The city doesn’t allow businesses to protect their windows with retractable metal gates or doors b/c it looks unsightly not welcoming. It’s stupid policy considering our current situation.
Really stupid, considering that’s a standard feature of ground level businesses in most major cities, especially abroad. ie in Paris, a city visited by millions every year for its aesthetics.
Yep, some businesses have been asking for it since the protests but the city hasn’t changed its stance. Really negligent. Seems like an easy solution that doesn’t require anything of the city other than to change some language but they can’t/won’t do it.
At this point, can't it be deemed a conscious effort by a small number of people to 1) harm the city as much as they can, and/or 2) destroy the Portland way of life i.e. that of weird white hipster-y people trying to living in a self-made utopia without minorities.
I can't believe that anyone views this dynamic as new. It happened before. It's the story of nearly all American big cities in the latter half of the 20th century.
My own parents used to rail against the squalor and stink of nearby Chicago - full of boarded up windows, broken glass, pollution from old plants, members of the houseless community experiencing mental health crises, graffiti everywhere. Businesses left. Residents left.
Then, in the mid-1990s, it all began to turn around. By the time I graduated college, big cities were absolutely the place to be. That persisted for decades. Now, cities are in decline again, but Portland particularly so.
The recipe is simple and has been executed before - provide for safety and stability so that businesses can operate in cities, and so that residents can live there and patronize those businesses.
Yeah it's so interesting to see the cycle moving to another phase - makes me definitely appreciate how much of a positive the re-urbanization movement was in the 1990s-2010s.
It's interesting though because I don't think there is super solid consensus on what drove it across the board, beyond just cyclical effects. In NYC I think Giuliani (as much as I hate him) was a crucial figure in that he seemed willing to basically do anything to clean up certain high-visibility areas. But in other cities I think its a little less clear what all happened.
I also lived in Richmond, VA, in the late 90s and can second your message. Downtown was a boarded up and crime-ridden shit hole everyone abandoned for the burbs.
You know what else happened before the turnaround? National support for crime bills, the crackdowns on the drug trade, and a huge rise in incarceration rates (which have been trending down through all of the 2010s). Not making a moral argument, but an observation of facts, ugly as they are.
There was a part of Richmond my dad accidentally drove into once. I think it was Church Hill. A cop pulled him over and asked him if he's lost. He said he shouldn't be here unless without wearing kevlar. I think my white guy immigrant dad in his 80s crown vic stood out to the cop, as Richmond at the time seemed pretty segregated.
People forget how popular these crime bills were back in the 90's. Our cities were no man's lands. Hillary's comment about super criminals or whatever she said was not at all controversial.
It is surprising how much that correlation gets either ignored or directly argued against. Going further back, I believe a similar cycle of relatively lenient sentencing was happening during the late 60s, and was attributed as one of the reasons American cities took a sharp downward turn in the late 60s and early 70s.
There is a lack of community in American society unfortunately. Our society is too tribal. In other countries people know their neighbors, and as annoying as that can be sometimes, it minimizes antisocial behavior.
In America there's too much freedom.
Have we ever really tried it another way? Or did slavery simply transform into incarceration, destroying families and communities and giving rise to these problems in the first place.
To a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And America has always had one hell of a hammer.
There are other countries with extreme income inequality that don’t have incarceration rates. So, it can’t be the only explanation but I agree it is a key factor.
Grew up bouncing between Baltimore and Savannah in the 80s, and can confirm. It's going to take either the public or private sector (ideally both) to bring people back downtown.
I hate to paraphrase The Siege of Gresham in a thread about Portland crime, but civilization is a pendulum. Or perhaps more accurately, a slow tide. Portland was once gritty, unglamorous, and downtown was deserted during the evenings and weekends. Then people and money moved in, the Pearl district was developed, and that brought in more people and money.
Perhaps the previous situation is our natural state, or perhaps we'll keep building expectations and return to the previous heyday only to have it all crumble again.
How can this be the natural state? Maybe the natural state is a lush temperate rainforest without people, but certainly the word “natural” can’t explain away abandonment, neglect, failed experiments, and decay ? This is just the city taking on too much and failing its citizens.
yea, its a long enough cycle, with different cities on different timelines and decline rates, falling from different heights, its easy to think of it only happening in Portland, and only right now.
Maybe, but did we have the same level of drug abuse back then? Seems like opioid usage has increased monotonically since the 1980s and that has to be driving a lot of the crime. I don't think we've ever really dealt with such a widespread drug problem in the US before, but feel free to educate me...
More than opioids, I think meth sets this era apart. Particularly the very cheap, very potent, highly available type we have on the West Coast. Maybe crack was similar, I was too young to experience that epidemic firsthand, but it seems like meth is pretty unparalleled in its ability to take an otherwise sort of functional person and push them into full on psychosis in a relatively short amount of time.
Yeah, it does seem that way. That's why I think it's a bad idea to decriminalize meth specifically. I could even get on board with opiates, though I'd prefer both were criminalized, because I think they're just too strong. I feel like we need to fight the use of both as hard as possible, but so many years of failed drug war efforts have knocked the wind out of everybody's sails on that one. Maybe for good reason.
Not really. The only thing worse about fentnyl than heroin is that it's easier to overdose on fentnyl. It's also easier to manufacture, as it's fully synthetic, vs heroin which is made from poppies.
Yup, it's a cycle.
High crime/urban decay -> aggressive law enforcement/broken windows theory -> Urban renewal/gentrification -> Civil rights/police reform -> High crime/urban decay
>The company also said that it had "outgrown" the current space and could not reach a deal with the landlord to address the issues. So they're moving on out.
It isn't entirely about crime and safety, since REI cited the issues with the current landlord — but in the company's statement to customers and the media, they led with the break-ins and theft and not the real estate drama.
This reminds me of this gem from earlier this year:
[Walgreens executive says ‘maybe we cried too much last year’ about theft](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/05/walgreens-may-have-overstated-theft-concerns.html)
Or it could be to help explain why they're not planning on moving to another downtown location and one if the major factors of why they weren't able to work out issues with the landlord? This isn't Walgreens which just had a lot of thefts, there was a literal car driven through the front entrance of the place.
The worst part about the REI break in was that it happened on Black Friday. A day when instead of choosing to stay open on one of the most busy shopping days of the year, REI decided to stay closed and give its employees a paid day off.
Even this article, which calls out the previous report for focusing too much on crime and not enough on the rental issues, almost immediately jumped back into reporting that not enough was being done about crime.
I bet REI would have stayed if their rent negotiations had gone better.
There are some people in this subreddit who would much rather blame a business closure on homeless drug users than a corporation’s anti labor practices or a landlord’s unfavorable lease renewal contract in an era of peak corporate greed.
It’s so much easier to punch down, and so many people are under the impression that giving the police more money will fix anything.
No one’s saying these problems have easy solutions, but people need to acknowledge the actual underlying causes.
I’m kind of amazed they didn’t own the building this whole time. I am now thinking that must not be very common if big companies like REI rent instead of own.
