Itâs literally like one block of downtown.
Few things have sustained more than a broken window or some graffiti.
Photos and videos of completely trashed buildings are including those that have been that way for years.
Stats on closures and financial losses are being confused with those related to covid-19.
The news keeps mentioning the same two or three little âfamily ownedâ businesses that got hurt in outbreaks of panic but canât seem to come up with any more than that.
Thatâs because the full list of our current downtown businesses and the full list of places that have been hit consist primarily of: Starbuckâs, Rite-Aid, Target, Apple, Microsoft, Nordstrom Rack, Whole Foods, Menâs Warehouse, Payless, AT&T, Sprint, Doc Martenâs and a bunch of jewelry stores.
These businesses themselves cost hundreds of people their livelihoods or homes when they came here, which people were already angry about before any of this happened.
That said, only a couple of them have been truly targeted and ransacked, such as the Apple Store, an eyesore that destroyed a chunk of historic architecture to sell planned obsolescence to hipster tourists.
Oops, I forgot the scientology building got vandalized too. Poor babies.
https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/01/28/new-lents-businesses-were-accused-of-contributing-to-gentrification-last-week/
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/07/coronavirus-closures-inflated-23-million-reported-in-downtown-portland-protest-damages.html
https://www.oregonlive.com/hg/2017/02/portland_gentrification_4_real.html
Anyway this isnât a downtown location but just as an aside hereâs a photo of a dumpy but beloved bowling alley locals really wanted to save from closure:
Here it is as of last year or so:
origamiaround
kianamaiart
yousharknotpass
blakekathryn
snowghoul
ellievsbear
