What has happened to Portland, Oregon?

Perhaps they have resources which attract bums and vagrants?

Democrats retain supermajorities in Oregon Legislature. Dem Gov, Dem Senators, Dem Congressmen

Portland - DEM Mayor, DEM City Council,

Like Seattle, Detroit, Baltimore, LA and San Fran - Portland is being destroyed by 100% Democrat control....

It always leads to this....

Here is a similar video on Seattle.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAi70WWBlw

Thirty to fifty years ago the sentiment was resoundingly "Dont Californicate Oregon."

This is why.

Conservatives are like a healthy immune system, and this is why you don't see the Antifa/Leftist virus attacking healthy regions of the country. It will be dealt with swiftly.

Where the immune system is weak, is where the Antifa/Leftist virus attacks and destroys.

LOL Someone from Lake Oswego writing in Forbes about the "downfall" of Portland is pretty rich (pun intended)

Ha, trust me, Portland is just fine. It's only the media establishments that continue to jump on this fantasy because it sounds compelling that 'this liberal stronghold is BURNING', but as a homeowner who lives in a prominent area here I can assure you, we are just well and fine.

I will conceded Downtown has been impacted in the last year, though moreso by COVID related closures vs. 'anarchy.' There is a hilarous focus on downtown which only affects you if you 1. Are a big box store or 2. Own commercial real estate. Very few small businesses were downtown, and almost all establishments were white collar that have moved to remote-first. Very few people lived or went downtown before COVID- just office buildings, chains, and VooDoo donuts tourist trap style places (other than food carts that have pivoted to the surrounding boroughs).

Portland has a homeless problem, which I am sure is shocking to those in suburbs, but this is a reality in cities until we have a better solution to addressing mental illness and addiction.

In the neighborhoods, we are just fine and happy, everything is in bloom, and still enjoy the spring ski season that is still ongoing, the proximity to the coast, beautiful spring and summer weather and a relatively low cost of living compared to other coastal cities.

Visit, or don't, but there aren't anarchists running rampant around Portland.

I live in the UK, it is well known that Portland, Seattle etc are complete no go zones.

Local wrote:

Ha, trust me, Portland is just fine.

Ha, no, it's not.

And it didn't start that recently either.

pupilpie wrote:

I live in the UK, it is well known that Portland, Seattle etc are complete no go zones.

At World Indoors 2016, my friend from a European team mentioned several times how the athletes were complaining about not feeling safe walking around downtown Portland. I took an stroll for a few hours myself and had multiple encounters with deranged locals.

Yes, the surroundings of Portland are beautiful, but the city is rot.

+1

LOL. Yeah, blooms are beautiful... and so is the ocean breeze, and the tall trees. But, turn to you left and right, and in front of you and behind you, and there is the disgusting site and stench of the liberal and their demented politics. Not so beautiful.

burnin' down the house wrote:

pupilpie wrote:

I live in the UK, it is well known that Portland, Seattle etc are complete no go zones.

At World Indoors 2016, my friend from a European team mentioned several times how the athletes were complaining about not feeling safe walking around downtown Portland. I took an stroll for a few hours myself and had multiple encounters with deranged locals.

Yes, the surroundings of Portland are beautiful, but the city is rot.

I stayed downtown for World Indoors 2016 and I can't imagine why anyone would've felt remotely unsafe.

I also live in Portland, that’s also my take. Your summary is perfect. I think the media hype up Portland’s issues and people outside believe it, people are sheep.

I am not from Portland, just moved here from Dallas three years ago. Portland is a lot safer and less violent than Dallas in my experience. Still I’m a proud Texan.

You have your head in the sand if you think it is just fine. Not for the reasons in the video- I agree that the downtown anarchy is overblown by media with an agenda.

But how many shootings have there been this year? Last year? Compared to the past?

What is the average police response time? How many bike thefts? Car thefts? How many catalytic converters have been stolen off priuses?

We have a growing homeless population, even since before Covid. Having a homeless population is very different than a growing one with no government solutions in sight. How many programs did we choose to fund in the last election? How many plans have been brought forward with how to use that money?

This (Portland, not the "Portland" of the video) is not okay. It should not be accepted as the status quo.

Local Portlander sounds about right. Completely disconnected from the realities that surround them. Entirely incapable of voting in their own best interests. Portland will not improve, doing so simply isn't in its nature. The misplaced idealism and demagoguery is so far ingrained as to be hopeless.

I know, I live here too. Blame Trump, blame conservatives, blame white nationalism, proud boy's, whoever the boogey-man du-jour. But under no circumstance, EVER, take any responsibility for the liberal hell scape you've created.

Good point about WFH.

A lot of good tech jobs with bright futures are WFH.

To answer the question, what happened to Portland is atrophy of an old government system. The commissioner system we have causes a week mayor and underqualified politicians heading bureaus.

The Mayor has to share power with comissioners. Portland is the largest city to have such a system, every larger city has a mayor that can act with much more authority. Decisions take longer, and get diluted in politics.

The Mayor staffs the city with those commissioners. Jo Ann Hardesty is a great voice of Portland, but is not qualified to be leader of the Bureau of Transportation. But she has to act as one. Not that this is different than a political head of a department, no.

Same goes with all other city operations. Career bureaucrats may stink a different smell than career politicians, but at least they're familiar with the demands of the job.

As a result, Portland has unqualified leadership, is slow to resolve problems, and is just not responsive enough to meet the needs of a growing/changing city.

Local wrote:

Portland has a homeless problem, which I am sure is shocking to those in suburbs, but this is a reality in cities until we have a better solution to addressing mental illness and addiction.

You seem to assume all other cities have a "mental illness" problem too. No, it's just you guys.

This is not hype. It's your culture, sick, twisted, perversely proud of it.

Portland is trash. The people who run Portland are weak progressives. The voters are weak progressives.

They deserve Portland. I won’t spend any of my money there or Seattle moving forward.

Let it rot.

Here is another Portland sucks video. There’s a new one every day.

https://youtu.be/u3eLzcb3rVg