Flight of the Portland paycheck
It will be a while before the Blazers leave town, and they may never. But while everybody dithers about them, Portland is losing other businesses left and right. Daimler just announced that it's shutting down its truck factory on Swan Island in north Portland and laying off about 375 people. The jobs are going to the East Coast.
This depressing announcement comes on the heels of the news that Under Armour is abandoning its corporate headquarers in the old YMCA building on Barbur, while the celebrity-backed Aviation Gin has shut down its hospitality room out in industrial northwest. The company stopped producing booze in Portland several months ago.
There's also a rumor afoot that another 200 jobs are about to leave close-in northeast Portland bound for Clark County, Washington soon. That would count as staying in the Portland metro area, but for the city, it might as well be the moon.
Manufacturing, corporate, spirits industry – it's all packing up and getting out of Portland. What's to replace it? Junk, or nothing. No wonder the bars and restaurants are also folding everywhere you look.
It seems like we've set ourselves back 50 years in the last five. The city council is paralyzed by its own immaturity, and the mayor has turned out to be kind of a strange dude. He appointed a city manager who's obviously in way over his head and will be of zero help in this situation. The local "prosperity" agency is utterly incompetent. The county commission is worthless, or worse. The governor keeps appointing economic task forces, but their reports pile up while the slide continues, with week after week of bad economic news.
Then again, we do have a $2 billion airport terminal! And don't forget, folks, "you're gonna see dashboards."
With the people we have running the show, Portland has not yet hit bottom. But we are clearly in free fall now. The reasonable folks are not speaking up loudly enough. Instead, a lot of them are leaving. It's really a shame.
Immaturity is usually applied to adolescent children. But, it’s fitting.
ReplyDeleteWhen businesses the Portland community stopped making things. The brain dead community leaders thought they had finally cleaned up the local environment. They had told businesses to go elsewhere. The businesses did and took their payrolls with them.
Capital, the lifeblood of innovation, business retention and expansion has “quick feet”……..a city with the nation’s second highest tax on income production and investment gains, , suffocating regulations preventing economic growth and a political class of leaders proud to identify as socialists simply cannot compete with free market alternatives elsewhere. Portland has repeatedly voted for this utopia, no one should be surprised by our current circumstances and the bleak future ahead.
ReplyDeleteThe Summer of Love has turned into the Winter of Despair...
DeleteThat's a really-important point, that the new CA "will be of zero help in this situation" - what we all knew was needed in that position was someone with the experience to assist this new/larger/inexperienced Council in getting their footing & getting things back on track, but...
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about his working-relationship with the Council (who'd enthusiastically voted to confirm him), at this point.
It’s naive to assert that any combination of city manager/city council cooperation will reverse the current chaos.
DeleteAs long as major tax reductions aren't part of the plan, nothing will help. Money talks, BS walks.
DeleteYou write:
Delete"I'm curious about his working-relationship with the Council (who'd enthusiastically voted to confirm him), at this point."
RCL3 got confirmed because he's black and gay...not because of any kind of specific expertise or demonstration of competence.
You keep writing here that he's gay. Not that it's relevant, but I've seen no evidence that it's true.
DeleteI believe the misinformation came from a supposed comment from CC Dan Ryan that was printed somewhere (comment section or article, can’t recall). Regardless, like you Jack, only care about making good decisions for Portland, which probably won’t happen with this mayor and Lee given the city and states’s “tax and spend foolishly” approach to everything.
DeleteI had a brief contract job at Daimler several years ago and it was a really nice place to work. But they decided to go all in on self-driving electric semis so moved a huge part of their operation budget into that area, reducing other departments. And now with the weakening economy and having over the years moved a lot of stuff to their east coast hub (closer to Germany), it did seem like a matter of time before the old Freightliner lines were closed down.
ReplyDeleteI also had a couple of year run at Japanese owned Wacom, who had their North American software and support development in a building they built in the Pearl. After Covid most people never returned to the office, so it was just a handful of us in the top 3 floors. Nice digs. Last year they closed down the whole operation and moved a small remaining team back to Vancouver where they used to be before the "boys" wanted to look cool in the Pearl. Go Portland!
When happens when adult children who take nothing serious, serious.
ReplyDeleteCities that go into structural decline--think Detroit--do not tend to come back. Once money is deployed elsewhere, it's gone. Period, not that socialists understand that. Resident aloways flow out, as soon as mortgage rates allow. Today's rate, over 6%, is the only thing standing between Portland and a general real estate crash (which has already happened with commercial properties). Detroit hollowed out quickly; the old reason was "white flight," but it was simply sensible people wanting to be first in line before the market crashed. Which it did.
ReplyDeleteThe people of Portland know exactly what this state/city needs to rebound…re-elect Kotek and have a few more No Kings rallies!
ReplyDeleteYou get what you vote for.
ReplyDeletePortland has a lot in common with a Rose blossom.
ReplyDeleteIt was beautiful. It was wonderful while it lasted.
First, thank you, Jack for all that you do. I don't think I agree with you on all of your points on the political spectrum, you exhibit a great deal of common sense and keen insight. I appreciate you efforts in creating this forum.
ReplyDelete"Portland Nice" to "Quirky" to "Keep Portland Weird!" to "Portlandia". What's the point of the statement? It highlights how genuinely nice peoples' tolerance of unaccomplished fellow citizens' strange predilictions can lead to these unaccomplished citizens ultimately setting the agenda for the entire communtiy (see Portland City Council). It's come to the point where the "Takers" have moved in, while more energetic "Builders" are moving on to greener pastures. I was born and raised in Portland 69 years ago (go Grant High class of '74!), so I've seen a lot of ups and downs. This is undoubtably the worst I've ever seen (cue "O.K., Boomer", and eye-roll from the under-35 crowd).
I told friends 5 years ago that I feared for Portland. The response that I received from my more socialist friend was: "Good! Maybe if housing prices go down, people will be able to afford homes.". Due respect, what a naive, shit-for-brains perspective
Odds are this will end badly. I believe that Portland isn't even at the beginning of the "Doom Loop", but if anyone's truly committed to the metro area thriving, make sure you vote, motivate your friends to vote, and encourage them to mobilize others to vote! If you do so, Portland will either turn around, or descend into further mediocity. If so, it will be what the majority of the voting citizens want, but I can't believe that the majority of Portland's suicidal. However, there's a significant chance I might be wrong. If so, I encourage you to make exit plans. If a substantial number of citizens don't get engaged and work to make this community better (which, in my opinion means having zero tolerance for public drug use, street camping, not adequately funding police & fire, maintaining our infrastructure and the rule of law, mandating that addicts and mentally ill people receive the help they so obviously need), then you can kiss Portland goodbye. It'll continue to be "one-step forward, two steps back", until those who viewed Portland as a great place to live and raise a family 20-30 years ago won't even recognize the place.
If you've read this far, thanks for letting me vent. I sincerely wish good luck to all.
We been at "one step forward, two steps back" since at least 2016. I think even a magic 8 ball could predict this one with accuracy....stagflation
DeleteI don’t think the follow travelers will eventually take over.
ReplyDeleteUnless they take our guns.