't want light rail bringing Portlandia across. Who can blame them?

And so it was a bit of surprise to read that the 'Couve is going to try to normalize camping by homeless people. Apparently the plan is to set up managed campsites for the squatters to inhabit. That and more parking lots for zombie RVs to occupy.

It will interesting to see how many rules the city will try to impose on the campers, and how many will comply. And will the number of street dwellers go up or down when the camps are in full swing? We shall see. Managed camps are part of the solution, I think, but if that's all you're going to do, they aren't going to make too much difference.