My wife and I moved to Portland in the late 1990's to escape the craziness of the SF Bay Area. Portland was certainly a bit 'weird' back then, but was still a decent place to live, with affordable housing, and great access to outdoor opportunities. We watched the city slowly then rapidly decline. The mindless woke left quite literally voted in the destruction of their city and then complain about it. F*ck them!

As I write this, my wife and I are about to go look at home on 11 acres, well away from the city of Portland and the derelict Multnomah county which, BTW, has the highest county tax rate anywhere in the USA. Even stranger is people are still moving here and snatching up houses.

Wish us luck!

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
REI closes its Portland store after being 'overwhelmed' by theft

“Outdoor goods firm REI will close its huge downtown Portland store after struggling with record-breaking thefts and burglaries despite splurging on heavy-duty security. …”

DailyMail article:
https://mol.im/a/11985749

Clearly the fault of corporate greed. I mean really, spending $800,000 to protect their precious property and corporate greed from those who simply want free stuff? How dare they!

Now they're going to blame the criminals and crime for closing. Inconceivable!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
REI closes its Portland store after being 'overwhelmed' by theft

“Outdoor goods firm REI will close its huge downtown Portland store after struggling with record-breaking thefts and burglaries despite splurging on heavy-duty security. …”

DailyMail article:
https://mol.im/a/11985749

One less anchor tenant in the downtown core area and one less store REI has to worry about unionizing.

Don't forget the minimum wage in Portland is like $16 per hour and the business taxes are through the roof.

After the antifa resurrection that went on for months that destroyed downtown the question asked was "how long will it take to turn things around?" After months of it getting worse with the liberal environment of legal meth and legal heroin creating a crime wave the question became "will Portland turn it around?" The answer is Portland isn't worth turning things around. The city and its government is woke-to-the-core. Let the place rot from within.

“Portland's public safety commissioner has told people to not call 911 unless they're at risk of death - as the Democrat-run city continues to struggle with rampant drug use and a slew of overdoses.

Commissioner Rene Gonzalez told locals that its emergency service hotline was overwhelmed with people calling about members of the public suffering fentanyl overdoses. Oregon decriminalized hard drug use three years ago.

As a result, he urged people to only call 911 in a life or death emergency, as it was revealed paramedics had been called to deal with eight suspected fentanyl overdoses in the city's once-tony Pearl District.

Portland's neighborhoods have been overrun with crime, homelessness, and drugs since the pandemic - and despite pouring funds into relief initiatives, little change is occurring on the streets of the city. …” [Big surprise, that. Not.]

DailyMail article:
https://mol.im/a/12586241

^^^
I’m sure this has nothing at all with Oregon decriminalizing hard drugs a while back, encouraging homelessness and “daytime camping” (ie- squatting in handmade shelters). Keep eating your own, leftists.

quote:

Portland's neighborhoods have been overrun with crime, homelessness, and drugs since the pamdemic

Really? It's the Corona Virus' fault? Blaming it on a virus, not on your own stupidity...
I'm shocked they didn't blame Trump.

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:

quote:

Portland's neighborhoods have been overrun with crime, homelessness, and drugs since the pamdemic

Really? It's the Corona Virus' fault? Blaming it on a virus, not on your own stupidity...
I'm shocked they didn't blame Trump.

The pandemic simply provided a convenient excuse to accelerate "social justice programs" (EXPERIMENTS) that the Left was intent on putting into place for decades. The BLM Movement was the Democrat's voice for defunding the police and the criminal justice system going back to the Obama Administration (remember the "Gentle Giant" Michael Brown?) and long before that. In Los Angeles County, inmates in the local jails were predominately convicted FELONS, since the state developed a system of "Realignment", that transferred most convicts out of the State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, so that prisons could be torn down and (not coincidentally) not replaced. Local jails didn't have room for those facing or convicted of misdemeanor offenses, much to the consternation of prosecutors, judges, and the general public, but with COVID "urgency" as an excuse, these were facilities were all but emptied.

It isn't the "stupidity" of the Left that created this degree of crime, drug abuse, and homelessness (caused by drug/alcohol dependency), it was their advocacy of social "reforms" that have proven over time DECADES AGO as being destructive. If anything, I'd describe their actions as being those of deliberate indifference.

What happened during the tenure of NYC Mayor Koch and led to the election and successes of Mayor Rudy Guilliani (who endorsed effective law enforcement and judicial responses to criminal acts), will hopefully happen now. Unfortunately, we've lost a lot of institutional knowledge among cops, prosecutors, and judges that wouldn't/couldn't put up with the BS foisted upon them and now it's going to take decades to repair the damage.

