The business owners of Portland, the residents, call on the city to combat downtown crime wave

Broken windows, car burglaries, drug use and harassment-the business owners and residents of Portland took the ground at the city council meeting on Monday to pronounce concerns about a wave of crime in the city center that makes it dangerous to make life and business.

“The Monument Square has become an uncertain place to work or visit and is an enemy and expensive environment in which a restaurant can be operated,” said David Turin, owner of David's Restaurant, in a letter that a business owner read, while Turin voluntarily was available to the foodside program.

The restaurant on the Monument Square has been employing 45 people since 1998, most of whom live in Portland.

“Last month we broke into six occasions in the cars. We brought hundreds of people with witnesses who drink alcohol, smoke a saucepan, hang around, loud, sleep, emptied, urinate and put on the square behind our building,” said Turin in his letter. “We have thrown the contents of our dumpsters and the roast oil on the floor several times.

“Food guests and employees are often verbally abused and sometimes physically threatened,” continued the letter, noticing that the sliding and thrust of incidents is not unusual. “We broke our front windows twice in two years. We spend hours a week to clean up and try to keep the order in our shop. We have to like to live on the restaurant several times a week. It feels very unsafe for our employees and guests.”

While he found that the space has long been a desirable goal for strolling, sitting, eating, food and shops.

The problem for a fiery start to the city council meeting on Monday, which ran personally and on zoom for more than two hours.

While a resident asked the city officials to create solutions “because the city center dies”, someone else spoke about being “not very comfortable” to wake up or move them to get into their doorstep. The help of the city to “bring people from the benches and to services that can help them would be very appreciated,” she said.

Another resident compared the situation with that of Portland, Ore, and San Francisco, where tourist visits have decreased and some companies have gone because their employees no longer feel safe and no longer want to shop, eat or stay there.

“Our Portland shouldn't follow the same way,” she said. “It has no positive anywhere if this is the case.”

“Customers don't feel safe”

The owner of Longfellow Books, Ari Gersen, said from the balcony,: “This problem not only has my business. In my opinion, it affects the heart of the city itself, our public security and the growing challenges in relation to drug use, vagranty and a disturbance at street level in our city center.”

Longfellow employee, for example, found needles and drug utensils on the sidewalks and “frightening episodes or screams that frighten customers, employees or themselves,” he said.

“If customers don't feel safe to go to the door, it doesn't matter how much we try. It doesn't matter how good books are … the guests no longer feel comfortable when they bring their children to the city center,” he said.

Gersen also said that if he goes four and six from the parking garage to the shop, he needs 10 seconds to “look” because he does not feel comfortable when he lets the youngsters run this 12 foot.

In order to prevent dangerous or threatening behavior, he asked the audience to work together as a community in order to achieve a more consistent police or security presence, and according to partnerships to proactively tackle drug use and a crisis for mental health.

“As a business world, we are obliged to be part of this solution,” he said.

Reaction of the city

In response to a query from Mineebiz, Jessica Grondin, a spokeswoman for the city, said in an e -mail that the city evaluates the possibilities for better management of activities on the Monument Square using the tools to be available.

“These tools include a more consistent presence of the law enforcement authorities, improved cleaning and maintenance as well as ways to make the Monument Square more lively, inviting and useful for the general public,” she added.