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I know what it looks like; I live in Portland, Oregon. In 4 years, we went from 3rd most desirable city, to 66th. They're facing a 17% budget shortfall and are

by cronix 6y ago

I know what it looks like; I live in Portland, Oregon. In 4 years, we went from 3rd most desirable city, to 66th. They're facing a 17% budget shortfall and are getting rid of people in the permitting department which means it will take longer to get permits for new construction. We are in desperate need of high density, cheap apartments. We have a housing crisis. https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/01/20/a-key-indicator-of-real-estate-investors-interest-in-portland-shows-a-precipitous-decline/ https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/01/20/a-key-indicator-of-rea... https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/10/18/why-portlands-homeless-problem-is-the-worst-in-the-nation/ https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/10/18/why-portlands-homeles... We had over 150 days of protests, most of which turned violent at some point. Here's an article going over the first 100 days. https://apnews.com/article/b57315d97dd2146c4a89b4636faa7b70 https://apnews.com/article/b57315d97dd2146c4a89b4636faa7b70 Gun violence has risen 166% in a single year. Back in July, at the height of the riots, the Mayor and City Council got rid of the Gun Violence Reduction Team and "defunded" the police department by $15M. https://www.kptv.com/news/gun-violence-in-portland-continues-to-rise-in-2021/article_a6dccf3a-62c3-11eb-8661-9bbec831b7f5.html?block_id=994431 https://www.kptv.com/news/gun-violence-in-portland-continues... https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/defunding-portland-police-city-council-budget-15-million-cuts/283-239c5e3a-cfed-4dce-8775-d2c52a9df9aa https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/defunding-po... Pedestrians visiting downtown drop 80%. https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2021/01/oregon-insight-pedestrians-vanish-from-downtown-portland.html https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2021/01/oregon-insight-p... Many businesses are facing increased insurance costs, and some facing not being renewed, after the violence and destruction of property in the city. They also found out most of the damage was not covered by insurance due to "not covering civil unrest." https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/downtown-portland-businesses-face-rising-insurance-costs-decreased-coverage-after-riots/283-f29140a0-9442-44b0-b555-295c8697c509 https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/downtown-portland-bus... The violence is still going on. Last night, as with the last several nights, they attacked the Federal ICE facility. The week previous, they attacked the Democrat Headquarters. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/portland-rioters-attack-ice-building-local-dem-headquarters-after-biden-inauguration/ar-BB1cXNU2 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/portland-rioters-attack-ic... The district attorney chose not to prosecute many of the people arrested during the "peaceful" protests. Many have been arrested multiple times at multiple events now. 90% of those arrested by the police had their charges dropped. https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/08/multnomah-county-da-to-announce-protest-policy-watch-live.html https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/08/multnomah-county... https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/oct/7/portland-drops-charges-for-90-arrested-during-rece/ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/oct/7/portland-dro... Not unlike San Francisco, we have a large poop problem on the sidewalks. https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2019/06/portland-has-a-plan-for-its-human-poop-problem.html https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2019/06/portland-has-a-p... And a massive drug problem. Don't worry though, the solution was to decriminalize all hard drugs across the state. Will that decrease the homelessness and crime? We will see. Something tells me it won't. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54809825 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54809825

ndiscussion 6y ago
My city... look what they've done to my boy... So sad growing up here. I imagined I would live life as an artist in a cheap flat. It was safe, beautiful, fun, and cheap. Then Portlandia aired and the worst of the worst came to the city flooding out the local residents. Growing up, I never understood why being poor was considered a problem. People in our city were poor, but we were decent people. I was one of them. At some point, I realized that the new poor coming to our city on a dream fucking sucked. They shared none of my ideals and seemed to want everything for nothing. edit: not to mention the gentrification.. holy smokes, it was a mix of these terrible people with no impulse control, and extremely rich playboys that would overpay for everything. Caused rents, restaurants, and everything else to glamorize. Even after a tech employer gave me a chance, I struggled to afford much here. I'm now happily living away.
medium_burrito 6y ago
I have several good friends living in Portland, who grew up there, who work in a variety of non-software areas doing artsy cool shit, all in their 30s. They are all planning on leaving this year as their leases expired.
Bradlinc 6y ago
I lived in Portland from 2001 to 2007. In the early 2000s I occasionally saw poop on the sidewalks and it felt to me the homeliness was confined to certain areas. I went back last June and was shocked about how the homeliness problem had grown. The city also had become very dirty. But to me the largest change was how vacant the streets felt. I am sure COVID was part of this as was flawed memory but it was a pretty summer day and no one was out.
throwawaysea 6y ago
Portland had amazing potential with its art and food culture. It’s really sad to see it fall apart for very predictable reasons. I imagine that all the violence in the name of politics and the homelessness/drug abuse issue will crater tourism. Once the Pearl District loses its draw, other parts of the city will feel the domino effects as well. But how can anyone help? There’s no avenue for intervention in a city where constituents (and the homeless voting bloc) keep voting for increasingly fringe party and politics. The hostility and outright violence towards anyone who is even center-left means people are more likely to leave than spend years fighting a battle to save the city. And once the city falls apart economically, the political grifters will simply move to the next big successful city and damage it in the same way.

by cronix 6y ago

ndiscussion 6y ago

My city... look what they've done to my boy... So sad growing up here. I imagined I would live life as an artist in a cheap flat. It was safe, beautiful, fun, and cheap. Then Portlandia aired and the worst of the worst came to the city flooding out the local residents. Growing up, I never understood why being poor was considered a problem. People in our city were poor, but we were decent people. I was one of them. At some point, I realized that the new poor coming to our city on a dream fucking sucked. They shared none of my ideals and seemed to want everything for nothing. edit: not to mention the gentrification.. holy smokes, it was a mix of these terrible people with no impulse control, and extremely rich playboys that would overpay for everything. Caused rents, restaurants, and everything else to glamorize. Even after a tech employer gave me a chance, I struggled to afford much here. I'm now happily living away.

medium_burrito 6y ago

I have several good friends living in Portland, who grew up there, who work in a variety of non-software areas doing artsy cool shit, all in their 30s. They are all planning on leaving this year as their leases expired.

Bradlinc 6y ago

I lived in Portland from 2001 to 2007. In the early 2000s I occasionally saw poop on the sidewalks and it felt to me the homeliness was confined to certain areas. I went back last June and was shocked about how the homeliness problem had grown. The city also had become very dirty. But to me the largest change was how vacant the streets felt. I am sure COVID was part of this as was flawed memory but it was a pretty summer day and no one was out.

throwawaysea 6y ago

Portland had amazing potential with its art and food culture. It’s really sad to see it fall apart for very predictable reasons. I imagine that all the violence in the name of politics and the homelessness/drug abuse issue will crater tourism. Once the Pearl District loses its draw, other parts of the city will feel the domino effects as well. But how can anyone help? There’s no avenue for intervention in a city where constituents (and the homeless voting bloc) keep voting for increasingly fringe party and politics. The hostility and outright violence towards anyone who is even center-left means people are more likely to leave than spend years fighting a battle to save the city. And once the city falls apart economically, the political grifters will simply move to the next big successful city and damage it in the same way.