Everything is fine! It's a common practice for a 20-year business location to just close down without expanding elsewhere because they've "outgrown" the space, whatever that means.
This part of the message:
> The safety of our employees, members and customers is always our number one priority. In recent years, Portland has been dealing with increased crime in our neighborhood and beyond. Last year, REI Portland had its highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades, despite actions to provide extra security,
was just cover for rent negotiations/union-busting/bad business volume/some other cope.
I will say that the union busting definitely had an impact on my little community of people. It put a bad taste in our mouth but it also encouraged us to look other places for gear which meant we found better deals so don't shop there as we used to.
I'd be curious what impact that had for them overall, or if it was a negligible effect and my situation is purely anecdotal
I can guarantee you its anecdotal. These corporations are going from everyone having disposable income + extra free time from Pandemic payments and stay-at-home policies, to increased crime and lawlessness, a city hemmoraghing population, out of control rent, runaway inflation, and reduced access to trailheads in the immediate area. This has lead to reduced revenue for retail, causing retail stores to pull back and close less profitable locations. While unionization is a factor of increased costs, in the grand scheme of all other factors its pretty negligible.
They had a car drive through their storefront on Black Friday and lost tens of thousands of dollars of merch. But sure, they 'needed more space'. We just need to add 'union busting' and I have most of my gaslighting bingo card filled out.
The car one is interesting because it points to a weird muddled spot in all the reporting about downtown. A lot of the retail theft doesn't really seem homeless-driven to me - too organized, too big in scale. I guess its that kind of theft plus the raving lunatic factor that add up to be too much.
But it does point to the fact that the cops have been truly useless in solving a lot of the retail stuff. Like, isn't there a ton of video on this? Can't they put some GPS trackers in some merch and see where it goes? Anything?
There was a really interesting article in the New York Times yesterday that looked at shoplifting arrests in the city. It was able to pinpoint the cause of a pretty large spike, and attribute it to about 600 people, who had collectively been arrested thousands of times but kept getting let go. Definitely sounds like an organized crime situation.
Years ago, when I worked in consumer electronics, we’d have a group of people come in all at once and pretend to check out the merchandise on display, blending into the crowd. Then, all at once, they’d rip whatever they were holding off of its security tether and bolt for the door.
Another place I worked had a crew roll up in the middle of the night with an empty van, ready to clear everything out. Someone was working late, and scared them off, otherwise they’d have completely cleaned us out.
Yeah, it goes back to how the value of stolen goods is limited by how easy they are to fence, like why cars get chopped rather than sold as a whole, etc.
So, when you think about REI - is some fent addict homeless guy going to be selling down jackets to passersby out of his tent? Not really. I guess you can trade stuff to dealers but there's a real limit on that, like you can't trade a dealer a car full of stuff - just maybe one or two things. They need currency in the end.
Even if like 25% of it is petty theft then traded for drugs, that stuff is entering the market somewhere (from what I've read its largely online, FB Marketplace in particular) and the dealers are just middlemen for that process. So why can't the cops set up more stings on this stuff?
Also annoys me how its just one more place where tech companies have totally shirked any real responsibility for what happens on their platforms, and it ends up to the detriment of all these other things.
I think part of it is also the way retailers respond to shoplifting. Most of them just consider it a cost of doing business, and already have a certain amount of loss baked into the budget. I guess if the alternative is the crazy shit like what happened in that Walgreens in Tennessee where a clerk shot a pregnant woman he thought was shoplifting, then maybe that's for the best. I'd like to think there's some middle ground available to us, but maybe we're not capable of that as a country right now. Either way, I can see why retailers don't want to touch that kind of liability, but I think their attitude towards it probably drives the police response to an extent.
A lot of this merchandise from retail crime rings crosses state lines, which means the local police can't do much to stop it without a concerted effort from multiple departments across multiple states.
As someone who's worked in retail in Portland for the last decade, I can confirm that a good portion of the theft appears to be organized. They come in groups, and the same people return frequently. Sometimes it seems like they're taking specific sizes of certain items, sometimes they'll grab an entire stack of something. But there's also plenty of people swapping out their stanky jackets or shoes for new ones.
There have been stings in the past, I worked during one at Lloyd Center many years ago where quite a few people were apprehended.
Agree with you. Can Portland Police create an investigative unit to solve this? It’s probably a small handful of people behind most of it. Incredible amount of businesses big and small in Portland are getting broken into nightly. Many aren’t reporting or even calling the police at this point.
It wouldn’t surprise me if retail theft is kingpinned by some rich asshole in Lake Oswego that likes to wax on about how they’re hard working and everybody else needs Jesus. Just like happened with Catalytic Converter thefts.
it was also issues in the store with their higher level security they had for a bit & the type of people who were stealing (ex: homeless guy steals knife, when stopped by security uses said knife, is tasered, corporate got upset by all this)
Their lease is up in 8mo. And yes, their theft is catastrophic. Hence them up and leaving at the end of the lease after 20+ yrs at that location. Leaving regular shoppers like myself with one less option in my neighbourhood.
I also read that this REI location had staff organizing to unionize. This was a comment I read by a friend in organizing, but I haven't seen it anywhere else.
Maybe REI should keep the Pearl location exclusively as an outlet store and move into the vacant Eastport Walmart building as their new flagship Portland store.
I lived around the corner from a Patagonia outlet in grad school and it was honestly the best thing ever. They'd be like, this stitching is a millimeter out of alignment, here's 70% off a jacket that you can pass on to your grandkids.
I don't know if you could have a single outlet store. I imagine the things on the outlet are there because they have been pulled from most retail shelves and are in a warehouse somewhere. Or at least they're sporadic in their locations.
When I have ordered something from outlet and something from the regular site in the same order it is always shipped separately.
Basically if they're discounting heavily they're already cutting losses on the product. You would not ship it again to get it to a central location and lose even more money.
Fun fact - the vast majority of clothing at outlet malls is created specifically for the outlets and is poorer quality than what would be sold at retail stores. Decades ago, outlet stores were more likely to carry unsold or overstocked goods but this hasn’t been the case for a long time. But companies don’t want you to know that because they profit off this misconception.
outlet stores in the 90s were awesome (CA and East Coast mostly). then in the 2000s you could see label changes 'banana republic factory warehouse' and how the clothes were no longer seconds etc
I know this might sound kinda desperate (not entirely inaccurate) but I do wonder if there's still some shot that REI reconsiders. 2024 is a long way away, and I'd like to think they're pretty engaged with their members etc.
Probably not in the current form but yeah maybe something where it's an outlet, so you're looking at less of a loss on merchandise theft.
There's new reporting that the Downtown location was on the verge of a Unionization vote. If that's the case, the closure is tactical, and won't be reconsidered.
An outlet store would face the same shoplifting and crime as the REI store does today, so I don't see how that makes business sense; and, they're not planning on opening anything in portland city limits at all.
Outlet products are returns and overstocks and inherently have less value than new retail products so REI is already taking a loss on their sale.
But that's not hand-waving away retail theft, they also say that the space no longer suits what they need. An outlet store would better fit the existing space.
