Majority of downtown Portland merchants say city core is unsafe

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2021/01/majority-of-downtown-portland-merchants-say-city-core-is-unsafe.html
"The majority of downtown Portland businesses owners believe that the city’s core is no longer safe, according to a survey conducted by Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, a nonprofit and affiliate partner of the Portland Business Alliance.

In a survey conducted between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31, 2020, 62% of downtown businesses owners said that the central city was no longer safe, a nearly threefold increase from when the survey was last conducted in 2018.

The merchants surveyed also expressed increased concerns about vandalism and graffiti, a lack of cleanliness and rising homelessness in downtown.

While public safety was a big concern, though, 41% of the merchants surveyed said the coronavirus pandemic was the biggest issue impacting their businesses. That’s twice as many as cited homelessness, crime and protests combined.

Fifty-seven percent of downtown merchants reported a decline in revenue in 2020 amid the pandemic with 34% of those businesses saying it would take more than three years for their businesses to recover."