6 Comments
User's avatar
Walden Kirsch's avatar

i walk past can font on my morning walk every day…and was surprised, as were others, to see it had recently closed. allan: i’d love to see some additional/deeper reporting on the tax environment that the building owners apparently blame for making it more profitable to maintain an empty space than an occupied one. if true…IF true:)…that would be a hella story!

Expand full comment
Wesley Mahan's avatar

WHAT tax laws? City, county, state, federal? Can you get more specific information about these tax laws?

Expand full comment
Allan Classen's avatar

Writers Krisch and Mahan are asking the questions we intend to follow up on in the coming weeks. The tax laws, lending practices and city policies may be intertwined in a system that seems to be bringing down significant restaurants and retailers that their customers love.

Expand full comment
Wesley Mahan's avatar

Excellent! When government taxes incentivize empty business spaces, it's outrageous. My son owns a thriving coffee shop in SE Portland, and it's conceivable that city or county tax laws could make the shop's existence way more difficult and tenuous, even impossible.

Expand full comment
Dan Freeman's avatar

the city keeps raising taxes and driving businesses and people away, the more they raise taxes, the less tax revenue they collect.

the only explanation is that they don't want growth, they want to keep portland small, in fact smaller than it is today

Expand full comment
Peter's avatar

Trumps America. So much winning

Expand full comment