In Friday’s LinkSwarm, I had a link that asked if Portland was finally sobering up.
Well, for a lot of people and businesses, it’s too late. Such as Kevin Howard, for whom the City of Portland refused to do anything about the homeless people breaking into his property and trashing the place.
And who then fined him because the place was trashed.
“This property was listed in January of 2021 for $795,000. Yesterday we sold it for $412,000,” said Howard.
A significant loss, but Howard says he had nothing left in the tank. The tiny piece of property off Southeast Powell Boulevard, a former pizza parlor, has been a nightmare for the past three years.
“The supposed homeless came in and kicked in the door, the front door, and lived in it,” said Howard. “And I waited until they came out, and I had to board it up.”
But Howard says that didn’t do much. They just broke in again and again, living inside and outside, even in his dumpster enclosure which they eventually set on fire. Howard says he got nowhere when he called the police.
“I said, ‘Well, what does a homeowner do? What does a property owner do?’ and they said, ‘Call Central City Concern,'” said Howard. “I said “What will they do?’ and they said, ‘Well, they’ll probably come out and give them a cup of coffee and some hot soup.'”
Howard looked into hiring a security guard, but that was too expensive at roughly $15,000 a month. So, he decided to get a fence, but the wait was four months.
“I said, ‘Why?’ and they said, ‘Because homeowners like mad are fencing their property to keep the, you know, the drug addicts and the homeless out,'” said Howard.
So, the trash piled up, and Howard tried to keep up, but it wasn’t enough. Last summer, the city hit him with a nuisance fine of nearly $540.
Howard paid the fine.
A month later, he got an even bigger bill, the original amount plus a penalty. The city told him they had lost his check. So, he paid the bill again, plus the extra $100.
“Two weeks later, they sent me another bill for 639 dollars and 71 cents,” said Howard. “I called them up, and they said, “Well, this might be a duplicate bill, but we’ve already put a lien on your property.”
“I just remember the phrase ‘The City That Works.’ The city that jerks, I mean, how can you be this dysfunctional?”
Easy. You let Social Justice Warriors take over your city.
This is the expected outcome.
Tags: Democrats, homeless, Portland, Social Justice Warriors, video, Welfare State
I see this guy’s tears, and his pain is genuine, but I have just this slight cynical twinge of how someone can be in such a situation and such a city for as long he has and not see what’s coming. If you’re going to sell at a loss like that, then why did it take this long to cut bait. Clearly the guy has money and if I had that money I would’ve used it as the luxury it is and insulated myself sooner and better against what has to be the worst urban decay outside Frisco.
This is the thing about killing golden geese, the financial shocks happen too gradually to make the impact needed politically. Bud light? Now that’s how you do it…drop their effing jaws to the floor and knock the taste put of their mouths, if only it could be that way for these dem run hellholes. Cities like Portland and Frisco and LA and NYC don’t give a flip about this guy, even though they should’ve. They’re boiling frogs and they act and think like they’ve got plenty of time.
We need to find better ways of making the exit of people like this shocking. Transformational in the near term instead of 10 years down the road. Ever since Bud light and target I’ve realized that the threat of losing everything needs to be real and sudden for it to have any effect, if it has any at all. They just do not care if a guns pointed at them, you have to convince them it’s loaded too, they’re that stupid.
@Andy, “They just do not care if a guns pointed at them, you have to convince them it’s loaded too, they’re that stupid.” And that you are willing to kill them. That may require doing so. Of course, you absolutely will get the attention of the police at that point.
@Andy: certainly in Chicago the election of Mayor Brandon Johnson (coming as it did after the sterling administration of Lori “Groot” Lightfoot) has galvanized a number of families and small businesses to consider their options. However, the young, affluent white progressives still flock to the city, and that buffers the shock.
The problem is, different groups of people respond to different stimuli. The financial shocks that would finally chase the small businesses from the city are not the ones that will chase the young affluents out of their lofts and nightlife. The shocks that will cause the poor to wake up are different still.
So that’s how Chicago, and Portland, and SF keep going. For now.
@Andy
How tough would it be to reach out to 15 businesses in Portland – or owners of property of 15 closed businesses – and convince them to cut bait, move to greener pasture?
• Give them a list of cities where they would do better.
• Point out the different cost of living.
• Give them stats on foot traffic, avg income per zip code, etc.
• Give them details of properties available to buy or lease.
• Really lay out a runway for them. Make it such a no-brainer, they jump.
A month later, do 15 more. A month later, 15 more. It wouldn’t take too long to have a big list of businesses – then rub the city leaders’ noses in it. Swat them with a rolled up newspaper until they resign in disgrace, never to hold office ever again.
I would suggest the same for every city that was hit by BLM and chose not to prosecute. Let the city leaders feel the heat.
