Northwest Portland neighbors rally together to address safety concerns

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- In one part of Northwest Portland, people don't feel safe and they're looking at ways to change that.

Various city, community and business leaders met at St. Mary's Cathedral on Northwest 17th and Davis on Thursday. The church is close to the busy area of West Burnside and I-405.

The timing for this discussion comes as several people who live and work in the area are noticing a rise in crimes.

"In the past two weeks especially, we've seen a big spike in the number of deals going down and vandalism and tagging and you name it, going on," said Andreas Loeffler with St. Mary's Cathedral. "This past week's been a little crazy."

"I just wish people would advocate for more services and mental health supports rather than this," voiced Eboni Brown, Executive Director of Greater Good Northwest. "If we had this much ferocity around those type of issues and those type of supports being brought into the communities, then I don't think we'd have any issues here."

The church says it is working on cleaning the neighborhood, reporting bad actors and enforcing the school zone.

Portland police also say they plan to monitor the neighborhood a lot more.