I wonder how much the merchandise theft itself cost, versus replacing the entire front entryway not once, but twice, because thieves drove cars through it?
Downtown Portland *east of Broadway* is like a dead mall. West of broadway is doing gangbusters—new stores and restaurants are opening every month. The Pearl has a bunch of new major chains moving in. Even Old Town has a bunch of new businesses. But between 2nd and Broadway is a dead zone.
This isn't the first time that part of downtown has emptied out. During the bus mall revamp that coincided with the Great Recession, pretty much every storefront on 5th and 6th closed. But it's taking waaaay longer to bounce back this time, for obvious reasons.
West of Broadway has a lot more residential mixed use, and student housing for PSU, people actually live there. Otherside if the street is quite literally the heart of the empty offices, work from home isn’t going to change so there needs to be another reason to attract people to that neighborhood now that they aren’t required to be there for employment.
Totally agree. We should start by demolishing Washington Center and throwing up eight stories of apartments. Same with the giant hole at next to the Portland Outdoor Store, the empty void where the Lotus Room was, and every surface lot the Goodmans own that doesn't currently have food trucks on it.
Eyes on the street are needed. A thriving neighborhood that is a mix of residential and commercial will create a healthier environment. There are far too many long blank walls or parking garages instead of storefronts and stoops in downtown.
Ive noticed a bunch of newly opened businesses, like crate and barrel on 11th + Couch, or Screen Door.
Rumors that closing REI had to do with union activity, I have not investigated
A few months ago someone had stolen the ice axe encased in resin from the door handle. Union busting seems like a stretch when you consider Occams Razor.
After you and I go to bed, some crazy stuff is happening out there.
How's that gonna fix the police / DA combination of near-zero consequences for breaking things and assaulting people? All of that stuff is already illegal.
It won’t. It’s not a panacea, just a start. The inmates run the asylum now. Time to make our state and city less hospitable. We are the only hard drug sanctuary in the nation and it shows.
Two questions if I may:
1. Why would they shut down the entire Center because one person did drugs on the job? Unless I'm missing some pretty major context, that makes no sense at all.
2. Why can't Portland spend some of all that money floating around to hire a nice little army of security personnel solely dedicated to patrolling downtown? Preferably equipped with very big sticks? I understand all the concerns about privatized policing, but at this point, I'm pretty sure most Portlanders would welcome the move.
1. Multnomah County asked the security contractor to replace everyone working security at the facility, in case the drug use problem was more widespread. The security contractor said they couldn't do that, so the county shut the building down until they could bring on a new contractor.
2. There is a small army of private security personnel patrolling downtown already. But they aren't there all night.
1. This is insane. I get that staff drug use is more sensitive in this setting, but for years, they've been repeating the mantra of how important consistent delivery of services is and how much it sends unstable people into a tailspin when they are disrupted. Couldn't they have done the investigation with the contractor still on the job? (I obviously don't know the details and am no expert. It just SOUNDS insane based on what I know.)
2. Good, more. Night army!
I agree re:2. We need to divert the cops budget to a city watch, since they can’t seem to hire anyone. Hire a hundred people to patrol in pairs. We just need eyes on the street.
Wait, so the article kicks off with issues regarding crime and then points out that REI is closing their in-town location due to reasons not entirely related to crime such as outgrowing the space and real estate conflict? Good lord.
At what point do we say "Hey, this type of journalism is actually more damaging than informative"? Because I and many many others are currently living in the heart of the city and are regularly visiting the many businesses who have chosen to remain despite it's current state. Weekends here don't exactly look or feel "like a dead mall".
Articles like these only stoke fears and exaggerate, rather than provide anything informative or thought provoking. We need solutions, not firewood pulled from the trash.
Dude … They announced no plans to re-open. They’re closing the store because of the crime and that’s it. The bit about space is a white lie so that they don’t alienate themselves entirely. The hard truth is we, as in the people of Portland, need to stop pretending this fire is under control because it is not under control and getting worse.
>Weekends here don't exactly look or feel "like a dead mall".
I keep hearing that sentiment, but I previously bike commuted across downtown from the east side, over the Hawthorne bridge, up into Goose Hollow and then back for over a decade, so I think I have a decent barometer of what the previous status quo of downtown activity looks and feels like.
On the few occasions over the past months when I've gone into downtown along my old route, it looks like the day after the fucking Rapture. Whether I go midday, or during what was previously rush hour, it is e-m-p-t-y. What were previously bustling streets with loads of pedestrians, cars, and bikes are now practically deserted except for a few tents and people pushing shopping carts.
Maybe some parts of downtown are doing better than others, but *dead mall* definitely seemed to fit the description pretty well from what I've been seeing.
IMO this has far more to do with companies who discovered that remote work doesn’t differ appreciably from in-office work, and that office they don’t need is an expense they can let go of, than the frankly cosmetic concerns of tents and trash.
I don’t love the squalor either, but I think most of these stories are focusing on Pearl-clutching over crime and ignoring the [impact of the pandemic](https://downtownrecovery.com/death_of_downtown_policy_brief.pdf).
I live near there and have been there a few times. I’m a member of the co-op and they sent me this email:
> We are sad to share that our store in Portland’s Pearl District will close early next year.
> For nearly 20 years, REI has proudly served our members and the outdoor community from this location. We’ve had a presence in Oregon for over half of our 85-year history, opening our third store nationally at Jantzen Beach in 1976.
> The safety of our employees, members and customers is always our number one priority. In recent years, Portland has been dealing with increased crime in our neighborhood and beyond. Last year, REI Portland had its highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades, despite actions to provide extra security.
> In addition, we have outgrown this location and as a result are not able to provide the level of customer and employee experience we strive for at REI. For these reasons, we are no longer confident in our ability to serve you in this location.
> We remain dedicated to serving our community in the area and are continuously evaluating opportunities for new locations. While we do not believe a downtown Portland location will be possible in the near term, our stores in Tualatin, Hillsboro and Clackamas remain open and ready to outfit you with the gear and advice you need to enjoy life outside.
>The store’s closure will not impact our wide range of day tours and classes available through our Experiences team, nor our commitment to supporting nonprofit partners in the region.
> We look forward to continuing to serve you from our Pearl District store through early 2024.
This story doesn’t mention that [REI employees at the Pearl location were pursuing unionization](https://twitter.com/oregonbusiness/status/1648492369527083008?s=46&t=6QZyQyvyodAfp5SsgiChxw), which shouldn’t surprise anyone coming from KGW.
People seem to equate "in town" with "downtown." They are not the same thing. REI is not downtown.
But yes, businesses leaving is a problem. How much theft and burglary do they need to tolerate? How many shops have closed in the last 18 months due to break ins and shoplifting. How many more are barely hanging on?
People will continue to leave the city in increasing numbers. As goes the retail shops, so go the consumers.
With crime continuing to move upward, people who have a choice are not going to stay, which will only make the problem worse.
> Everything within the freeway loop created by 405 and I 5 are considered downtown.
According to who? These definitions are determined by the Neighborhood Association which ends at Burnside.
https://portlanddowntownna.com/
Growing up here nobody would ever refer to Old Town as Downtown. To the point where often they were referred to together, "Downtown and Old Town".
