OT Three Hotels Approaching Foreclosure in the Heart of Portland Offer a Warning to City Leaders

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I stopped going out downtown in Eugene to the blues jams or WOW hall concerts, etc because for years it was night of the living dead downtown...businesses were boarded up...couldn't go 2 ft without getting spare changed or bothered by street bums....it's cleaned up now but until Portland fixes that shit they'll lose the business of people like me. I left in 2001 for the country and back then thought it was getting ridiculous to drive downtown from Wilsonville...bad traffic setup ....Eugene has cleaned up the city a whole lot over the last few years.
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
Downtown portland is shitty. Tourists (like me) don't want to really stay or go down there anymore. Not a big shocker.
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Let’s not pretend that this is just a Portland problem.

I’m in the LA area quite a bit throughout the year and you can easily make the case that it’s worse there than San Francisco for worst homeless problem on the west coast.

LA is the third world right now
 
Fez Forthright said:
Let’s not pretend that this is just a Portland problem.

I’m in the LA area quite a bit throughout the year and you can easily make the case that it’s worse there than San Francisco for worst homeless problem on the west coast.

LA is the third world right now
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As is Seattle. We were there for my birthday weekend and after attempting to venture out for a walk, changed our minds. It's bad everywhere people.
 
Anyone been to downtown St Louis the last few years? Literal ghost town at night. Huge, beautiful, old buildings, empty, no lights on and broken windows. You could probably buy the building for close to nothing. Prime downtown location. Walk down the Main Street on a Friday night at 7 pm. ALONE for blocks. It was the weirdest feeling, like post apocalyptic out of a movie. No businesses other than the St Louis Cardinals and St Louis Blues. Hope Portland doesn’t get to that point.
 
calvin natt said:
Anyone been to downtown St Louis the last few years? Literal ghost town at night. Huge, beautiful, old buildings, empty, no lights on and broken windows. You could probably buy the building for close to nothing. Prime downtown location. Walk down the Main Street on a Friday night at 7 pm. ALONE for blocks. It was the weirdest feeling, like post apocalyptic out of a movie. No businesses other than the St Louis Cardinals and St Louis Blues. Hope Portland doesn’t get to that point.
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Gotta get people living down there. That's how you get a vibrant night life.
 
Nothing will get better unless the city decides to clean up the homeless and protester/riot mess. If that doesn’t happen then nothing else they do will matter. It would just be lipstick on a smelly pile of shit. This has been obvious for some time but I guess the important people think those aren’t priorities for a large city. Bike paths are more important.
 
Fez Forthright said:
Let’s not pretend that this is just a Portland problem.

I’m in the LA area quite a bit throughout the year and you can easily make the case that it’s worse there than San Francisco for worst homeless problem on the west coast.

LA is the third world right now
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LA is shit. I won't deny that. I don't even go to most of the city anymore. Southbay/Beach cities and OC only because it's not all fucked up.

However, isn't downtown Portland still all boarded up? Portland seems to ignore the anti-social behavior like riots and vandalism. How are you going to make an area nice when you let people smash shit up. Aint no tourists gonna want to be around that.


LA ignores the homeless problem. They can literally set up anywhere and they are a huge problem of crime, drugs and garbage. LA mayor and city council are pieces of shit.

LA for the most part tries to crack down on disruptive riots and all that shit that seems to plauge downtown portland. The DA office doesn't do shit though. Restorative justice BS.
 
calvin natt said:
Anyone been to downtown St Louis the last few years? Literal ghost town at night. Huge, beautiful, old buildings, empty, no lights on and broken windows. You could probably buy the building for close to nothing. Prime downtown location. Walk down the Main Street on a Friday night at 7 pm. ALONE for blocks. It was the weirdest feeling, like post apocalyptic out of a movie. No businesses other than the St Louis Cardinals and St Louis Blues. Hope Portland doesn’t get to that point.
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I went there maybe 18 years ago. Is "THE Landing" area dead too? I remember that was really really fun for night life.

I think there was a Banana Joe's there which used to be in Portland too.
 
THE HCP said:
As is Seattle. We were there for my birthday weekend and after attempting to venture out for a walk, changed our minds. It's bad everywhere people.
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I'll be there next weekend. Is pike market sketch? I need my Hom Bao fix
 
noknobs said:
Nothing will get better unless the city decides to clean up the homeless and protester/riot mess. If that doesn’t happen then nothing else they do will matter. It would just be lipstick on a smelly pile of shit. This has been obvious for some time but I guess the important people think those aren’t priorities for a large city. Bike paths are more important.
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The protests are over. These buildings can be part of the solution to the homeless mess.
 
Phatguysrule said:
The protests are over. These buildings can be part of the solution to the homeless mess.
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Your solution is to hollow out downtown and then give it to the homeless? Well good luck with that, it’s working well so far. Portland will be booming again in no time.
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
I went there maybe 18 years ago. Is "THE Landing" area dead too? I remember that was really really fun for night life.

I think there was a Banana Joe's there which used to be in Portland too.
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Don’t recall that. I was in a hotel near the ballpark which is nice. Huge indoor beer garden. Place is great….for 81 home games. Other than that it’s like Chernobyl
 
calvin natt said:
Don’t recall that. I was in a hotel near the ballpark which is nice. Huge indoor beer garden. Place is great….for 81 home games. Other than that it’s like Chernobyl
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lol.

https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/l...-plan/63-a58e0e01-09e5-4b75-a000-807ea07671cb

When you think of Laclede's Landing, cobblestone streets probably come to mind. And up until about 15 years ago, it was a popular destination for bars and nightclubs.

