Something is Rotten in Downtown

Hooverville under the Ross Island Bridge - July, 1936
Arthur Rothstein

Downtown Portland Oregon is booming. New high-rise buildings are going up left right and center, so somebody thinks we are going to need the space these buildings will provide. Which means there are going to be people wanting to rent these spaces, either for work or to live. Meanwhile we have the homeless camped out on any spare patch of ground they can find, including sidewalks, the shoulders of freeway ramps and patches of woods that are too steep to build on.

Then there are a large number of vacant ground floor storefronts. Given how difficult it is to get into downtown in a car, and the large number of vagrants wandering around, I am not surprised retail operations are staying away.

Lastly, there are a large number of food trucks downtown. There is at least one entire city block given over to them. When I was working construction umpteen years ago, food trucks (aka roach coaches) would swing by once or twice a day to dispense soft drinks and candy bars. Now we have them permanently parked on what has to be some of the most expensive real estate in the city.

Hooverville NYC Central Park 1932

I am trying to figure out why the vacant store fronts are vacant. It could be that the owners are asking for too much rent. But why would that be? Could be they are hoping a miracle will happen and some magical retail operation will suddenly swoop in and sign a 25 year lease for whatever imaginary price they set? This situation has been going on for years, and no retail angel has appeared.

I suppose it could be that if all the upper floors are rented then they are taking in enough money and they don't need any income from the ground floor. But that doesn't make sense. They are businessmen. The reason you build or own a commercial building is to make money. Nobody does it out of the goodness of their heart. Okay, there might be the occasional odd-ball here and there, but I don't think they figure into the problem under discussion. The purpose of the building is to make money, so you make as much as possible by insuring that all of the space is rented out and generating income. But not all the space is occupied, so it;s not generating income, so something is wrong.

I've read some stories that suggest that cost to finish these ground floor spaces and then the hassle of maintaining them are too high, but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, unless,

1. everything has to be super fancy / science fictiony, which means very expensive build out costs,
2. they expect a rowdy clientelle busting up the place every night,
3. the government and the unions are imposing onerous costs, or
4. they feel that only the right kind of store would suit the image they want to project, and such an image is vital to their campaign to make their building the most expensive place to rent and therefor the most profitable.

I am kind of partial to the last one, but with so many empty store fronts, certainly someone would cave and go for real cash money now instead of waiting for imaginary cash winnings in the future.

Hooverville NYC Central Park 1932

I don't know what's going on, but something is definitely rotten.

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Now that I've thought about this a bit, I am beginning to think that this is a manifestation of a political battle being fought between the big landowners and some politicians. The homeless people and the 'quality of life' downtown are just pawns in this contest. The problem is that no one really knows what to do about the homeless. I am pretty sure that most of the homeless are not living in tents out of choice. Oh sure, there are a few, who actually like their vagrant lifestyle, and there are problem a few crazy people, though some recent experiences make me think that there is a similar percentage of crazies living in houses.

You know, if we can't give them houses, you'd think we could at least turn a field into a campground. And what brings them to downtown anyway? Are they working? I mean if you can find a place to shower once in while, there's no reason you couldn't hold down a job while living in a tent. I mean it would be a colossal pain, but look at all the money you would save on rent.

They might be panhandling, but not that many, not compared to the number of tents I see. There are some soup kitchens, The prospect of a free meal could keep them hanging around, especially if they don't have anywhere else to go.

Many small towns in Oregon were devastated by the collapse of the timber industry. (It did collapse, didn't it? Something about the spotted owl comes to mind.) Maybe we should set up some soup kitchens in one of these small towns? Put the homeless in the empty houses. I can why it hasn't been done. Everyone would object. It would put paid to the political battle that is going on.

Top photo via Posthip Scott