Weekend break-ins and a recent assault plague Pearl District
Cosmopolitan hires guards after three incidents in three days
A woman was assaulted on the sidewalk in front of the Fields Bar and Grill at Northwest 11th and Northrup by a shirtless man last month.
In a second incident at the same restaurant, a different person threatened a worker inside the restaurant. A newsletter published by the Bridgeport Condominiums and sent to residents first reported these incidents. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of the building.
On Monday morning, the windows on the Cosmopolitan Condominiums’ west and east sides were boarded up after the third break-in in three days occurred Saturday night. The building has hired armed guards, who are now on duty 24/7.
A Cosmopolitan homeowner who asked not to be named told the NW Examiner that last Thursday a man and a pitbull “surfed” into the 11th Avenue garage, trailing behind someone not paying attention. The intruder then grabbed an ax and some camping equipment from a car parked in the garage, and threatened a different resident with the ax. Police arrived in force but according to the homeowner the man was not caught.
A week ago, a video captured a man on the sidewalk honing his hatchet, then testing it on trees across from Ovation Coffee in the Pinnacle.
Photographs of vandalism and lights not working were sent to PDX Reporter, but got repeated error messages. Others could not even log in. This broken system may be contributing to underreporting.
This kind of thing has got to stop. We need cops and mental health experts patrolling, and a change in the law that will allow perpetrators of actual physical assaults to be held or placed for mandated treatment, and supervised, inexpensive housing where people can live, no camping allowed. A fantasy in this city, I suppose. The Mayor's plan for overnight shelter will do nothing to address the drug use and untreated mental illness that is driving the decline of our city. No wonder businesses continue to leave, and ordinary people left to cope with theft, assaults, trash, needles, and the consequences of people using the streets as their restroom.
Wow shocking? What is it going to take for these things to be taken seriously? Someone getting seriously hurt (nope - Guy sucker punches random women in the face and gets released TWICE). I'm afraid it is going to take someone losing their life for action to take place. How sad is that????
Also has anyone been downtown lately? Its like a zombie apocalypse. It is actually crazy to see the hords of drugged out people.