To add to the excellent statement above about the left's advocacy of social reforms, let's not forget their advocacy, assisted by the MSM, of doing away with mental institutions and replacing them with community programs which often never materialized. The consequence is that the mentally ill now often are on the street as part of the homeless population or incarcerated. The public is victimized when these individuals act out.

quote:

Originally posted by uvahawk:
To add to the excellent statement above about the left's advocacy of social reforms, let's not forget their advocacy, assisted by the MSM, of doing away with mental institutions and replacing them with community programs which often never materialized. The consequence is that the mentally ill now often are on the street as part of the homeless population or incarcerated. The public is victimized when these individuals act out.

They've come a long way towards reclassifying most criminals as having mental problems too, and yet in these circumstances (like the cases you describe) their only answer to dealing with the problems caused by patients/recidivists refusal to voluntarily take needed medications or participate in rehabilitation programs is intransigence. These "caring" Leftists simply demand that society accept these social, personal, community threats as the "new reality."

If anyone says crime in Portland has not increased, they need to be reminded that people aren't even bothering to report crime any longer.

The only people reporting property crime are those needing a report for insurance, but other than that, it's pointless.

Even crimes like assaults aren't reported in many cases. No point in doing so. In many cases the police refuse to take a report. Or they make you wait on hold for hours.

Certainly one way to claim that crime is steady.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:
If anyone says crime in Portland has not increased, they need to be reminded that people aren't even bothering to report crime any longer.

The only people reporting property crime are those needing a report for insurance, but other than that, it's pointless.

Even crimes like assaults aren't reported in many cases. No point in doing so. In many cases the police refuse to take a report. Or they make you wait on hold for hours.

Certainly one way to claim that crime is steady.

About 3 or 4 years ago (BEFORE the pandemic) my car was broken into while it was sitting in the (fenced and monitored) parking lot at my office. I called Portland PD to file a report and they told me I had to do it online. I did, never heard back from them, not even an acknowledgement. Of course the camera that should have covered the parking space I used that day, was out of order.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
“Portland's public safety commissioner has told people to not call 911 unless they're at risk of death - as the Democrat-run city continues to struggle with rampant drug use and a slew of overdoses.

The struggle is many of the voters refuse to acknowledge the realty of the squalor and violence around them. Many have convinced themselves that nothing is wrong or, 'this is how societies change', they've accepted disorder is perfectly fine.

See some of these people (BTW how do you embed a YT short?)
https://youtube.com/shorts/IqxizWXX_MU?si=nTSz_TYx-Gv5mado

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
The struggle is many of the voters refuse to acknowledge the realty of the squalor and violence around them. Many have convinced themselves that nothing is wrong or, 'this is how societies change', they've accepted disorder is perfectly fine.

See some of these people (BTW how do you embed a YT short?)
https://youtube.com/shorts/Iqx...?si=nTSz_TYx-Gv5mado

Yep. Oblivious until it happens to them. Just ask Josh Kruger. Oh, wait. Never mind.

When I moved here, I was quite content to only carry something on the order of a G26.

The situation devolved.

I went to a Smith .45, then a G19, and now....

I avoid Portland altogether.

Yep, anytime I have to go into Portland, I up-gun: higher capacity and/or multiple.

quote:

Originally posted by gruntjim:
When I moved here, I was quite content to only carry something on the order of a G26.

The situation devolved.

I went to a Smith .45, then a G19, and now....

I avoid Portland altogether.

I live in the suburbs of Portland. Worked downtown last year. It was ok, but not good, I wouldn't send women and children into many parts of the city.

- The mayor is clueless and doesn't GAF

- The city council, wow! Last year there was a lady who was certifiable. Thankfully she didn't run for reelection.

- Homelessness is everywhere, the city imposed a ban on camping from 6am to 8pm in public spaces. Some group sewed to get that overturned.

- Vagrants are everywhere and have expanded into the suburbs

- Portland had been trending to be a nice little
"big" city

- At this point it is just a shithole

Side Note:
I personally know the gentleman who took over recently as police chief. He IS A GOOD MAN.

He had previously retired as the central district commander. When the last chief stepped down, they asked him if he would come back temporarily to run the department until the new mayor was elected and appointed their own chief.

The current mayor announced ~2 months back he will not seek re-election. He is in his 2nd term.

quote:

Originally posted by pulicords:


deliberate indifference.

You may forget, my friend, but I'm at ground zero for much of this bullshit. Pritzker, Preckwinkle, Evans, Foxx and Johnson (before that was lighfoot).

"Deliberate indifference"? I'd call it Subversive Support. They are ACTIVELY changing policing as we speak, and have been doing it for years. None for the better, either. I honestly believe that if it was up to them, I shouldn't put handcuffs on anyone, ever...
Changing the thresholds for certain crimes to make it almost impossible to get felony charges... And not just in Chicago or Portland: New York, Seattle, Baltimore seem to be having the same problems.

If I can only put my finger on the common denominators. Hmmmm....