Dear Portland
This madness must stop!
The Rose City is failing across multiple fronts. The great American experiment of appeasing everyone has died. It fails Portlanders every day. Some days you must be the adult. The madness is bringing my adopted home of 28 years to its very knees. It turns out the barista employment wave of the future and fantastic New York Times restaurant reviews are not enough to sustain a city. It seemed like our killer quality of life, and amazing outdoor offerings would always see Portland through. The current disaster on our city streets is evidence to the contrary. Our shared problems are not easily or quickly solved. They have gone unaddressed for many years and only grown in scope and scale. Whether you loved it or hated it, "Portlandia" offered a very accurate depiction of our wonderfully weird city.
Returning home to PDX from Arizona this past weekend was like traveling thru a time machine. My wife and I felt like we had visited Mars for four days. Or maybe Venus? Buckeye and Scottsdale are two different Arizona cities separated by 45 miles of asphalt with six lanes of traffic in each direction. These cities have significant differences and varying demographies, but at the same time, they share core values and beliefs. The best I can tell is that Arizonans want to be left alone. Please stay in your lane and let me live my life. Most residents arrive from elsewhere for the weather, a job, the affordability, or just the ever-present wild west mentality. After four days, it's clear that nobody is in charge. Do whatever the hell you please. Phoenix and broader Maricopa County have virtually no zoning laws. They couldn't spell urban growth boundary if you spotted them the UGB. Masks have been gone for many, many months. And quite oddly, we noticed very few cars with a front license plate because, as the police officer said, "the law does not require them." Good luck finding your Uber! New master-planned communities are popping up thirty miles in every direction. Homes, schools, jobs, tax revenue, and plenty of sunshine arrive every day. Maricopa County is the fastest-growing metro area in the country, with close to five million residents. Arizona is firing on all cylinders. The entertainment district in Old Scottsdale now competes with Vegas, Nashville, and Austin for the best bachelor/ bachelorette weekends. Maybe the bar scene and millennial gatherings are not the preferred metrics, but anyone with a pulse can see this city is alive and flourishing.
Along our desert journey, we happened to see zero tents, no garbage, and very few homeless people. Some panhandlers wandered along the freeway on-ramp, but otherwise, we didn't see anything resembling Morador or downtown Portland. It's night and day, and the main tourist areas were safe, inviting, and bustling with people.
Meanwhile, the Rose City is slowly eroding into the Willamette River. The city streets in the urban core are empty save for garbage, tents, and needles. Restaurants and retail businesses are boarded up if not gone. Violence and homicides are at an all-time high, and you rarely see any police. It's odd that when you reduce the size of the police force, crime actually increases. Supposedly, the "City that Works" has one full-time traffic officer. The majority of downtown office workers continue to work remotely, a trend that will continue well into the new year. And, of course, in Oregon, we still wear masks at all times, except when showering. The main riverfront arterial in downtown Portland has been closed for over nine months to reduce northbound vehicular traffic to just one lane. Portland's bike nazis could solve both the housing crisis and global climate change over a few Portland micro-brews if they used the same energy and laser-like focus to eliminate cars permanently. Amsterdam is the only other city on the face of this planet with a more bike-friendly culture. And yet those in charge @ PBOT insist on being #1.
The madness must stop.
Meanwhile, city leaders proactively turned off all substantial development of new apartments and housing. Guess what limited supply does to demand? The 14-acre U.S. Postal Service site was supposed to be a catalyst for the central city. It promised to connect neighborhoods and provide thousands of permanent jobs. Five years later, the project remains stalled with zero progress. A well-respected regional developer backed out in September after two years of negotiations with the city.
The formal city response:
"We will continue to move forward with Prosper Portland on this historic opportunity to create a new, vibrant neighborhood that is equitable and inclusive and welcomes Portlanders of all incomes,”
Huh? Five years later, there is nothing new, vibrant, equitable, or inclusive. Instead, the site is another vast swath of undeveloped promise littered with tents and filth.
Sorry, but it is impossible to have 17+ stakeholders and advisory groups for anything to ever get built. Business and economic development should not be four-letter words, but that’s what our elected leadership projects. Portland is so full of itself, and soon there will be nobody left to pay the ever-increasing taxes.
Let's be honest. My wife and I have no desire to relocate to Arizona. I love Portland. I love my 15-minute commute. I love just three lanes on the freeway. I love crisp November mornings. I love fall leaves. I love great coffee. I love wine tasting in Yamhill County. I care deeply about the environment. The 2020 election was not stolen. I'll gladly pay higher taxes for a stronger safety net, affordable healthcare, and more police!
But dammit, can we pause for two seconds, look around, tip our caps and say good job to Arizona. Can we say job well done to places like Boise, Nashville, Austin, Dallas & Las Vegas? These cities in red states unapologetically promote, encourage and celebrate new development and investment. They offer clean streets, attract tourists and appeal to industry. We may have different lenses, but it's super fun to visit a clean, vibrant city with people visiting from all over.
Sadly, in 2017, the independently run PDC (Portland "Development" Commission) was replaced by the city-controlled Prosper Portland. How much has Portland prospered since?
And all I could think of as our plane descended back into the dark, cold November rain was that the people from Buckeye and Scottsdale were extremely friendly. They were cordial, welcomed us warmly, and appreciated our business.