As a small business owner, this subject matters to me not only because I am a small business owner but because I am a native Oregonian and have called Portland my home for the last 40 years. I am very worried about Portland right now! The degree of homelessness, the outside investors that have poured lots of money into this city over the last 10 years, and a city government that doesn't seem to get things done soon enough and are not protecting the deep roots of our city.
Using a building as an example of what can happen when big money changes the brand of what Portland represents is appropriate and really made me start thinking even more about what is happening to our city! Yes, I agree with James that there are other places to look to understand the changes taking place nationwide (for many years) but it is only good to keep local and protect where we live. I think the building analogy is great! Good job Adam!
Now, let's all take another step and ask -- what can Portland residents do to keep Portland with progessive values that reflects what the people want this city to be? I am for smart change filled with Portland pride, inclusiveness, quality of lifestyle, love for nature, personal responsibilty, and supporting local businesses.
I thought about the building analogy when an activist supported setting the Justice center et al on fire as "Buildings Don't Bleed." I begged to differ, living right next to it, and cited the WTC, the Reichstag, to name a couple. Well, we are a year away from those days and downtown looks like it blew up and then, imploded. I was eventually assaulted in the park right across from the center, trying to hold on to my city and my longtime place in it, a downtown person. But it's like the people who took over our parks and our streets had - have - more rights than we do. I moved to the Pearl, which feels no safer now. It's shocking how fast the disease morphed and spread. I do not feel safe and look over my shoulder. And I lived in Hell's Kitchen in the 80s! But this feels different. And when I walk to work, I zigzag from street to street, avoiding screaming crazy men, who act like they have nothing to lose.
Face it: the pee-pul are the ones who moronically elected the mediocrities who are on City Council; who put a Soros-backed DA into office, who selected the non-entities on the county board. They are served by a somnolent media, an "alternative" weekly that is all-in for the establishment, and "if it bleeds, it leads" TV. The police department is in collapse. Shootings are a growth-industry. The cabal of unions, racist non-profits and builders runs the city. Voters approve massive bonded debt by the schools, county and city--and then whine when their property taxes go up.
The article here is mere whistling past the graveyard stuff...and why in God's name does this city need another upscale hotel in the middle of the druggies and vagrants cluttering up downtown? Does the writer ever venture east of 82d? I kinda doubt it.
Outside of Portland most Oregonians look at Portland as a pit of leftwing radical liberals and other liberals who stand by as the town is vandalized and looted. If an election were held the state would overwhelmingly split.
I got to know Portland from the ground up, taking a chance, and a Greyhound ticket bought by a stranger, and lived on the outskirts of town for 3 years in a tent (before the homeless boom)
Portland may be prospering, but it's also phasing out and pushing out the people who Ive come to call family- prosperity may be good for the economy, but then again, what made Portland a great place were the artists, musicians, and free thinkers-
Portland will never come back unless the spineless voters get rid of the liberal pukes running it. Portland now is in the class of Oakland, Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco. A trash dump with liberal puke leadership. Sit back and enjoy the shit show.
You must be from California or a brain washed millennial liberal. Downtown is a toilet full of homeless, drugs, and prostitution... No one who is from here wants to go downtown... Sorry about the food carts... But that has nothing to do with developers but more to do with our spineless, corrupt city officials who give more rights to the street trash then they do to tax paying, law abiding citizens.
The THOUSANDS of homeless camps --toxic waste dumps full of feces, urine, drugs and drug addicts, violent criminals, needles and piles upon piles of trash -- have taken over Portland because Portland leadership have allowed it to happen. And they're doing virtually nothing to get it cleaned up. No Portland, you're NOT 'coming back' - Portland is decaying and it's tragic.
If nothing new gets built, I don't work and can't spend money at food carts. When there are cranes on the skyline, the people that live in that city are working.
This writer's envy and jealousy is wrongly directed at a building in Portland. If you don't like the gaping wealth inequality, you should direct your attention toward the US Federal Reserve. They are actively punishing savers with 0% interest rates and QE that is specifically designed to boost the stock market. Wealthy people own most stocks. Meanwhile the cost of living for the rest of us skyrockets.
