Pearl re-ignition off to fast start
Overflow crowd fills Armory to learn what neighbors can do
A full house of Pearl neighbors turned out for an event to hear what’s coming to the district this summer, and how they can help.
A Sunday culinary farmers market on Northwest 13th Avenue beginning June 7 is the headline event, but a full summer of events is planned, including bikes races and art exhibits.
Former Umpqua Bank CEO Ray Davis (below), one of the organizers of the event, said the neighbors have suffered enough and can bring back the pre-2020 Pearl and then some.
All good. I’m thrilled with the plans. But there’s one thing no farmers market nor reopened green space will accomplish if we are willing to overlook the overwhelming presence of bend over stupor, squalor, and urban decay.
I’m not particularly energized to go out and pick up human waste while paying the highest taxes. That is not my job- and shouldn’t be anyone’s job- for that matter. Taking back the streets will take more then first Thursday, or not ticketing people parking to attend it.
Why is the drug addled swamp by the ASA apartments by the Safeway the disaster it is? Why is there not a daily chain of residents there DEMANDING these threats to our safety are removed?
Have we become this compliant and indifferent to the daily offensive that we’re going to believe we’re actually ‘taking back’ our city by opening a restaurant?
It’s a daily slap in the face walking these city blocks. I think it’s high time people responsible for this mess get slapped into reality.
Poor Pearl...poor Portland. Even the Lace Doily Revolutionaries in the DSA can't come up with much beyond the margins... foie gras and masked cops for the peacocks; grass for the doggies and overpriced hippie produce for the rest.
I hate to say it, but that auditorium was full of nice people who, sadly, are marooned in the Pearl. The condo market is in the dumper and mortgages are at 6-points. You can run...but how much of a financial haircut are you prepared to take to go somewhere where the feral aren't catered to, where politics isn't insane, where PBOT isn't scattering road candy, where there's no arts tax, and if you're the right race, you'll make bank.
If Trump's guy at the Fed can bring down interest rates...watch out. The history of America is full of people packing up and moving out when the going gets tough. The local boosters who are arguing themselves into believing that this is the Best of All Possible Towns will be the last to leave.
But leave they will.