As the nightly violent Antifa riots continue, businesses are deciding to pull up roots in downtown Portland because of the lawlessness preventing their safe and profitable operation.
Greg Goodman, co-president of the Downtown Development Group, wrote a letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler and members of the city council saying businesses in the center of town want to leave the dangerous riot zone behind.
“The number is like nothing I have seen in 42 years of doing business in downtown,” Goodman said.
KOIN 6 News reported on the how the ongoing violence will have a longterm impact on the city’s economy:
Goodman said these companies include Daimler Chrysler, AirB&B, Banana Republic, Microsoft (who he said is permanently closing their retail store), Saucebox and Google, “who leased 90,000 square feet in the Macy’s building (and) has stopped construction of their improvements. The list goes on and on. If you know a retail or office broker, give them a call and ask them how many clients they have are trying to leave.”
Their departure, he said in the letter, has nothing to do with the Black Lives Matter movement “but does have most everything to do with the lawlessness you are endorsing downtown.”
A man who has taken part in the mayhem said he understands why businesses would want to leave.
“I understand and I see the frustration because I’m just like, it’s like, burning a mattress for me or a dumpster, doesn’t necessarily help my community,” Linneas Boland-Godbey told KOIN 6 News. “And that’s why I’m out here being, like, can we do a different form of protest besides burning down something?”
“I would encourage each of you to walk around downtown Portland in the morning,” Goodman wrote in the letter. “Name the time and I will give you a tour. You aren’t sweeping the streets, needles are all over the place, garbage cans are broken and left open, glass from car windows that have been broken out is all over the streets, parks are strewn with litter (their fountains turned off) weeds are taller than the plants in the planter boxes, graffiti is on sculptures, etc. You are willfully neglecting your duties as elected officials to keep our city safe and clean.”
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