1. They may only be the 1% of portlanders who own businesses, but they own 100% of the businesses. The other 99% have to buy bread from somewhere, so it totally affects them. Further, it's happening because of how they voted.

2. Anyone who's ever been to Portland wouldn't or couldn't call it an average city. Even before the pandemic there were homeless people everywhere. I couldn't turn my head and not see a tent. It didn't look particularly fun either; Portland gets a lot of rain. Also the article doesn't assert that policing is broken down, they assert that the police are underfunded and take two hours to get there.

It’s interesting that Portland is seeing record homicides because it’s far more gentrified than ever. Portland had only 54 homicides in 1993, when crime was much higher nationally, and Portland specifically was much seedier. Last couple of years are close to double the 1993 peak, but population growth since then is only 50%.

No this is incorrect, I know people that left from Portland and Seattle following the "firey but mostly peaceful protests" the fact of the matter is they gutted the police, the police that remain know that if they actually do their job they're likely to be the next national outrage, and they are being told by their bosses and the politicians to do nothing. As such the criminals now know they can run wild with no prevention it isn't gentrification it is what happens when an entire city turns their back on any semblance of law and order. Portland will not recover for a long time if ever.

You’re not allowed to have that option in front of West Coasters, FYI. I hope you will abandon it before you are cancelled. Everything that happened in 2020 was good.

> Further, it's happening because of how they voted. [citation needed]

Its happening because business-backed city leadership decided to deprioritize affordable housing in an effort to uplevel the tax base and get rid of all the artist types, with the completely forseeable result being an explosion in homelessness

Portland had 96 homicides in 2022. San Francisco had 55 and Seattle had ~50. Both of those cities are much larger than Portland.

But ignoring homicides traffic violence is at a 70 year high after the traffic policing team was cut to support homicide investigation and patrol. https://www.koin.com/news/portland/portland-sees-rise-in-ped...

Its more useful to compare the violent crime rate per capita, not strictly homicides: https://www.areavibes.com/compare-results/?place1=Portland%2...

By which measure Portland is safer than both of your examples, even after this supposed apocalyptic crime wave caused by defunding the Police