A massive underground bunker, surrounded by booby traps underneath a huge homeless encampment used as an illegal chop shop. This is at the infamous Thousand Acres dog park. I went with former Mayor Randy Lauer of Troutdale, with whom I have worked closely for five years. We were exploring and stumbled upon the bunker. A great deal of effort was invested in building this. There were multiple brand-new bikes in there, which were likely stolen. We initially thought it was just one small room, but behind a flimsy wall, to the right, the room opened up.
We weren’t sure how far back it went and decided not to go any further as we didn’t have the proper gear. This was a massive project that was impossible to miss. The people hired to manage the land were either on a three-year vacation or turned a blind eye to this destruction. In my opinion, this makes them just as liable as the people who created the destruction. By ignoring the problem, it has now become one of the largest homeless encampments in the state of Oregon.
Above ground looks far worse. It's like walking through the poorest neighborhood in a third-world country. I calculate that there are at least two million pounds of trash spread out over multiple acres. A recent planned sweep was paused after the clean team had a run-in with Stop the Sweep activists, and one of them was maced. Approximately thirty homeless people are living in these woods. The ones I spoke to insist they have not been offered any real help.
As for the ones who built this massive illegal chop shop and underground bunker, I am less sympathetic to their plight. This chop shop is notorious for being where thousands of stolen bikes have been taken to over the years.
Why do some small governments, agencies, or people allow this level of destruction? It boils down to radicalized ideologies. For some, the behaviour is justified and therefore must be protected because they only live this way because they are victims of capitalism. Others are over their head and don’t know how to solve it, so they feel they have no choice but to hide it. The irony in all of this is that they are supposed to be the biggest advocates of the homeless, yet their poor decisions and policies keep a person on the streets longer, where they continue to suffer.
Special shout-out to Randy. He is one of the few elected officials who are boots on the ground and willing to see the truth. If any elected official wants to see the reality of the streets, contact me.
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