In my last opinion piece, I derided the take-over of Portland’s city center by thugs, anarchists and men, who do not care one whit about saving black lives, but care very much about destroying the property of business owners and police precincts, undermining police power. In the article I targeted Portland, Oregon above all other citys, for Portland had Antifa-like thugs terrorizing the citizens, and certain businesses, almost twenty years ago.
The loosening of law and order, I seem to remember, began during Vera Katz’s term ending 2004. It began with the targeting of “rich” women wearing fur coats. Their coats were ruined by thugs throwing red oil paint over their coats, and disappearing in the crowd. Of course, the same offenders then harassed Portland’s furriers until they closed their businesses and left for saner states. I remember, living in Portland at the time, that nothing was done by the authorities to stop the Communist tactics of these criminals. I cannot remember one arrest and prosecution of the home-grown terrorists. To the contrary, under consecutive mayors these groups were tolerated. (By the way, Portland Oregon has not had even one Republican mayor since Nov. 23, 1980. Therefore, not one iota of blame for the horrid state of affairs in Portland can be laid upon the Republican party but is solely the responsibility of the Democrat reigning government.)
From these early roots of law-less tormentors sprang, unhindered, today’s Socialist Storm Troopers. And that brings us to today’s topic.
Portland’s urban core in crisis; business and neighborhood groups say downtown needs immediate rescue
This headline, from the Oregonian News Paper’s OregonLive section, heralds that the truth is finally being told. Beneath this “call to action” headline is a vivid picture of tents, plastic shelters and garbage. The city, always settled with a large homeless population, because of easy access to food, drugs, needles and alcohol, to the point where the city allowed a homeless compound named “Dignity Village” to grow into a major problem; yes, this same city, now has stopped cleaning up homeless camps because of the pandemic.
Greg Goodman, co-owner of Portland’s real-estate giant, Downtown Development Group, is so far, the only person to address Portland’s problems. As I mentioned before, he sent a letter to Portland’s mayor, Ted Wheeler, pointing out the destruction and ruination of Portland’s core. Following this, Jamie Goldberg, an Oregonian News Paper reporter, made it his business to follow up on the letter’s complaints. Through his interview with Goodman, he details the ugliness and decay Goodman sees, as he walks daily different routs to the city center.
Sidewalks are littered, car-windows broken, glass strewn about everywhere—deep into the streets; buildings and benches are covered in graffiti, small businesses are boarded up—unable to make a living. Goodman worries that those businesses cannot survive, and so will most businesses down town, if immediate intervention from city government is not forthcoming.
In his letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler, Mr. Goodman wrote, “You are willfully neglecting your duties as elected officials to keep our city safe and clean.”
Business owners have for months expressed a growing alarm about the deterioration of the downtown
area. However, nothing has been done to help the business community. Not only is their plight ignored, but nightly riotous protests in downtown Portland continue.
Goodman, and others, believe these protest have nothing to do with Black lives matter but are just tolerated lawlessness and vandalism.
Well, one can extrapolate all of the above to almost every Democrat run city in America. Can you detect a pattern here?
Post Scriptum: Oregon’s problems are coming to a head. Large groups of conservative citizens have held protests in Salem and Portland. Of course, in the ensuing conflicts, the are always blamed for violence incurred.