What killed downtown Portland?

I see that Margulis Jewelers is closing in Jackson Tower, in the heart of downtown Portland. It's just not a viable location for retail any more. Which is really sad.

But what's even sadder is the way the media around here spin the decline and fall of downtown. Every other sentence is "pandemic." Folks, the pandemic is worldwide, but other cities aren't rotting at the core the way Portland is. The virus is not to blame for the Rose City collapse.

What is?

I think I'd put the black-bloc riots at the top of the list. The fires, the looting – that's when the businesses really started boarding up, and packing up. And the regular Joes and Janes started re-thinking whether they really needed to go downtown.

Then there are the drug dealers. And the regular gunfire. The muggings, and the relentless burglaries. The smash-and-grabs from the parked cars.

What probably killed business down there more than anything, though, are all the mentally ill and drug-addicted people roaming around screaming, shooting up in their tents, threatening shoppers and tourists, sometimes stabbing someone just for looking at them. It's only my opinion, but to me nothing spoils a shopping spree like being stabbed. Or stepping in human feces.

And let's be sure not to omit from the blame list the politicians and bureaucrats of City Hall, who do their best to drive successful people away. They hate cars, they hate single-family homes, they hate historic buildings, they hate lawns, they hate everything that once made Portland a great town. They lord their authority over everyone. You need a permit to go the bathroom. And they are vicious with taxes: gleefully imposing them, inventing new ones, and collecting them with a vengeance.

Not to mention the cops. They've been on unofficial strike for nearly two years now. Someone questioned why they have to be so mean and racist, and so they took their ball and went home to Ridgefield, Washington.

It all adds up. No wonder the Apple store is in a cage. To me it's a miracle that Mario's and Nordstrom haven't up and left. Who could blame them if they did?