Business owners are fleeing Portland in droves amid a pronounced rise in crime and homelessness, officials in the Democratic stronghold have revealed.
Public data shows that since the pandemic, more than 2,600 downtown businesses have filed changes of address with the U.S. Postal Service to leave their downtown ZIP codes.
Several big-name employers, from Unitus Community Credit Union to Umpqua Bank, have been among the mass exodus, carried out by owners who have taken issue with the rising crime levels and homelessness – and the city’s failure to address it.
Once hailed as the ‘crown jewel of the West Coast’ for its trendy art and food scenes, The City of Roses has been in peril since 2020, largely due to efforts to defund police and lax bail reform laws that leave little to no deterrent for increasingly brazen criminals.
Local leaders are now sharing their strategies for solving the crime and livability issues, as they threaten to spill over into bordering counties, where the court of public opinion is generally more conservative.
