Democratic Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler joins ‘Lawrence Jones Cross Country’ to defend his stance on police funding and handling of ‘significant challenges’ in Portland, Ore.
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Joining me now to address the issues Facing his City Portland mayor Ted Wheeler Mr Mayor thanks so much for Joining me uh today Um I had the opportunity to talk with Some of your your folks and I find them To be compassionate people I want to Play some of the sound from them when I Talk with them take a listen The city was once great about 10 years Ago I would say a lot of people moving Flourishing I would say in the last five No no good there are a lot of Difficulties in the city has faced over The past well during the pandemic and It's been exacerbated uh the homeless Situation has been pretty bad and the Vandalism of the businesses I think it's Definitely changed over the years I Taking care of his favorite constituents People who have tons of money and Property in the city and not so much on The rest of us and I mean I'd really Love to see him listen to the people Instead of shutting them down when they Try to speak a lot of it has to do with You know less police policing Homelessness just kicked up in the gear Drugs you know Um shoot my friend of my house I had Like six seven camps I just you know Parked out people doing drugs all day Mr Mayor those are your constituents What would you say to them

Well first of all those are some of my Constituents and I I certainly hear Those criticisms and I empathize with Those criticisms we definitely have Significant challenges here in the city Of Portland around homelessness around Criminal activity around livability These are some of the same issues that Have been exacerbated in large cities All across America but in the same Breath I'd say there's a lot of great Things happening in the city of Portland We were just identified by Forbes as Being the number one travel city in America for 2023 we have the best new Restaurant in America according to Esquire we just booked our largest ever Convention we have businesses moving to The city of Portland and investing in The city of Portland and the initiatives We've undertaken around homelessness Around recruiting more police officers Improving Public Safety cleaning up the Litter and the graffiti those Improvements are taking hold so I'm Actually very up optimistic about the Future and I would encourage those who Are really struggling under the current Environment to to have the patience to See the work through you know Mr Mayor I'm so glad that you talk about the Police funding because that is something That it seems like you have changed your Position on this is what you said before

I want to play this clip for you And the actions and reforms I'll share Today repurpose police dollars reinvest In people to create a more racially just City and reform Public Safety standards At the end of the day all of these Things I believe will help lift the Community and make us all safer in fact Mr Mayor it did not make your city more Safer especially for people that look Like me black and brown people in your Community are struggling and it seems Like you've changed your position on This issue why Not not at all what you're talking about Is out of context it was about a Specific Fund in fact we are having Record recruiting for the Portland Police Bureau I'm very proud of the Investments I've made in new gun Violence reduction teams I'm proud of The Partnerships we have with our County And our other governments around uh Retail theft around auto theft I have Always been pro-public safety and is the Police commissioner I've made it my Business to make sure that this city is Safe for our citizens and I also just Want to say this I hear on your Network All the time about what a dangerous city The city of Portland is and that's Factually not true we don't even make The top list of the top 30 most Dangerous cities in America so I would

Just amazing Because the reason we're the reason we I Got to I I know the point that you're Trying to make Mr Mayor but this is not Something that my network is trying to Uh get out of thin air I spend most of My my time with the people and I was Invited into your your city and I've Been there for the last four years Talking with residents there they say They're unsafe they say tents are Surrounding their houses they say that Squatters are taking over the city they Say and I say it with my own eyes that People are shooting up with drugs and They say it's because of policies that That you support and the police Commander that I talked with yesterday Say that you in fact did defund the Police and made an anti-cop sentiment Under the guise of racial justice so It's not something that I am saying These are your residents Well look um I I've heard enough from Fox News to know that in fact your Network does take a very dim view Towards the city of Portland towards me And towards others but that's beside the Point the point is this we have already Worked hard we're one of the few major Cities in America that is seeing we Don't have a recruiting problem for our Police Barrel we don't have a funding Problem for our police Bureau under my

Leadership for the port from the Portland Police Bureau we've actually Improved our recruiting we've added new Units we just negotiated a fair contract With our police officers that they seem Very pleased with and in fact yesterday We we reached a settlement with the Portland Police Association on body worn Cameras so I I feel like our Relationship is very collaborative now That doesn't mean you're not going to Find one person out of a thousand or Even a hundred out of a thousand who Can't find reasons to be upset or Critical or concerned I accept all of That is the mayor look I get the good I Get the bad and I get the ugly but the Bottom line for me is we are improving Public Safety we're improving the number Of police officers we have on our Streets we are addressing criminal Activity at the neighborhood level we're Working with specific neighborhoods Around the city to do what we call 90-day resets that addresses Homelessness IT addresses crime IT Addresses drugs and those have been very Successful resets in areas where we've Done these we've seen criminal activity Decrease precipitously so so mayor Criticism but I also but I also want you To hear that things are improving Hey Sean Hannity here hey click here to Subscribe to Fox News YouTube page and

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