Open letter to Mayor Potter & our City's Leaders - citing The Oregonian's support of reinstating the PFZ

We sent this email to Mayor Potter, Randy Leonards and the rest of City Council along with Chief Rosie Sizer today...

Dear Mayor Potter and our City Leaders -

Please take a brief moment and view the links below.

The Editorial Board of the Oregonian did a great piece in today's paper & stressed the reinstatement of the PFZ - they also gave a factual account of the history of the PFZ and how it gets incorrectly caught up in the issues regarding the DFZ. There is also a great letter to the editor from a retired Portland Police officer (attached) and the PFZ as an important tool in enforcing the crime.

http://www.oregonlive.com/editorials/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1219368306258150.xml&coll=7

We in Montavilla In Action, truly don't believe that if the PFZ was still in affect that our neighborhoods would currently be in such dire straits and all of these groups & summits would now be happening in response. We don't think that one week ago a known and convicted prostitute would have been caught up in a tragic turf war with a competing pimp (that recently moved here from LA) and that he would have been stabbed to death by her at 7:30pm on SE Morrison & 82 Ave, if the PFZ was still on the books. This is why we push on to save our streets.

Thank you to The Oregonian & Mr. Duddy for truly pointing out the critical mistake that was made last September. Perhaps you, our elected Leaders will correct it before the 1 year anniversary (Sept 30) of that tragic error in judgement? As we stated and asked before why would you not add it back as an additional tool until all of your other proposed solutions are funded and in place?

This summer has been tragic on many levels but at the heart of it are the stories we are hearing from our neighbors and how they and their families are now affected by this crime daily like never before - like one young mother we met - who doesn't have the luxury of a car & must walk along 82nd to get her groceries and when doing so with her 3 young children men in cars are propositioning her in front of her young children - just because she is walking along on 82nd as a lone woman during the day. She doesn't want to move out of her apt. nor does she have the money to move or pay another security deposit but she fears for her safety and for her childrens'. This crime is so rampant now, that if you are a lone woman or a girl in this area, that you are now viewed as a prostitute and your safety is now gone - this was NOT the case when the PFZ was enforced.

PLEASE HELP US & reinstate the PFZ.

Thank you again all for your efforts & have a great weekend,
Montavilla In Action