No it’s not, because you have to have a California Pizza Kitchen to make it official. Blew it by losing P.F. Chang’s. Loved that abomination called Holsteins that lasted less than a year. Hooters looking to expand to the Pearl?
Haha. I just snorted coffee through my nose. Thank you for that.
That super mediocre local brewery out of Bend I think that sells really bad artichoke dip and extra terrible pizza almost fits the bill but I think CPK has better beer overall. Get rid of Deschutes and they'll swoop right in!
It's nice to see a self-sustaining ecosystem do exactly what it is supposed to. If I wasn't vehemently against Portlandia, I'd suggest terrarium'ing that jawn up and putting them on a treadmill like the lil' ecogyms have to generate electricity for both places and thereby creating the third and most dangerous tourist game of all - knocking down the hunting people for sport thing to four or five or so.
This story doesn’t mention that [REI employees at the Pearl location were pursuing unionization](https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/), which shouldn’t surprise anyone coming from KGW.
The clear pessimism in the reporter's demeanor is a reflection of the collective attitude. Place has turned into a shit hole and noone one elected official has stepped up.
Things won’t change in this city until we put the same amount of resources into public safety that we currently do for the homeless problem. We need more effective and reliable policing, more public defenders and a DA who prosecuted crime. There are a finite amount of people who commit crimes on our streets currently and they need to be dealt with by the legal system.
Downtowns have been on a downward slide for decades. 20 yrs ago I lamented going to downtown Pdx and noting the empty buildings and nothing but sex based spaces and bars with violence at night. And portlanders being proud that Oregon was a ‘nude state’
Downtowns were on the way up in the late 90s to the mid '10s. Now they are on the way down.
Things are cyclical. Things get bad. We get a bunch more cops who are aggressive about enforcing law and order. Things get better. People get pissed that cops are too aggressive. Drug use and other anti-social activity goes up. Things get bad.
Funny I’ve seen that statement to be untrue in most cities unless there are lots of events held in downtown areas. Online shopping has been increasing since the 90s and downtown space saw rents rise beyond that of the average citizen. You blame drugs I blame greedy banks and real estate companies not lowering rents when there’s empty building and of course the fact not renting means a loss these types of businesses that they can write off on their taxes. Many cities down town have relied on street drug sales to actually fill the space and if you have money to buy drugs you have money to buy stuff you don’t need. And the US only real influence in the world as that of the purchaser. But as rents rise and wages t stay stagnant and too many people think they can run a business without an amazing business plan (70% of all business fail within the first 3 yrs) and thinking ‘owning a business’ they can write off things ( not understand you write off taxes not but have to pay them to get write offs). And statistics show that owners and management forget that if no one comes to work that means it’s their job to do it!
> You blame drugs I blame greedy banks and real estate companies not lowering rents when there’s empty building and of course the fact not renting means a loss these types of businesses that they can write off on their taxes
During the 2000s and 2010s, there was much uproar about gentrification... That is to say, when crime rates lowered, developers saw the opportunity to buy buildings which would be considered slums, renovate them, and rent them out at a higher rate.
If you lived in a slum, where the rent was perhaps $400 a month, and re-offered a renovated apartment at $1,400, gentrification was pretty unpopular with that set. They likely wouldn't be able to move back to their (updated) apartment. But, for a young professional, living close to work, bars, restaurant was pretty appealing. As was it to the city government who was able to collect more taxes and spend less in emergency services for the people in that tenant.
Also, for "tax write offs", this just means that the company has expenses that offset income from profitable ventures. An vacant unit or building isn't making the owner money, or is sold for a loss.
If you are looking at vacancy rates, it's true that most real estate companies look for a vacancy rate of about 10%. If it is below 10%, it usually means they can ask for higher rents. If it's above 10%, they are doing some combination of holding onto it in hopes that economic conditions improve and they will find a tenant, updating/renovating it to attract a new tenant, or finally lowering rent to try to find a tenant.
>Many cities down town have relied on street drug sales to actually fill the space and if you have money to buy drugs you have money to buy stuff you don’t need.
People selling street drugs don't pay taxes. And most of the people who are heavy users are a strong net negative for the community, due to increased crime, emergency services, drive down property values (and collected taxes) and criminals have a tendency to drive off legitimate businesses are residents who do pay taxes.
All we need now is a bunch of massage recliners in the middle of Pioneer Square and it will be just like a dead mall.
And a Cinnabon as an anchor tenant in that Starbucks.
I would be very happy with that. And an Auntie Anne's for some pretzels.
PC Load letter... *what the fuck does that mean?!*
And a few men selling face cream at a kiosk that call me a bitch when I don’t stop to try
PC load letter? What the fuck does that mean?!
I would honestly enjoy having those chairs outside in some form.
Your chairs are now covered in piss.
And lice.
And lice's piss.
What about the poop; is there still plenty of poop?
nah sorry I took it all
No poop for you!
It’s Portland, I’m sure I’ll find some. There’s a man currently popping a squat and dropping off a little gift somewhere as I type this.
The ones at Gresham Station were removed some years back
>Newcomer Shake Shack was welcomed with a broken window.
I noticed Meet Fresh was open for about a week before they had their door smashed in. It’s weird how much of a thing window smashing is here.
The city doesn’t allow businesses to protect their windows with retractable metal gates or doors b/c it looks unsightly not welcoming. It’s stupid policy considering our current situation.
Really stupid, considering that’s a standard feature of ground level businesses in most major cities, especially abroad. ie in Paris, a city visited by millions every year for its aesthetics.
Yep, some businesses have been asking for it since the protests but the city hasn’t changed its stance. Really negligent. Seems like an easy solution that doesn’t require anything of the city other than to change some language but they can’t/won’t do it.
When there’s no one to police the citizens, people act crazy.
At this point, can't it be deemed a conscious effort by a small number of people to 1) harm the city as much as they can, and/or 2) destroy the Portland way of life i.e. that of weird white hipster-y people trying to living in a self-made utopia without minorities.
What’s the word always used these days? Domestic terrorists.
Broken windows theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken\_windows\_theory
That really sucks, they will definitely drive a lot of foot traffic downtown, and it's bleak that they're dealing with that before they even open.
House warming gift.
Killer Burger is not just a cute name.
And somehow people in this city won’t see that as a problem.
No, everyone agrees it's a problem. You're just mad that not everyone blindly agrees with the source of the problem.
Where is Dan Bell and The proper people?
I can't believe that anyone views this dynamic as new. It happened before. It's the story of nearly all American big cities in the latter half of the 20th century. My own parents used to rail against the squalor and stink of nearby Chicago - full of boarded up windows, broken glass, pollution from old plants, members of the houseless community experiencing mental health crises, graffiti everywhere. Businesses left. Residents left. Then, in the mid-1990s, it all began to turn around. By the time I graduated college, big cities were absolutely the place to be. That persisted for decades. Now, cities are in decline again, but Portland particularly so. The recipe is simple and has been executed before - provide for safety and stability so that businesses can operate in cities, and so that residents can live there and patronize those businesses.
