Lars Larson: Wheeler’s strategic violence prevention…too little too late?

By Lars Larson,
NW and national radio host

42 people have been murdered in Portland so far this year and their blood stains the hands of Mayor “Feckless” Ted Wheeler.

Now he’s named a three person team in “strategic violence prevention”, whatever that might be.

Feckless Ted doesn’t have a good history. His first year as Mayor, 2017, the Riot City saw 27 murders. Last year that number was nearly triple.

This year, it might quadruple.

Now, Ted now says he can foresee what’s coming to the city this Summer.

Glad to have you join the club Ted.

The rest of us have seen the tidal wave of violence.

Only sensible people know what causes it and what can fix it.

The FBI tells me gang members commit two-thirds of the killings.

Fights over drug dealing and turf.

The answer is to bust the gangs but that would mean arresting a lot of people of color. That won’t fly at a woke city hall.

It means cracking down on drugs…in a state where voters legalized hard drugs not even two years ago.

And now Ted thinks his “Safer Summer” program can negotiate peace between all the gangs and slow down the murders.

I hope he’s right for the sake of those in the shooting gallery Portland has become.

But in my heart of hearts…I know Captain Ted Wheeler is only rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.