Portlandia IX - Day 65
I went to Portland this afternoon Day 65 of BLM protests which began on May 28th. To see for myself what things were like since we have been in the world news so much recently. I was taking photos with a couple of old film cameras but also grabbed a few cell phone pics! My takeaways:
1) The right media portrayal of Portland being a war zone is totally false! You can walk safely anywhere in downtown PDX.
2) The left media portrayal of the damage being confined to the courthouse and just graffiti is also false. Pre Fed arrival damage extents through a lot of SW downtown from the courthouse to Pioneer Square and Waterfront park. Many businesses small and large have been affected.
3) PDX is like a ghost town, you can find meter parking on any street on a Saturday afternoon! A really poor indicator for the future of the PDX downtown economy.
4) The most heavily damaged area is around the Federal Courthouse but pretty much all that damage was done before the Feds arrived. Since the Feds arrived it's all been about tear the fence down - put the fence back up!
5) The sad part for me, a lot of the street art on all the plywood covering all the broken & protected windows is fantastic and carries a far more powerful message than breaking the window did.
Read More1) The right media portrayal of Portland being a war zone is totally false! You can walk safely anywhere in downtown PDX.
2) The left media portrayal of the damage being confined to the courthouse and just graffiti is also false. Pre Fed arrival damage extents through a lot of SW downtown from the courthouse to Pioneer Square and Waterfront park. Many businesses small and large have been affected.
3) PDX is like a ghost town, you can find meter parking on any street on a Saturday afternoon! A really poor indicator for the future of the PDX downtown economy.
4) The most heavily damaged area is around the Federal Courthouse but pretty much all that damage was done before the Feds arrived. Since the Feds arrived it's all been about tear the fence down - put the fence back up!
5) The sad part for me, a lot of the street art on all the plywood covering all the broken & protected windows is fantastic and carries a far more powerful message than breaking the window did.