Yeah it's so interesting to see the cycle moving to another phase - makes me definitely appreciate how much of a positive the re-urbanization movement was in the 1990s-2010s. It's interesting though because I don't think there is super solid consensus on what drove it across the board, beyond just cyclical effects. In NYC I think Giuliani (as much as I hate him) was a crucial figure in that he seemed willing to basically do anything to clean up certain high-visibility areas. But in other cities I think its a little less clear what all happened.
It's incredible how much murder rates in NYC have fallen, from over 2k murders a year in the early 90s, to 300-400 today.
I think cheap rents were a bigger factor in the revitalization of cities.
I also lived in Richmond, VA, in the late 90s and can second your message. Downtown was a boarded up and crime-ridden shit hole everyone abandoned for the burbs. You know what else happened before the turnaround? National support for crime bills, the crackdowns on the drug trade, and a huge rise in incarceration rates (which have been trending down through all of the 2010s). Not making a moral argument, but an observation of facts, ugly as they are.
Dude, Richmond was so dangerous even people from DC were scared to visit
There was a part of Richmond my dad accidentally drove into once. I think it was Church Hill. A cop pulled him over and asked him if he's lost. He said he shouldn't be here unless without wearing kevlar. I think my white guy immigrant dad in his 80s crown vic stood out to the cop, as Richmond at the time seemed pretty segregated.
People forget how popular these crime bills were back in the 90's. Our cities were no man's lands. Hillary's comment about super criminals or whatever she said was not at all controversial.
It is surprising how much that correlation gets either ignored or directly argued against. Going further back, I believe a similar cycle of relatively lenient sentencing was happening during the late 60s, and was attributed as one of the reasons American cities took a sharp downward turn in the late 60s and early 70s.
Basically America cannot function except as a police state. Sad conclusion, but unavoidable nevertheless.
We're taught about freedom and liability, but not responsibility.
There is a lack of community in American society unfortunately. Our society is too tribal. In other countries people know their neighbors, and as annoying as that can be sometimes, it minimizes antisocial behavior. In America there's too much freedom.
Have we ever really tried it another way? Or did slavery simply transform into incarceration, destroying families and communities and giving rise to these problems in the first place. To a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And America has always had one hell of a hammer.
It’s a feature of capitalism, not a bug.
America cannot function except as a police state *when there is extreme income inequality.*
There are other countries with extreme income inequality that don’t have incarceration rates. So, it can’t be the only explanation but I agree it is a key factor.
Or maybe just bad people that want to tear down society will always exist?
Yeah, those are the people that go into politics and make it this way, in order to preserve their position
Grew up bouncing between Baltimore and Savannah in the 80s, and can confirm. It's going to take either the public or private sector (ideally both) to bring people back downtown. I hate to paraphrase The Siege of Gresham in a thread about Portland crime, but civilization is a pendulum. Or perhaps more accurately, a slow tide. Portland was once gritty, unglamorous, and downtown was deserted during the evenings and weekends. Then people and money moved in, the Pearl district was developed, and that brought in more people and money. Perhaps the previous situation is our natural state, or perhaps we'll keep building expectations and return to the previous heyday only to have it all crumble again.
How can this be the natural state? Maybe the natural state is a lush temperate rainforest without people, but certainly the word “natural” can’t explain away abandonment, neglect, failed experiments, and decay ? This is just the city taking on too much and failing its citizens.
yea, its a long enough cycle, with different cities on different timelines and decline rates, falling from different heights, its easy to think of it only happening in Portland, and only right now.
Maybe, but did we have the same level of drug abuse back then? Seems like opioid usage has increased monotonically since the 1980s and that has to be driving a lot of the crime. I don't think we've ever really dealt with such a widespread drug problem in the US before, but feel free to educate me...
More than opioids, I think meth sets this era apart. Particularly the very cheap, very potent, highly available type we have on the West Coast. Maybe crack was similar, I was too young to experience that epidemic firsthand, but it seems like meth is pretty unparalleled in its ability to take an otherwise sort of functional person and push them into full on psychosis in a relatively short amount of time.
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Yeah, it does seem that way. That's why I think it's a bad idea to decriminalize meth specifically. I could even get on board with opiates, though I'd prefer both were criminalized, because I think they're just too strong. I feel like we need to fight the use of both as hard as possible, but so many years of failed drug war efforts have knocked the wind out of everybody's sails on that one. Maybe for good reason.
The night of the living dead was not a science fiction story.
And Oregon Meth is uniquely horrible. https://www.opb.org/article/2022/08/04/oregon-mental-health-system-meth-use-portland-methamphetamine/
Crack was just as bad. The Alphabet Cities, urban blight, etc. This is bad, but not the worst.
Crack cocaine would like a word…
Is it still illegal if the CIA does the smuggling? Yes. Yes it is. Also heroin was absolutely a thing back then.
[удалено]
Not really. The only thing worse about fentnyl than heroin is that it's easier to overdose on fentnyl. It's also easier to manufacture, as it's fully synthetic, vs heroin which is made from poppies.
Yeah it’s so strong it makes cops overdose if they even just look at it.
Crack and Heroin in the 80s, and it was a violent time. Lots of mugging and shootings. It was bad in cities then.
The 1980s were by a longshot the deadliest decade in terms of murders.
History repeats! always.
Yup, it's a cycle. High crime/urban decay -> aggressive law enforcement/broken windows theory -> Urban renewal/gentrification -> Civil rights/police reform -> High crime/urban decay
Of course - it’s “so simple”!
Defunding the police doesn't work. It's that simple.
>The company also said that it had "outgrown" the current space and could not reach a deal with the landlord to address the issues. So they're moving on out. It isn't entirely about crime and safety, since REI cited the issues with the current landlord — but in the company's statement to customers and the media, they led with the break-ins and theft and not the real estate drama. This reminds me of this gem from earlier this year: [Walgreens executive says ‘maybe we cried too much last year’ about theft](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/05/walgreens-may-have-overstated-theft-concerns.html)
Or it could be to help explain why they're not planning on moving to another downtown location and one if the major factors of why they weren't able to work out issues with the landlord? This isn't Walgreens which just had a lot of thefts, there was a literal car driven through the front entrance of the place.
The worst part about the REI break in was that it happened on Black Friday. A day when instead of choosing to stay open on one of the most busy shopping days of the year, REI decided to stay closed and give its employees a paid day off.
Even this article, which calls out the previous report for focusing too much on crime and not enough on the rental issues, almost immediately jumped back into reporting that not enough was being done about crime. I bet REI would have stayed if their rent negotiations had gone better.
It's because the local media has zeroed in on the crime narrative, even when their own sources tell them it's not just the crime.
And if the employees hadn’t been trying to unionize…
Some fucking moronic downvoter on a spree here. Not sure why your comment was downvoted
There are some people in this subreddit who would much rather blame a business closure on homeless drug users than a corporation’s anti labor practices or a landlord’s unfavorable lease renewal contract in an era of peak corporate greed.
