The iCage is looking pretty permanent

The exterior of Apple's downtown Portland store is a monument to the utter failure of the city government, and in particular its worthless police force.

You can't blame the corporate guys. Unlike our city's bush league politicians and stoned hipster voters, the business people are smart. They know that if they're burglarized, the Portland police will do nothing to stop it or to catch the criminals. And if they do arrest anybody, the boy wonder district attorney won't prosecute. "It's only a property crime." The only solution is some serious fencing.

The other day I heard an interesting story. One recent night, a business owner got an alarm that his business in northeast Portland was being burglarized, and so he went to the scene. On a nearby street he spied the very guy whom he had seen committing the crime on the security cam video feed on his phone. The perpetrator was even carrying some of the owner's stuff. The victim explained this to the lone policeman who showed up, but the cop refused to do anything. "I can't arrest him. I don't have any backup." And then the speech about how short-handed the police bureau is.

They ought to start selling postcards of the iCage, because it's probably going to be there for a long, long time. It may wind up being the only store left functioning downtown.