Put The Bugs In A Jar And Shake It (updated)

Remember "urban grit"?

Urban grit is what drew Reves to his eighth-floor corner unit in the Civic.
“The reason I bought here was because it was downtown but it wasn’t in the Pearl,” says the 33-year-old Reves, who works for Nautilus in Vancouver, Wash. “I like to be around a more diverse location, even if there are drug dealers or prostitutes.”
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=118945870998628300

Yeah, yeah, take it easy, Lou Reed. I can remember when there was a little bit of it everywhere. Maybe even as recently as when Jim-Jim was beaten to death for being too gritty in the Pearl, f'rinstance. For my money, though, if you want grit, Flavel, Duke -- these are the streets to hang your hat.

Street-drug turf war heats up,
with Flavel Street murder
Officials say this stabbing wasn't drug related; but sources tell us violence may escalate, as drug dealers – not gang members – fight to protect their distribution areas …
Just before 10 p.m. on May 8, two men get into a scuffle on SE Flavel Street, a block east of SE 82nd Avenue of Roses.
Angry words are exchanged – and, in full view passengers riding in a passing TriMet bus, one man attacks the other with a knife. A teenage girl tries to intervene and gets slashed, while trying to stop the knife-wielding suspect from stabbing the wounded man to death.
http://www.eastpdxnews.com/index.php?mod=article_detail&id_art=860

Man, apartments over there are probably cheap! They're probably giving them away. But maybe I better check Craigslist before I head on over to the Rebuilding Center for some 2nd hand burglar bars. (Nobody seems to need those things in "No Po" any more!)

$679 / 2br - 2 Bedroom Apartment in Park-Like Community
- Truly Great Residents to have as Neighbors
- Rents From Only $679!
Timber Grove at Mt. Scott
8860 SE Flavel Street
Portland, Oregon 97266
http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/apa/676622684.html

Lemme make sure there's enough urban grit though. I like a little urban grit, that's why I want to live in the city!

Bravado beef or turf war?
While at the scene just before midnight, we speak with a confidential source who suggests that this fight was the result of "turf war" among drug dealers in the area.
Saying that SE Flavel Street has become the dividing line for street-drug dealing territories, the source tells us, "I expected violence to erupt in this area. And, now it's happened."
We ask the source if this is gang-related. "No, it's drug dealers protecting their sales area."
http://www.eastpdxnews.com/index.php?mod=article_detail&id_art=860

Hm, sounds like I'm going to have to pick a team. Wonder what's dirt-cheap, priced-to-move on the Duke Ave side? Ground floor, anyone?

$1150 / 3br - NICE HOUSE FOR RENT (S.E)
newly rremodel
new kitchen
hardwood floors
1-car garage
new paint in & out
ice cold A.C
GAS Heater very comfortable
larch fenced back yard
located at 6512 S.E 83rd----83rd & duke
NO PETS
NO SMOKING HOUSE
FIRST AND LAST MONTH plus $700 DEPOSIT
TO MOVE IN. TO BE PAY ON THE DAY OF SIGNING
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/apa/680887232.html

Wow, a whole house, and they're only asking as much as about a thousand houses within walking distance of downtown on the east side were going for four or five years ago! I only need Three Thousand Dollars (and a dictionary) to move in.

Detectives and criminalists from the PPB's Identification Division set up a tent over the dead man's body, and spend several hours processing the scene and interviewing witnesses.
Schmautz tells us officers and detectives contacted several individuals in the area, including 18-year-old Sean Michael Lagrew. "An autopsy conducted by the Multnomah County Medical Examiner confirmed that Adams died of a stab wound. Detectives arrested Lagrew on one count of Felony Murder, and booked him into the Justice Center Jail."
http://www.eastpdxnews.com/index.php?mod=article_detail&id_art=860

Well, urban grit aside, three bedrooms sounds like a bit "too much house" for me. I ought to check with my buddies at Grid Property Management. They specialize in renting out anything that's too gritty for their dad, Phoenix Redevelopment , to be able to sand and paint and sell for like $400,000.