@Steve
While this is true, the young affluents are leaving San Francisco en masse. Businesses, too. Office space is empty, and retail space is empty too because.
Plus – if small businesses leave a city in large enough numbers, the young affluents won’t have anywhere to spend their $$$. Either they’ll leave, or they can enjoy their urban wasteland. Both options are fine with me.
They created this culture. They voted these people in. They celebrated these freedoms. They did nothing to stop it. They trashed civilization; traditions, civilizations; its taboos. So they have the Lord of the Flies.
Live with it. You wanted it. You tolerated it. You nurtured it. Its your creation. Now own it. LOL.
[…] CITY BLUES: Portland Real Estate Nightmare. “For a lot of people and businesses, it’s too late. Such as Kevin Howard, for whom the City […]
Who has Kevin been voting for all of these years…………I suspect the gubmint people bending him over.
why do you need a shock, though? We left the Twin Cities in 2016 because it was only a matter of time before the people in power would let it be burned to the ground to achieve equity. that was visible from policy and rhetoric. they were laying the kindling and pouring in the gasoline. We even took a loss on our property because the area was now experiencing increased petty crime, decreased services, and property taxes that rose over 60% in 5 years.
it hurt to leave. but it didn’t require a shock. just clear eyes and the effort of making a plan and following through.
I wonder what this guy’s party affiliation is, and what his voting history looks like. I tend to reserve sympathy in these cases until I have that information.
The guy is getting the Dollar Sign Darwin Award for being a die hard liberal as he lived in Portland for several decades and voted for the latest left wing insanity all along.
And now he wants us to feel sorry for him…
Not a snowball’s chance in Hell…
Give it to them, gooder and harder…
You guys that blame the victim need to re-read the article and try to put yourself in this guy’s place. He seems like he was trying to be a nice guy and do things the right way. Who knows how he voted. His choices were bad and worse. That I can understand, living here in Sacramento. My city is heading the way of Portland and SF it just isn’t there yet.
Voters here pass Measure O here which outlaws camping in publci places. The measure went to effect last week and the city already had an automated response saying they had already spent the minimum amount required by the ordinance and the voters can now go pound sand, basically.
If it were my store I’d have been tempted to ‘accidentally’ have an insurance fire or maybe hire some guys that wanted to make a couple of hundred bucks clearing the bums out. Baseball bats would be encouraged. It’s a no win situation once the decarcerate/Antifa/Democratic Socialists take over. The old saying about “you can vote yourself into socialism but you will have to shoot your way out” seems to be truer than I’d ever have imagined.
Fred says:
June 28, 2023 at 1:28 PM
They created this culture. They voted these people in. They celebrated these freedoms. They did nothing to stop it. They trashed civilization; traditions, civilizations; its taboos. So they have the Lord of the Flies.
Live with it. You wanted it. You tolerated it. You nurtured it. Its your creation. Now own it. LOL.
So easy to say and boy does it make you sound like a hardass. But I’d wager you that Kevin Howard, the guy who is losing $300K because the city favors bums over businesses, didn’t vote for this. Most small business people are pretty level headed and don’t want the Democratic Socialists to take over their cities. Try showing some compassion.
interestedbystander says, “It’s a no win situation once the decarcerate/Antifa/Democratic Socialists take over. The old saying about “you can vote yourself into socialism but you will have to shoot your way out” seems to be truer than I’d ever have imagined.”
I dealt with this in St. Louis for years before I left. Everyone needs to hear this. It’s not about opposing viewpoints or world views, apples vs. oranges. These people don’t disagree with you, they fucking hate you. They hate success and they hate you for being successful. After Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, people kept trying to have reasonable and logical conversations with the blm/antifa/anarchists as if there was some logical viewpoint everyone could agree on. Their entire worldview is based on pure emotion. They have no talking points based on reality.
If you exist, of any race or creed, and you extract your sustenance from the system as it exists instead of the system they wish to create for you, you are an enemy nazi-sympathizing buzzword-of-the-day. They want what you have and haven’t killed you to get it yet because there’s still some semblance of consequences like dying from your well-aimed gunfire. Their crusade against the police has been entirely about getting rid of as many barriers as possible to just being able to rob you with impunity.
To this day I will never forget the look of and the invective spewed by anarchist-marxist community organizers in the BofA chamber at St. Louis City hall arguing over police reform. They wanted to kill Jeff Roorda (Police Union head), every alderperson, the mayor….anyone that was in that room that wasn’t them. I saw the same look in the eyes of Iraqi Sunni elders right before the surge.
Interestedbystander is right. Never ever let these people anywhere near something that works. You will end up either shooting your way out or leaving, and if you haven’t noticed, they’re trying to make it harder and harder to leave, because where would you go?