Thomas Blackburn lives in Portland.

Bayside is recognized as the most challenged neighborhood in Portland, and Portland Street is its epicenter, accounting for 18% of all calls for service, 30% of arrests and 40% of overdoses in the surrounding area. For many residents and visitors, Portland Street has become a place to avoid.

Baysiders are empathetic to those who gather here struggling with substance use disorders or behavioral health challenges. Individuals in active addiction are often either experiencing the high, seeking more drugs or suffering withdrawal. These conditions attract predators and drug dealers who exploit their vulnerability.

As one walks down Portland Street, the daily reality is stark. On a typical day one will observe people lying on the sidewalk, often unconscious, groups of people huddled, often in the post office bus shelter doing drugs and preventing regular people from using the shelter. Open drug use, including needles, is common.

Individuals may be agitated and unpredictable, yelling at unseen figures, slumped in the fentanyl fold or asking passersby for money. While assaults on pedestrians are infrequent, the risk is real enough that most people avoid any interaction.

The city’s policy of distributing up to 100 needles per person contributes to widespread litter with both used and unused needles scattered throughout the area. Trash accumulates quickly, including bags of food left by well-intentioned but naïve volunteers.

Preble Street, as part of its management plan for Elena’s Way, committed to daily sweeps of Portland Street for trash removal and loitering mitigation. To its credit, Preble Street has complied with trash pickups, especially when prompted by the Bayside Neighborhood Association.

Removing loiterers is nearly impossible given the number of individuals and their mobility. They congregate at Dyer’s Variety Store, the Lost Coin Café, Elena’s Way, 55 Portland St., the post office and the intersection of Oxford, Alder and Portland streets. These conditions persist on most days except when weather forces people elsewhere.

The constant presence of individuals in crisis has harmed local businesses. What is missing from Portland Street are the everyday signs of a healthy neighborhood, pedestrians walking to Dyer’s Market, Big Apple, Deering Oaks or one of the shops in “Little Africa” and residents who feel safe enough to use their own streets.

One meaningful solution is for the city to allow 28 Portland St., a 17,000-square-foot storage area, to be repurposed as a community center. The proposed Bayside Opportunity Center (BOC) would provide a safe, welcoming space for residents to gather, learn and connect.

The center would offer:

• Educational programs to empower New Mainers as they navigate America.
• A place for students to do their homework.
• An international café where neighbors can meet and build community.
• Flex space for cultural events with celebrations, dance, music and art exhibits.
• A marketplace to buy or sell goods.
• Affordable spaces for other nonprofits.
•  Job training and referrals, fulfilling the need for workers.

The BOC will give residents a positive alternative to the street environment, bring our neighbors outside to gather and get to know each other, and shine a light on a dark area of Portland. It will stabilize the neighborhood, restoring Portland Street as a place where people feel safe to walk, work and live.

New Mainers of Bayside, whose challenging journeys to America are a credit for their resilience, have established a village in Bayside, where the goal is to provide a better life for their families and neighbors.

New Mainers of Bayside lost their community center when the Immigrant Welcome Center closed. The BOC has continued the ESOL programming of the IWC and will offer more when space becomes available.

Bayside needs a community “third place” similar to the West End’s Reiche Community Room, Munjoy Hill’s East End Community Center, Riverton’s Community Center, Deering’s Stevens Square and Peaks Island Community Center.