Jul 20, 2025
If you were to walk down Southeast Washington Street in the Portland neighborhood of Montavilla, you'd see it lined with flower beds. But things weren't always that way.
Up until recently, residents say a number of RVs were parked where the flowers are now, attracting homeless people and criminal activity.
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"One thing several neighbors and I noticed is that there was a meth lab. So they were producing drugs," Christopher Carter-Tully told KATU News in a story published July 10. "The meth lab caught fire one morning. There was an RV that was prostituting women. There was a continual cycle."
Residents pestered the city for help — one person told the broadcaster they called for 56 weeks straight — and the vehicles were eventually removed. That's when a group of neighbors banded together to take their street back for good.
An aesthetically-pleasing solution
To deter any vehicles from returning, neighbors spent $3,000 of their own money planting flowers in troughs and barrels up and down the street where the RVs were once parked.
"We bought all of this, put the dirt in, bought all the plants," Joanne Benson, who's lived in the neighborhood for 17 years, told KATU News. Now, she says she sleeps better at night.
She added that families have started using the bike path that runs parallel to the street.
"Nobody would want to use the bike path for recreational use because they were scared," Carter-Tully said.
Since planting the flowers, Carter-Tully says they've noticed RVs roll up on the street only to drive away.
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"They know that the community is watching," he said.
As for whether or not the flower beds will raise red flags with the city, residents are hopeful they'll be left alone because the strategy seems to be working.
"We're actually saving them money," Carter-Tully said.
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The cost of neighborhood crime
Unaddressed crime can have a seriously negative impact on neighborhoods. It could put people's property, like homes and vehicles, at risk. Fires can impact entire blocks of buildings if they spread out of control. High crime rates can also drive away businesses.
It can also have a negative impact on property values. People don't tend to want to move to neighborhoods where crime is prevalent. And if too many homeowners abandon a neighborhood in short order due to an uptick in crime, it could lead to an oversupply of homes on the market, eroding property values.
Plus, higher crime rates could drive up home insurance premiums as well as auto insurance premiums, making life more expensive for residents. That’s why it’s important to be persistent and continue pressing city officials to address any crime issues in your neighborhood that you’re experiencing.
It may help to take pictures and document what’s happening in your neighborhood. Talk to your government representatives about the problem to see if they can urge local officials to take action.
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Maurie Backman has been writing professionally for well over a decade. Since becoming a full-time writer, she's produced thousands of articles on topics ranging from Social Security to investing to real estate.