As a small business owner, this subject matters to me not only because I am a small business owner but because I am a native Oregonian and have called Portland my home for the last 40 years. I am very worried about Portland right now! The degree of homelessness, the outside investors that have poured lots of money into this city over the last 10 years, and a city government that doesn't seem to get things done soon enough and are not protecting the deep roots of our city.
Using a building as an example of what can happen when big money changes the brand of what Portland represents is appropriate and really made me start thinking even more about what is happening to our city! Yes, I agree with James that there are other places to look to understand the changes taking place nationwide (for many years) but it is only good to keep local and protect where we live. I think the building analogy is great! Good job Adam!
Now, let's all take another step and ask -- what can Portland residents do to keep Portland with progessive values that reflects what the people want this city to be? I am for smart change filled with Portland pride, inclusiveness, quality of lifestyle, love for nature, personal responsibilty, and supporting local businesses.
I thought about the building analogy when an activist supported setting the Justice center et al on fire as "Buildings Don't Bleed." I begged to differ, living right next to it, and cited the WTC, the Reichstag, to name a couple. Well, we are a year away from those days and downtown looks like it blew up and then, imploded. I was eventually assaulted in the park right across from the center, trying to hold on to my city and my longtime place in it, a downtown person. But it's like the people who took over our parks and our streets had - have - more rights than we do. I moved to the Pearl, which feels no safer now. It's shocking how fast the disease morphed and spread. I do not feel safe and look over my shoulder. And I lived in Hell's Kitchen in the 80s! But this feels different. And when I walk to work, I zigzag from street to street, avoiding screaming crazy men, who act like they have nothing to lose.
Face it: the pee-pul are the ones who moronically elected the mediocrities who are on City Council; who put a Soros-backed DA into office, who selected the non-entities on the county board. They are served by a somnolent media, an "alternative" weekly that is all-in for the establishment, and "if it bleeds, it leads" TV. The police department is in collapse. Shootings are a growth-industry. The cabal of unions, racist non-profits and builders runs the city. Voters approve massive bonded debt by the schools, county and city--and then whine when their property taxes go up.
The article here is mere whistling past the graveyard stuff...and why in God's name does this city need another upscale hotel in the middle of the druggies and vagrants cluttering up downtown? Does the writer ever venture east of 82d? I kinda doubt it.
Outside of Portland most Oregonians look at Portland as a pit of leftwing radical liberals and other liberals who stand by as the town is vandalized and looted. If an election were held the state would overwhelmingly split.
I got to know Portland from the ground up, taking a chance, and a Greyhound ticket bought by a stranger, and lived on the outskirts of town for 3 years in a tent (before the homeless boom)
Portland may be prospering, but it's also phasing out and pushing out the people who Ive come to call family- prosperity may be good for the economy, but then again, what made Portland a great place were the artists, musicians, and free thinkers-
Portland will never come back unless the spineless voters get rid of the liberal pukes running it. Portland now is in the class of Oakland, Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco. A trash dump with liberal puke leadership. Sit back and enjoy the shit show.
You must be from California or a brain washed millennial liberal. Downtown is a toilet full of homeless, drugs, and prostitution... No one who is from here wants to go downtown... Sorry about the food carts... But that has nothing to do with developers but more to do with our spineless, corrupt city officials who give more rights to the street trash then they do to tax paying, law abiding citizens.
The THOUSANDS of homeless camps --toxic waste dumps full of feces, urine, drugs and drug addicts, violent criminals, needles and piles upon piles of trash -- have taken over Portland because Portland leadership have allowed it to happen. And they're doing virtually nothing to get it cleaned up. No Portland, you're NOT 'coming back' - Portland is decaying and it's tragic.
Look across the street at The Moxy Portland Downtown! That is what's really going on!!
If nothing new gets built, I don't work and can't spend money at food carts. When there are cranes on the skyline, the people that live in that city are working.
This is like the premise for an article that was never written. Kind of a rhetorical nothingburger.
This writer's envy and jealousy is wrongly directed at a building in Portland. If you don't like the gaping wealth inequality, you should direct your attention toward the US Federal Reserve. They are actively punishing savers with 0% interest rates and QE that is specifically designed to boost the stock market. Wealthy people own most stocks. Meanwhile the cost of living for the rest of us skyrockets.