‘It’s Getting Worse Every Day’: Drug Use And Crime Strain Portland Business Owners

‘It’s Getting Worse Every Day’: Drug Use And Crime Strain Portland Business Owners

Erinn Broadus on May 31, 2023

Local businesses in Portland, Oregon, are frustrated by an uptick in burglaries, theft and crime affecting their storefronts, according to local news reports.

Many Portland businesses have said that increased crime has directly affected the success of their stores. A recent surveyfound that 87% of businesses reported losing customers due to the “Reputation of Downtown.”

In northeast Portland, a business owner says crime has cost him thousands, according to KOIN News. In the West Buckman neighborhood, business owner Raquel Coyote says she’s lost count of the number of break-ins and is frustrated by the hesitation of city officials to do anything about it.

“We had over $50,000 worth of windows broken,” Coyote told KOIN.

Owners of a restaurant in the Parkrose neighborhood said in March they’ve been vandalized three times in that month alone, according to the Portland Tribune. Likewise, the owner of Park Avenue Market, Yousif Jabbary, is at a breaking point over increased and repetitive crime in his shop.

“It’s not safe, we try to be in business and open the door for our family and the neighborhood but it seems like it’s getting worse every day,” Jabbary told Fox 12 Oregon in January.

A 2022 survey of about 320 businesses in downtown Portland by DHM Research found that 85% of businesses felt they have been negatively impacted by the homeless and 69% felt that any rules regulating public behavior were not being enforced. Further, 50% of businesses had employees quit because they did not feel safe.

The top four reasons why businesses claimed they lost business were: the reputation of downtown (86%), public safety concerns (82%), public space cleanliness (74%), and challenges with access to storefronts due to sidewalk camping (61%).

Last month, outdoor store REI announced its departure from a Portland mall, according to KGW News. REI has been in that location for nearly two decades, but last year they faced the highest number of break-ins and thefts since opening.

The Behavioral Health Resource Center opened late last year and was supposed to be a resource for homeless individuals to be linked with resources and help if needed, KGW reported. It shuttered due to a need for further staff training and allegations that a security guard was doing cocaine on the job.

“Closing the Resource Center was a difficult but necessary step to get to the heart of this complaint, resolve any issues, and set expectations for the high level of service we expect from our contractors going forward,” said County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson to KGW.

The Portland Police Department did not immediately respond to Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.