What happens when a governor orders businesses to close, jails release dozens of inmates, and police announce they will only respond to life threatening calls and issue citations instead of arresting people? Anyone with three functioning brain cells can see where this toxic combination is heading.
Sure enough, just one day into Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s order that all businesses deemed “non essential” are to close, vandals smashed out windows of seven businesses in Portland’s fancy pants Pearl District.
This has led to several businesses in the area to board up their windows.
“Yeah, I’m very worried about looting. I’m worried about a lot of things. Looting is definitely in the front of my mind right now,” said Ramzy Hattar, owner of River Pig Saloon. ” Especially cause it happened next door. And we’re two to three days into this closure, I can only image what’s going to happen in a month or two months into it.”
Just this past weekend, police did get reports of vandals throwing rocks and hitting seven different businesses near Northwest 10th and Lovejoy.
Michael Chown works in the Pearl District and was upset to see the glass windows covered by plywood.
“It’s scary honestly. Just driving down the street, no one is walking around, no one’s working, no one’s outside,” Chown said.
Business in NW Portland are boarded up their windows Sunday evening to protect their business after several reported break-ins and vandalism in Portland. pic.twitter.com/h2MBA6Cwjm
— Michael Galimanis (@Cougphotog) March 23, 2020
River Pig Saloon in the Pearl District is boarded up in an effort to prevent vandalism. We’re hearing other businesses are doing this as well while they remain closed during the #covid19 pandemic #LiveOnK2 pic.twitter.com/CLbFlQuB9Z
— Evan Bell (@evanbellKATU) March 23, 2020
