Portland: Why Bother

I have had a long and tortured relationship with Portland, Oregon. I had friends from Portland while I was going to Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington and thus we traveled there on several occasions. At that time, Portland was pretty much a timber and shipping point. Rough hewn men and water front bars. No fancy boys need apply. Later, my wife and I traveled through Portland on our honeymoon and headed for the Big Sur in California. We remarked that whenever we were able to retire it would be in Oregon – although most likely in the Medford area. A decade later we were asked to move from our home in Helena, Montana, to Portland where I would become the telephone company’s general attorney – more or less the local general counsel for the company. Up until that moment we had refused other offers to relocate to Denver with the company but this was an opportunity that we could not ignore.

When we arrived in Portland it was vastly changed from our quick trip through during our honeymoon. The business district on the west side of the Willamette River was in full bloom with high rise condos, remodeled commercial buildings and great restaurants were everywhere. There was a vibrancy that was tactile; akin to other western cities that were growing, expanding and maturing. There was the Rose Parade, the gathering of large ships in the Spring, concerts in the parks, Blazer basketball and on and on. Who cared if it rained from the first of November until the first of May. Who cared if you drove to work in the dark and back home again when it was even darker. This was Portland – a crown jewel of the Pacific Northwest. We met families through our schools who are still among our closest friends. On date nights we would reaffirm that this was as good of a decision as we could have made.

But ambition intruded and we were summoned to Denver for a variety of corporate positions. So sure were we that we would return, we kept our condo on Devil’s Lake in Lincoln City. And after seven years the telephone company asked us to return to Portland. And again Portland had changed and not for the better. I lived downtown while we constructed a home off Skyline Road and our daughter could graduate from Arapaho High School in Denver. My walk to work each morning consisted of stepping over bums asleep on the streets, aggressive panhandlers, and light rail cars. Because of my position at the telephone company I was automatically included on the executive committees for the major business associations and I soon found out that my fellow board members were more interested in saving the salmon, increasing taxes for public education and increasing social programs at the state and local level than they were in such mundane problems like excessive taxes on business, smaller more efficient government, reduced regulation and business development. Not surprisingly the former were the preferred items on a succession of Democrat governors, mayor and county commissioners and not the latter.

In fact, shortly after we returned, Portland began its descent into a series of grossly unqualified leftist whose answer to everything was the public employees unions, appeasement, higher taxes, larger government and avoidance of culpability. When the number of homeless increased, the solution was to give them tents and port-a-potties and throw them street parades. When the number of junkies began to increase the solutions was to give them free needles and shooting galleries. When Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa began to riot in the streets replete with arson, assault, theft and destruction of property, the solution was to march with the rioters to show solidarity to their imaginary grievances and to stand down the police. The result was a continuing increase in the number of homeless, an increase in the number of drug abusers, and a hundred day assault on Portland including on the mayor who marched with the thugs.

And yet, despite higher taxes (going even higher), diminished services and continuing violence, Portland returns the same people (or their clones) to public office in Portland, Multnomah County and the state legislature where, because of gerrymandering, Portland exercises a greater political influence than it should. More importantly, the same ineptness that has served Portland so poorly is now alive and well in Washington County, Salem, Eugene and even Bend. It appears that incompetence knows no boundaries.

For years I heard from other members of the business community that Portland just needed to hit rock bottom before it could begin a recovery. They were as wrong about that as they were in supporting those Democrat governors, mayors, county commissioners and legislators that brought Portland down. Portland hit rock bottom in about 2020 and the Summer of Love and they seem to enjoy wallowing in its detritus.

So what is the solution? Why bother? They are smarter than all of the rest of us and they aren’t going to listen anyway.

Find your own happiness elsewhere.