Businesses located in the Old Town Chinatown portion of Portland, Oregon sent a letter to the city's leadership asking them to take care of the "rapidly deteriorating conditions" the city has experienced in the aftermath of continued unrest and defunding of the police department.
In the letter, which was addressed to Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) and city commissioners, the business associations say they are unable to continue dealing with the "flagrant drug dealing, fires, and vandalism, verbal and physical threats as well as actual assaults" of their employees and patrons, according to KATU.
"Old Town and the New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District was once home to the largest population of Cantonese-Chinese outside of San Francisco and one of the two Japantowns in Portland. Jewish merchants managed and owned businesses in the neighborhood. Our four organizations were founded to preserve an important part of Portland’s history and to celebrate the diversities of our city. Local government’s inability to protect this neighborhood disrespects this history.
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"It’s past time for you to take the necessary action to fix the city we all love. We ask that you personally meet with us by no later than October 22, 2021, to discuss your commitment to lead and the specific actions you support for Old Town. We need to hear the city’s plans for adding police and combatting rising crime and we need the county to step up and deploy mental health professionals and services to our neighborhood, which was recently described as an 'open-air psychiatric ward.'
"The frequency and severity of the vandalism, violence and mental instability has only worsened in Old Town over the past three to four weeks."
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In one September incident, three staff members of Lan Su Chinese Garden "experienced a combination of physical and verbal assaults." The letter was sent on Monday, but by Tuesday, Antifa lead another wave of destruction in downtown Portland, including property damage and setting fires. Portland Police did little to stop Antifa's actions since often those who are arrested are let go with little to no consequences.
We also saw a few people lighting fires in the streets- looked like they were using flares to start them. Police drove around for awhile running lights & sirens- I’m not sure if anyone was arrested. @KOINNews pic.twitter.com/QxjxVaXdNG
— Jenny Young (@jennytyoung) October 13, 2021
#Antifa trashed a section of downtown Portland overnight & started fires. They rioted in memory of Sean Kealiher, who was hit by a car & killed when his comrades fired rounds at vehicle. Antifa refused to cooperate in police investigation. #PortlandRiots pic.twitter.com/0vTAPpumWZ
— Andy Ngô ?????? (@MrAndyNgo) October 13, 2021
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