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Updated: 51 min ago

Portland business owners, residents urge city to combat downtown crime wave

Monument Square in Portland Photo / Renee Cordes Several Portland residents and business owners have expressed concerns about a crime wave on Monument Square.
By Renee Cordes

Shattered windows, car break-ins, drug use and harassment — Portland business owners and residents took the floor at Monday's City Council meeting to voice concerns about a downtown crime wave they say is making it hazardous to live and do business.

"Monument Square has become an unsafe place to work or visit, and it has become a hostile and expensive environment in which to operate a restaurant," David Turin, owner of David's Restaurant, said in a letter read aloud by a fellow business owner while Turin was out volunteering at the Wayside food program.

The restaurant, at Monument Square since 1998, employs 45 people, the majority of whom reside in Portland.

"In the past month, we have had staff cars broken into on six occasions. We have witnessed hundreds of people littering, drinking alcohol, smoking pot, loitering, lounging, sleeping, defecating, urinating and injecting themselves in the square as well as behind our building," Turin said in his letter. "We have the contents of our dumpsters and frying oil dumped onto the ground multiple times.

"Dining guests and staff are frequently verbally abused and sometimes physically threatened," the letter continued, noting that pushing and shoving incidents are not uncommon. "We have had our front windows smashed twice in two years. We spend hours weekly cleaning up and trying to keep order around our business. We have to chase loiterers from the restaurant several times weekly. It feels very unsafe to our staff and our guests."

While noting that the square has long been a desirable destination for strolling, sitting outside, dining and doing business, "now it looks like an encampment of some type, the letter said. Turin said the situation "poses an existential crisis and a threat for my business."

The issue made for a fiery start to Monday's City Council meeting, which ran for more than two hours in person and on Zoom.

While one resident asked city officials to come up with solutions "because the downtown is dying," another talked about being "not very comfortable" having to wake somebody up or move them to get in and out of her front door. The city's help in getting people "off benches and into services that can help them would be greatly appreciated," she said.

Another resident likened the situation to that of Portland, Ore., and San Francisco, where tourist visits have declined and some businesses have left because their employees no longer feel safe and customers no longer want to shop, dine or stay there.

"Our Portland should not be following the same path," she said. "It has nowhere positive to go if it does so."

'Customers don't feel safe'

Speaking from the balcony, Longfellow Books owner Ari Gersen said, "This issue does not just affect my business. It affects, in my opinion, the heart of the city itself, our public safety and the growing challenges around drug use, vagrancy and a street-level disorder in our downtown."

Longfellow staffers, for example, have found needles and drug paraphernalia on the sidewalk cracks and experienced "frightening episodes or shouting that scares off customers, staff or even myself at times," he said. 

"When customers don't feel safe walking up to our door, it doesn't matter how much we try, it doesn't matter how good are books are ... patrons no longer feel comfortable bringing their children downtown," he said.

Gersen also said that when he walks with his children ages four and six from the parking garage to the store, he takes 10 seconds "to look in every direction" because he doesn't feel comfortable letting the youngsters run those 12 feet.

To deter dangerous or threatening behavior, he called on listeners to work together as a community for a more consistent police or security presence and for partnerships to pro-actively address drug use and a mental health crisis.

"We as a business community are committed to being part of this solution," he said.

City's response

In response to a query from Mainebiz, Jessica Grondin, a spokeswoman for the city, said in an email that the city "is evaluating opportunities to better manage activity in Monument Square using the tools at our disposal.

"These tools include a more consistent law enforcement presence, enhanced cleaning and maintenance, and opportunities to make Monument Square more vibrant, inviting and useful for the general public," she added.
 

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