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The U.S. Bancorp Tower, better known as Big Pink, has a robot security guard. Its name is Rob and it patrols the parking garage. Lately, a lot of Portlanders have wondered whether more people would come to work in Big Pink if more flesh-and-blood police officers were working a beat in Old Town. The debate kicked up a notch last week when The Wall Street Journal highlighted the mostly empty tower going on the market (Murmurs, WW, May 21). Mayor Keith Wilson objected to the Journal’s coverage, but used the story as leverage for preserving his police budget increase. That didn’t work: The City Council voted to move $1.9 million from police to parks maintenance. “That was devastating,” said Councilor Dan Ryan. “Beep,” said Rob. Here’s what our readers had to say:
SafeSpacer, via wweek.com: “Nothing instills courageous resolve amongst Portlanders to bring their city back like Mayor Mouse wishing the WSJ would have written about something else.”
Tom Mcroy, via Facebook: “Downtown Portland’s office vacancy rate = a zillion people with computer jobs working remotely. Most of the West Coast big cities are all hovering around 30%. Don’t overthink it.”
David Meltzer, via Facebook: “Even in downtown’s heyday, the Old Town area was sketchy at best. Maybe the ‘urban grit’ was part of the charm when it was outweighed by the presence of regular people. But it has always had homeless, drugs, shelters, social service agencies much more than the rest of downtown. Now that downtown has fallen on tough times, the area around Unico/U.S. Bancorp Tower has gotten even worse. So yes. I would not want to work there. But for the rest of downtown? The problem is simply that not enough people are coming back there to work. The main office areas south of, say, Washington or Morrison all the way to Market do not have the problems as severe as they are in Old Town. People do not want to wear dressy clothes to work, they do not want to sit in traffic or pay for parking or ride buses or trains. So downtown remains vacant. I think you would have the same resistance from WFH workers even if downtown was in its pre-2020 state.”
Jean Korte, via Facebook: “This place is a mess. And on the fast track to becoming another Detroit. They are (purposely) taxing us right out of our homes to foot the bills for the homeless.”
trpljmp, via wweek.com: “No level of police staffing will bring back the demand for high-rise office towers.”
Marjorie J. Simpson, in response: “Except that the demand is growing in other cities around the country. Portland has the lowest tenancy rate of the 50 largest U.S. cities. We also happen to have a very serious drug problem playing out in our downtown streets, specifically in the homeless population. Drugs aren’t free, so there’s a lot of theft, car break-ins, human trafficking, and crime in general. Businesses, residents, and tourists are staying away from those crime-ridden areas.
“Good police staffing would at least address the crime issue. As noted in this article, Big Pink businesses left because of the crime. They relocated to other areas where there was less crime.
“So yes, police staffing would indeed help with the demand for these office towers.”
Daron Larsen, via Facebook: “You can’t have everything. Parks have added more value to my life than police, by a long shot, so I know which one I’m picking if it ever comes to a vote.”
Ben Hill, via Facebook: “I can’t vote in Portland, but if anyone took steps towards a Portland Police Bureau funding ballot initiative, I would use vacation time to help. The region needs it.”
Chuck Mize, in response: “You mean the same PPB that has the highest budget in their entire history and is still unable or unwilling to hire sworn officers they already have the budget for?”
benjamingo, via Bluesky: “Half a percent of the police budget hardly seems like a concern for either side. Hopefully, the one side’s win will be cherished and the other side’s loss will be quickly absorbed.”
MGLtheIII, via Reddit: “Honestly, I think the final breaking point will be a combination of city default on existing debt, inability to fund projects because of ever increasing interest rate on municipal bonds, and the Blazers leaving the city. I’m gonna guess within 24 to 36 months.”
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