But, more recently, some have called it a "ghost town."

Now, there are signs of a resurgence on the Landing and some business owners are betting the comeback is real and only getting started.
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I had one of the best nights out ever there.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
Except downtown already has a ton of mostly-empty office buildings that are expected to become even emptier over the next couple years, meaning we could soon be seeing similar reports about commercial buildings. No reason to use these hotels for that same purpose.

I agree that there aren't many who want to live downtown, but if the option is available to house those currently residing downtown in tents, I wouldn't be opposed.
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Yeah, but Sly was saying don't give developers subsidies; I was saying it's unlikely anyone will use their office buildings to house anyone, esp. homeless, otherwise. Hotels need a lot less investment to become homeless housing, so that's a possibility after the current owners give up/ get foreclosed on.

barfo
 
Phatguysrule said:
I think if you could solve the homeless problem people would jump at the chance to live in downtown Portland.
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No doubt. But that's a bit like saying if week-old 7-11 hot dogs were tasty and nutritious, they'd be a much better value.

barfo
 
barfo said:
Yeah, but Sly was saying don't give developers subsidies; I was saying it's unlikely anyone will use their office buildings to house anyone, esp. homeless, otherwise. Hotels need a lot less investment to become homeless housing, so that's a possibility after the current owners give up/ get foreclosed on.

barfo
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That’s a great idea if you don’t want anyone to go downtown any more.
 
barfo said:
No doubt. But that's a bit like saying if week-old 7-11 hot dogs were tasty and nutritious, they'd be a much better value.

barfo
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It's not some secret. We know how to solve it and we now have the money. Now it's on our leaders to get it done.
 
Same discussion, but Texas.

barfo
 
Chris Craig said:
Yeah, it totally sucks we have to witness the suffering people.
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Here is what we witnessed this week. Two homeless guys got in a fight near my dad's condo. One guy came back later with gasoline and torched the other guys tent. Massive fireball scorched the trees all around it and burned out the car next to it. The camp being torched had two propane tanks that luckily did not blow up. I also had a screamer fixate on me on the max but she turned out to be harmless, still unsettling though. If you think you are just a witness to downtown Portland activities, then you don't spend much time downtown.
 
donkiez said:
Here is what we witnessed this week. Two homeless guys got in a fight near my dad's condo. One guy came back later with gasoline and torched the other guys tent. Massive fireball scorched the trees all around it and burned out the car next to it. The camp being torched had two propane tanks that luckily did not blow up. I also had a screamer fixate on me on the max but she turned out to be harmless, still unsettling though. If you think you are just a witness to downtown Portland activities, then you don't spend much time downtown.
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You need more empathy. :Sly:
 
Out of curiosity, what do some of you guys (aside from phatguysrule who already gave an idea) propose as a solution to the problem we all see?
 
Voodoo said:
Out of curiosity, what do some of you guys (aside from phatguysrule who already gave an idea) propose as a solution to the problem we all see?
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Living on the streets should be illegal.

Set up prison style facilities where homeless persons can stay. Basic cell, food, showers, etc. Should be outside of the city limits and provide basic services to help homeless persons become gainfully employed and to treat any drug/mental issues.

Zero tolerance for drugs/alcohol/weapons in these facilities, subject to arrest.
 
Voodoo said:
Out of curiosity, what do some of you guys (aside from phatguysrule who already gave an idea) propose as a solution to the problem we all see?
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Tough question because it's a bigger issue than just our city. If any one state or city does too much then they end up taking care of all the nations homeless. It's already happening in Portland, we get shipped a lot of homeless from red states and people come here on their own for lax laws and community resources. The issue needs to be handled federally, until that happens I am on board with a heavy handed approach. I seriously feel like my safety is a concern downtown. My dad who lives here and is elderly has multiple stories of being accosted by homeless people. He always has pepper spray with him and we make contingency plans for if we are attacked every time we go out. This new ADA lawsuit is interesting because I am disabled and have visual issues, I've always said the sidewalks were not disability accessable, glad someone is using that angle. As far as the homeless go, they need help but a whole lot of them refuse help. I'm over empathy, something needs to be done. I have met the new community outreach social workers and that program is awesome, we need more of that.
 
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EL PRESIDENTE said:
Living on the streets should be illegal.

Set up prison style facilities where homeless persons can stay. Basic cell, food, showers, etc. Should be outside of the city limits and provide basic services to help homeless persons become gainfully employed and to treat any drug/mental issues.

Zero tolerance for drugs/alcohol/weapons in these facilities, subject to arrest.
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I'm all for this as long as every person is offered a monthly rent voucher equivalent to the average rental price, which is payable immediately by any approved landlord, and as long as any landlord can be approved and paid within the month.

We have the money now. We just need to get it to people to get most of them off of the streets.
 
Phatguysrule said:
I'm all for this as long as every person is offered a monthly rent voucher equivalent to the average rental price, which is payable immediately by any approved landlord, and as long as any landlord can be approved and paid within the month.

We have the money now. We just need to get it to people to get most of them off of the streets.
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Its basically the same thing i said should be done we debated about. But instead of prison style facilities i said use the prisons we have and bring in trained people. So whats the difference between this and my idea that you shot down? Would not this also require many more trained people we don't have?
 
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