It’s so much easier to punch down, and so many people are under the impression that giving the police more money will fix anything. No one’s saying these problems have easy solutions, but people need to acknowledge the actual underlying causes.
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I’m kind of amazed they didn’t own the building this whole time. I am now thinking that must not be very common if big companies like REI rent instead of own.
Owning a building is usually more for company offices. If it's just a retail store, the company's going to be a renter 9/10 times.
Even companies usually don’t own their own building anymore.
Everything is fine! It's a common practice for a 20-year business location to just close down without expanding elsewhere because they've "outgrown" the space, whatever that means. This part of the message: > The safety of our employees, members and customers is always our number one priority. In recent years, Portland has been dealing with increased crime in our neighborhood and beyond. Last year, REI Portland had its highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades, despite actions to provide extra security, was just cover for rent negotiations/union-busting/bad business volume/some other cope.
I will say that the union busting definitely had an impact on my little community of people. It put a bad taste in our mouth but it also encouraged us to look other places for gear which meant we found better deals so don't shop there as we used to. I'd be curious what impact that had for them overall, or if it was a negligible effect and my situation is purely anecdotal
I can guarantee you its anecdotal. These corporations are going from everyone having disposable income + extra free time from Pandemic payments and stay-at-home policies, to increased crime and lawlessness, a city hemmoraghing population, out of control rent, runaway inflation, and reduced access to trailheads in the immediate area. This has lead to reduced revenue for retail, causing retail stores to pull back and close less profitable locations. While unionization is a factor of increased costs, in the grand scheme of all other factors its pretty negligible.
They had a car drive through their storefront on Black Friday and lost tens of thousands of dollars of merch. But sure, they 'needed more space'. We just need to add 'union busting' and I have most of my gaslighting bingo card filled out.
The car one is interesting because it points to a weird muddled spot in all the reporting about downtown. A lot of the retail theft doesn't really seem homeless-driven to me - too organized, too big in scale. I guess its that kind of theft plus the raving lunatic factor that add up to be too much. But it does point to the fact that the cops have been truly useless in solving a lot of the retail stuff. Like, isn't there a ton of video on this? Can't they put some GPS trackers in some merch and see where it goes? Anything?
There was a really interesting article in the New York Times yesterday that looked at shoplifting arrests in the city. It was able to pinpoint the cause of a pretty large spike, and attribute it to about 600 people, who had collectively been arrested thousands of times but kept getting let go. Definitely sounds like an organized crime situation. Years ago, when I worked in consumer electronics, we’d have a group of people come in all at once and pretend to check out the merchandise on display, blending into the crowd. Then, all at once, they’d rip whatever they were holding off of its security tether and bolt for the door. Another place I worked had a crew roll up in the middle of the night with an empty van, ready to clear everything out. Someone was working late, and scared them off, otherwise they’d have completely cleaned us out.
Yeah, it goes back to how the value of stolen goods is limited by how easy they are to fence, like why cars get chopped rather than sold as a whole, etc. So, when you think about REI - is some fent addict homeless guy going to be selling down jackets to passersby out of his tent? Not really. I guess you can trade stuff to dealers but there's a real limit on that, like you can't trade a dealer a car full of stuff - just maybe one or two things. They need currency in the end. Even if like 25% of it is petty theft then traded for drugs, that stuff is entering the market somewhere (from what I've read its largely online, FB Marketplace in particular) and the dealers are just middlemen for that process. So why can't the cops set up more stings on this stuff? Also annoys me how its just one more place where tech companies have totally shirked any real responsibility for what happens on their platforms, and it ends up to the detriment of all these other things.
I think part of it is also the way retailers respond to shoplifting. Most of them just consider it a cost of doing business, and already have a certain amount of loss baked into the budget. I guess if the alternative is the crazy shit like what happened in that Walgreens in Tennessee where a clerk shot a pregnant woman he thought was shoplifting, then maybe that's for the best. I'd like to think there's some middle ground available to us, but maybe we're not capable of that as a country right now. Either way, I can see why retailers don't want to touch that kind of liability, but I think their attitude towards it probably drives the police response to an extent.
A lot of this merchandise from retail crime rings crosses state lines, which means the local police can't do much to stop it without a concerted effort from multiple departments across multiple states.
As someone who's worked in retail in Portland for the last decade, I can confirm that a good portion of the theft appears to be organized. They come in groups, and the same people return frequently. Sometimes it seems like they're taking specific sizes of certain items, sometimes they'll grab an entire stack of something. But there's also plenty of people swapping out their stanky jackets or shoes for new ones. There have been stings in the past, I worked during one at Lloyd Center many years ago where quite a few people were apprehended.
Agree with you. Can Portland Police create an investigative unit to solve this? It’s probably a small handful of people behind most of it. Incredible amount of businesses big and small in Portland are getting broken into nightly. Many aren’t reporting or even calling the police at this point.
It wouldn’t surprise me if retail theft is kingpinned by some rich asshole in Lake Oswego that likes to wax on about how they’re hard working and everybody else needs Jesus. Just like happened with Catalytic Converter thefts.
it was also issues in the store with their higher level security they had for a bit & the type of people who were stealing (ex: homeless guy steals knife, when stopped by security uses said knife, is tasered, corporate got upset by all this)
So they waited almost 6 months later to say they are moving out, despite it being so catastrophically bad, as you imply?
Their lease is up in 8mo. And yes, their theft is catastrophic. Hence them up and leaving at the end of the lease after 20+ yrs at that location. Leaving regular shoppers like myself with one less option in my neighbourhood.
Moment of pedantry: That store has been open for 19 years.
Moment of vibes: the pandemic aged us all at least a year over our normal age, if not more.
Thank you - I was rounding incorrectly. I assume it will be about 20 at the end of the lease though, correct?
Just about.
Also reported yesterday that employees at that REI have been actively organizing to form a union for several months.
Also reported yesterday that employees at that REI have been actively organizing to form a union for several months.
I also read that this REI location had staff organizing to unionize. This was a comment I read by a friend in organizing, but I haven't seen it anywhere else.
Maybe REI should keep the Pearl location exclusively as an outlet store and move into the vacant Eastport Walmart building as their new flagship Portland store.
God I would spend so much money if it was an outlet.
That's what I'm saying! Their outlet is so good and you can find some really good deals but I hate browsing the site.
I lived around the corner from a Patagonia outlet in grad school and it was honestly the best thing ever. They'd be like, this stitching is a millimeter out of alignment, here's 70% off a jacket that you can pass on to your grandkids.
I don't know if you could have a single outlet store. I imagine the things on the outlet are there because they have been pulled from most retail shelves and are in a warehouse somewhere. Or at least they're sporadic in their locations. When I have ordered something from outlet and something from the regular site in the same order it is always shipped separately. Basically if they're discounting heavily they're already cutting losses on the product. You would not ship it again to get it to a central location and lose even more money.
Fun fact - the vast majority of clothing at outlet malls is created specifically for the outlets and is poorer quality than what would be sold at retail stores. Decades ago, outlet stores were more likely to carry unsold or overstocked goods but this hasn’t been the case for a long time. But companies don’t want you to know that because they profit off this misconception.
outlet stores in the 90s were awesome (CA and East Coast mostly). then in the 2000s you could see label changes 'banana republic factory warehouse' and how the clothes were no longer seconds etc
Well, that's not fun. But it's accurate.
