Like many of America’s once-great metropolises, Portland, Oregon, has seen better days. Drug-addled homeless continue to ravage the streets, and businesses have begun packing their bags for greener pastures, following the thousands of city residents who have had enough.
The reason Portland has become such a disaster is simple: It prioritizes the needs of its most destructive residents over those who follow the law. A story from last week exemplifies this perfectly.
Portland resident Chris Bolton tried to get the city to deal with a festering homeless camp outside his home. After spending months begging the city to come sweep the camp, Bolton was stunned to receive a visit from the Portland Bureau of Transportation, claiming he was the problem due to an overgrown hedge that would block a proposed stop sign.
The city then threatened Bolton with fines and liens if he didn’t deal with the hedge, all while drug paraphernalia, deserted vehicles, and biowaste accumulated nearby. Bolton and some neighbors trimmed the hedge and even cleaned up some of the homeless’ trash. The city then tried to punish Bolton for doing what the city failed to do.
Bolton’s experience reveals the logic increasingly common in progressive governance: The law-abiding are regulated aggressively, while chronic disorder is accommodated indefinitely. In Portland, those who follow the law are targets, not just of the lawless, but of the city itself.
By contrast, the lawless are free to do as they like—someone else will deal with the mess later. The vagrants outside of Bolton’s house left mountains of trash that he was eventually forced to clean up. No consequences for them, just for Bolton.
And when the natural consequences of the government’s failure to act in the interest of its citizenry come home to roost, that same government seeks to punish the law-abiding even more.
It’s no surprise, then, that Portland’s downtown is hollowing out in the wake of lax enforcement and a hostile political climate. The city’s office vacancy rate sits at a record high of almost 30%, one of the highest rates of any city in the country.
Why would any business choose to invest in Portland? The city has proven that it refuses to deal with the myriad problems preventing businesses from thriving. Fentanyl zombies prowl unabated, causing anemic foot traffic. Unrestricted shoplifting ensures that retail consistently operates at a loss. All that paired with a tax rate rivaled only by New York City, and investing in Portland looks like a losing proposition.
Rather than enforce the law, city leaders respond by seeking to punish the few remaining businesses. Portland authorities are considering a vacancy fee that would punish business owners whose properties remain empty for too long.
That same punitive philosophy shapes Portland’s drug policy.
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