$1095 / 2br - Classic Craftsman Bungalow (SE Portland)
Renovated 2br/1ba Craftsman at 7128 SE 83rd Ave...Great floorplan, full unfinished basement.
$1,095.00 per month, $1,500 refundable security deposit, $2,595.00 total to move in...Please drive by then call...Please respect the privacy of our current tenants [who don't know that we made their shithole house habitable only so we could kick them out and rent it for more money to you]
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/apa/682144729.html

83rd and Knapp, wow. I could have watched the stabbing while having a nice cold Fat Tire on my front porch

"When officers arrived, they saw 28-year-old Jason Manuel Adams collapsed on the ground," says Portland Police Bureau (PPB) spokesman Sgt. Brian Schmautz. "Officers called for an ambulance, but Adams died at the scene.
http://www.eastpdxnews.com/index.php?mod=article_detail&id_art=860

Good thing this happened in the middle of the month. I'd hate to be writing out my rent check while the cops have my front yard blocked off with crime-scene tape. In fact it would make me wonder why the hell I'm barricaded inside my house in the very center of the epicenter of the nerve center of the middle of ground-zero of Felony Flats, but still paying hardly anything less than some neighborhood where the cops might, I don't know, drive by more than once a week?

$700 / 2br - Great SW location with awesome views (SW Broadway Drive)
Council Crest area great walking paths right out back through nature park. 100 year old converted house has 3 apartments...Real quiet location and neighbors. street parking/ non smoking/ cats and small dog on approval with extra deposit. application fee $37 per adult. month to month rent $500 security deposit $150 non refundable set up fee.
SW Broadway Drive
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/apa/684329425.html

But after dressing down for another furtive run to Plaid Pantry for some more Mirror Pond Pale Ale -- much more -- I'd have to admit: it's because Council Crest is lame! Whether it's 20th and West Burnside, or 83rd and SE Flavel, I'm an urban dweller, and I've just gotta have the urban grit!

UPDATED -via email:

The guy who died after being stabbed by the 18 yo at 82nd and Flavel was an acquaintance of ours.  We went to his funeral on Saturday.  He wasn't a drug dealer - as far as I know he didn't do drugs (but drank) - but he *was* a really really nice kid.   

I say "kid" because, at 29, he really had the brain of a kid.  He'd had a pretty horrible head injury when he was in his teens, resulting in memory problems, epilepsy, and a whole gamut of other residual TBI problems.   A really sad situation - but despite it all, he was a super kind person, hard worker when he could work (it was hard for him to hold jobs because he constantly forgot what he was doing), and his real friends took care of him.

Comments

[Sid]

Ever notice how the people who yammer the most about "urban grit" are the ones who can bail out back for suburbia at a moment's notice? It's like the idiots who babble about how minimum wage is perfectly reasonable for everyone else, but they'd never work for anything less than $300k per year. Hey, Mr. Reve, if you were told that you couldn't leave, and that you're going to be stuck dealing with the mother-stabbers and father-rapers outside your door, would you still be so damn thrilled about urban grit?

[PDX Dilettante]

I'll be happy to offer him 20% below his asking price for the privelege of living in his noise-filled stresshole.

[Montgomery Parker]

I wouldn't call the Civic affordable (which the city seems to feel falls somewhere between "market rate" and "subsidy.") A recent Oregonian ad bragged that they started at $300,000. And you'd have to jump through the new financing hoops to qualify. And "urban grit"? Please. The only terrifying things about living at the Civic are noisy games at PGE Park and the occasional scuffle at the bottle return area of Fred Meyer.

[spencer]

Here's how I know the guy is an idiot. He actually has a decent paying job in Vancouver, yet chooses to live in Portland. I guess he likes not taking home 9% of his income.