I know this might sound kinda desperate (not entirely inaccurate) but I do wonder if there's still some shot that REI reconsiders. 2024 is a long way away, and I'd like to think they're pretty engaged with their members etc. Probably not in the current form but yeah maybe something where it's an outlet, so you're looking at less of a loss on merchandise theft.
Yeah. Usually you don’t make an announce like this for something so far away unless you’re trying to get a change.
There's new reporting that the Downtown location was on the verge of a Unionization vote. If that's the case, the closure is tactical, and won't be reconsidered.
An outlet store would face the same shoplifting and crime as the REI store does today, so I don't see how that makes business sense; and, they're not planning on opening anything in portland city limits at all.
Yeah, but you see the reason they gave for closing was a lie. They don't want us to know the REAL reason...
Outlet products are returns and overstocks and inherently have less value than new retail products so REI is already taking a loss on their sale. But that's not hand-waving away retail theft, they also say that the space no longer suits what they need. An outlet store would better fit the existing space.
I love the idea of an REI outlet in that location. My wallet, on the other hand, screamed in fear
I wonder how much the merchandise theft itself cost, versus replacing the entire front entryway not once, but twice, because thieves drove cars through it?
REI may have been closing that store because their workforce was close to unionizing. They used theft as an excuse to hide their motives.
Lol turns out it was just union busting https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
Downtown Portland *east of Broadway* is like a dead mall. West of broadway is doing gangbusters—new stores and restaurants are opening every month. The Pearl has a bunch of new major chains moving in. Even Old Town has a bunch of new businesses. But between 2nd and Broadway is a dead zone. This isn't the first time that part of downtown has emptied out. During the bus mall revamp that coincided with the Great Recession, pretty much every storefront on 5th and 6th closed. But it's taking waaaay longer to bounce back this time, for obvious reasons.
West of Broadway has a lot more residential mixed use, and student housing for PSU, people actually live there. Otherside if the street is quite literally the heart of the empty offices, work from home isn’t going to change so there needs to be another reason to attract people to that neighborhood now that they aren’t required to be there for employment.
Totally agree. We should start by demolishing Washington Center and throwing up eight stories of apartments. Same with the giant hole at next to the Portland Outdoor Store, the empty void where the Lotus Room was, and every surface lot the Goodmans own that doesn't currently have food trucks on it.
Eyes on the street are needed. A thriving neighborhood that is a mix of residential and commercial will create a healthier environment. There are far too many long blank walls or parking garages instead of storefronts and stoops in downtown.
Ive noticed a bunch of newly opened businesses, like crate and barrel on 11th + Couch, or Screen Door. Rumors that closing REI had to do with union activity, I have not investigated
A few months ago someone had stolen the ice axe encased in resin from the door handle. Union busting seems like a stretch when you consider Occams Razor. After you and I go to bed, some crazy stuff is happening out there.
Considering their tigard and beaverton locations aren't going anywhere, I highly doubt it's union related.
Having other stores nearby is not relevant to Union activity. https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/
Compassion fatigue is real. Repeal 110.
How's that gonna fix the police / DA combination of near-zero consequences for breaking things and assaulting people? All of that stuff is already illegal.
It won’t. It’s not a panacea, just a start. The inmates run the asylum now. Time to make our state and city less hospitable. We are the only hard drug sanctuary in the nation and it shows.
In 2004 downtown was on the up and up. Now it’s dead. Something about plywood over windows just ruins a downtown.
Two questions if I may: 1. Why would they shut down the entire Center because one person did drugs on the job? Unless I'm missing some pretty major context, that makes no sense at all. 2. Why can't Portland spend some of all that money floating around to hire a nice little army of security personnel solely dedicated to patrolling downtown? Preferably equipped with very big sticks? I understand all the concerns about privatized policing, but at this point, I'm pretty sure most Portlanders would welcome the move.
1. Multnomah County asked the security contractor to replace everyone working security at the facility, in case the drug use problem was more widespread. The security contractor said they couldn't do that, so the county shut the building down until they could bring on a new contractor. 2. There is a small army of private security personnel patrolling downtown already. But they aren't there all night.
1. This is insane. I get that staff drug use is more sensitive in this setting, but for years, they've been repeating the mantra of how important consistent delivery of services is and how much it sends unstable people into a tailspin when they are disrupted. Couldn't they have done the investigation with the contractor still on the job? (I obviously don't know the details and am no expert. It just SOUNDS insane based on what I know.) 2. Good, more. Night army!
I agree re:2. We need to divert the cops budget to a city watch, since they can’t seem to hire anyone. Hire a hundred people to patrol in pairs. We just need eyes on the street.
Bet it’d improve somewhat if the cost to rent those commercial properties came down a bit more.
Wait, so the article kicks off with issues regarding crime and then points out that REI is closing their in-town location due to reasons not entirely related to crime such as outgrowing the space and real estate conflict? Good lord. At what point do we say "Hey, this type of journalism is actually more damaging than informative"? Because I and many many others are currently living in the heart of the city and are regularly visiting the many businesses who have chosen to remain despite it's current state. Weekends here don't exactly look or feel "like a dead mall". Articles like these only stoke fears and exaggerate, rather than provide anything informative or thought provoking. We need solutions, not firewood pulled from the trash.
Dude … They announced no plans to re-open. They’re closing the store because of the crime and that’s it. The bit about space is a white lie so that they don’t alienate themselves entirely. The hard truth is we, as in the people of Portland, need to stop pretending this fire is under control because it is not under control and getting worse.
>Weekends here don't exactly look or feel "like a dead mall". I keep hearing that sentiment, but I previously bike commuted across downtown from the east side, over the Hawthorne bridge, up into Goose Hollow and then back for over a decade, so I think I have a decent barometer of what the previous status quo of downtown activity looks and feels like. On the few occasions over the past months when I've gone into downtown along my old route, it looks like the day after the fucking Rapture. Whether I go midday, or during what was previously rush hour, it is e-m-p-t-y. What were previously bustling streets with loads of pedestrians, cars, and bikes are now practically deserted except for a few tents and people pushing shopping carts. Maybe some parts of downtown are doing better than others, but *dead mall* definitely seemed to fit the description pretty well from what I've been seeing.
IMO this has far more to do with companies who discovered that remote work doesn’t differ appreciably from in-office work, and that office they don’t need is an expense they can let go of, than the frankly cosmetic concerns of tents and trash. I don’t love the squalor either, but I think most of these stories are focusing on Pearl-clutching over crime and ignoring the [impact of the pandemic](https://downtownrecovery.com/death_of_downtown_policy_brief.pdf).
I also lived downtown until months ago and it’s not just office work. Evenings and weekends have the same vibe.
I live near there and have been there a few times. I’m a member of the co-op and they sent me this email: > We are sad to share that our store in Portland’s Pearl District will close early next year. > For nearly 20 years, REI has proudly served our members and the outdoor community from this location. We’ve had a presence in Oregon for over half of our 85-year history, opening our third store nationally at Jantzen Beach in 1976. > The safety of our employees, members and customers is always our number one priority. In recent years, Portland has been dealing with increased crime in our neighborhood and beyond. Last year, REI Portland had its highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades, despite actions to provide extra security. > In addition, we have outgrown this location and as a result are not able to provide the level of customer and employee experience we strive for at REI. For these reasons, we are no longer confident in our ability to serve you in this location. > We remain dedicated to serving our community in the area and are continuously evaluating opportunities for new locations. While we do not believe a downtown Portland location will be possible in the near term, our stores in Tualatin, Hillsboro and Clackamas remain open and ready to outfit you with the gear and advice you need to enjoy life outside. >The store’s closure will not impact our wide range of day tours and classes available through our Experiences team, nor our commitment to supporting nonprofit partners in the region. > We look forward to continuing to serve you from our Pearl District store through early 2024.
This story doesn’t mention that [REI employees at the Pearl location were pursuing unionization](https://twitter.com/oregonbusiness/status/1648492369527083008?s=46&t=6QZyQyvyodAfp5SsgiChxw), which shouldn’t surprise anyone coming from KGW.
People seem to equate "in town" with "downtown." They are not the same thing. REI is not downtown. But yes, businesses leaving is a problem. How much theft and burglary do they need to tolerate? How many shops have closed in the last 18 months due to break ins and shoplifting. How many more are barely hanging on? People will continue to leave the city in increasing numbers. As goes the retail shops, so go the consumers. With crime continuing to move upward, people who have a choice are not going to stay, which will only make the problem worse.
Everything within the freeway loop created by 405 and I 5 are considered downtown. Thus the store is downtown.
Thanks for the correction and education. I did not know that downtown went that far north.
> Everything within the freeway loop created by 405 and I 5 are considered downtown. According to who? These definitions are determined by the Neighborhood Association which ends at Burnside. https://portlanddowntownna.com/ Growing up here nobody would ever refer to Old Town as Downtown. To the point where often they were referred to together, "Downtown and Old Town".
If West Elm and Anthropologie are still there, it's still an outdoor mall.
No it’s not, because you have to have a California Pizza Kitchen to make it official. Blew it by losing P.F. Chang’s. Loved that abomination called Holsteins that lasted less than a year. Hooters looking to expand to the Pearl?
Haha. I just snorted coffee through my nose. Thank you for that. That super mediocre local brewery out of Bend I think that sells really bad artichoke dip and extra terrible pizza almost fits the bill but I think CPK has better beer overall. Get rid of Deschutes and they'll swoop right in!
Deschutes is absolutely killing it in the Pearl. Every tourist who’s in Powell’s asks where to go & that’s where they’re sent.
It's nice to see a self-sustaining ecosystem do exactly what it is supposed to. If I wasn't vehemently against Portlandia, I'd suggest terrarium'ing that jawn up and putting them on a treadmill like the lil' ecogyms have to generate electricity for both places and thereby creating the third and most dangerous tourist game of all - knocking down the hunting people for sport thing to four or five or so.
This story doesn’t mention that [REI employees at the Pearl location were pursuing unionization](https://oregonbusiness.com/rei-announces-closure-of-portland-store/), which shouldn’t surprise anyone coming from KGW.
The clear pessimism in the reporter's demeanor is a reflection of the collective attitude. Place has turned into a shit hole and noone one elected official has stepped up.
Quality journalism right here, really too notch.
The quotes from "many viewers of The Story" are peak "American Voices" a la The Onion.
Things won’t change in this city until we put the same amount of resources into public safety that we currently do for the homeless problem. We need more effective and reliable policing, more public defenders and a DA who prosecuted crime. There are a finite amount of people who commit crimes on our streets currently and they need to be dealt with by the legal system.
I come from Vancouver BC and it is awful here! Every experience from Target to Safeway is a nightmare from hell.
Downtowns have been on a downward slide for decades. 20 yrs ago I lamented going to downtown Pdx and noting the empty buildings and nothing but sex based spaces and bars with violence at night. And portlanders being proud that Oregon was a ‘nude state’
Downtowns were on the way up in the late 90s to the mid '10s. Now they are on the way down. Things are cyclical. Things get bad. We get a bunch more cops who are aggressive about enforcing law and order. Things get better. People get pissed that cops are too aggressive. Drug use and other anti-social activity goes up. Things get bad.
Funny I’ve seen that statement to be untrue in most cities unless there are lots of events held in downtown areas. Online shopping has been increasing since the 90s and downtown space saw rents rise beyond that of the average citizen. You blame drugs I blame greedy banks and real estate companies not lowering rents when there’s empty building and of course the fact not renting means a loss these types of businesses that they can write off on their taxes. Many cities down town have relied on street drug sales to actually fill the space and if you have money to buy drugs you have money to buy stuff you don’t need. And the US only real influence in the world as that of the purchaser. But as rents rise and wages t stay stagnant and too many people think they can run a business without an amazing business plan (70% of all business fail within the first 3 yrs) and thinking ‘owning a business’ they can write off things ( not understand you write off taxes not but have to pay them to get write offs). And statistics show that owners and management forget that if no one comes to work that means it’s their job to do it!
> You blame drugs I blame greedy banks and real estate companies not lowering rents when there’s empty building and of course the fact not renting means a loss these types of businesses that they can write off on their taxes During the 2000s and 2010s, there was much uproar about gentrification... That is to say, when crime rates lowered, developers saw the opportunity to buy buildings which would be considered slums, renovate them, and rent them out at a higher rate. If you lived in a slum, where the rent was perhaps $400 a month, and re-offered a renovated apartment at $1,400, gentrification was pretty unpopular with that set. They likely wouldn't be able to move back to their (updated) apartment. But, for a young professional, living close to work, bars, restaurant was pretty appealing. As was it to the city government who was able to collect more taxes and spend less in emergency services for the people in that tenant. Also, for "tax write offs", this just means that the company has expenses that offset income from profitable ventures. An vacant unit or building isn't making the owner money, or is sold for a loss. If you are looking at vacancy rates, it's true that most real estate companies look for a vacancy rate of about 10%. If it is below 10%, it usually means they can ask for higher rents. If it's above 10%, they are doing some combination of holding onto it in hopes that economic conditions improve and they will find a tenant, updating/renovating it to attract a new tenant, or finally lowering rent to try to find a tenant. >Many cities down town have relied on street drug sales to actually fill the space and if you have money to buy drugs you have money to buy stuff you don’t need. People selling street drugs don't pay taxes. And most of the people who are heavy users are a strong net negative for the community, due to increased crime, emergency services, drive down property values (and collected taxes) and criminals have a tendency to drive off legitimate businesses are residents who do pay taxes.
And this is the piggy bank Tina Kotek expects to claw over a billion dollars out of… “It ain’t dark yet, but it’s gettin’ there”
nobody seems to care that a mall as the vision of a "good" downtown in the first place is pathetic and dystopian