The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

On Easter Monday, CBN uploaded a video report on its YouTube channel titled Portland’s Meltdown: A Progressive Experiment That Has Gone Colossally Bad. Dale Hurd was the reporter. The story detailed Portland’s economic nosedive in recent years, coupled with the rapid deterioration of the downtown area of the city -- all due to the liberal policies of the Democratic Party. Of the six Congress representatives in Oregon, five are Democrats. Both of the State’s senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, are Democrats. The governor of Oregon, Tina Kotek, is a Democrat. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler is also a Democrat. Oregon is a blue state. As of 2021, the population of Portland stood at 641,162.

The three counties of Portland are Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas.

Ever since the passing of Measure 110 in November 2020, the socioeconomic situation in Portland has worsened to the degree that Forbes magazine published an article in January 28, 2021 titled Death Of A City, which was a corroboration of what CBN reported on Easter Monday.

Measure 110 came into effect on February 1, 2021.

The passing of this referendum means that Oregonians would only be cited or fined $100 for possession of hard drugs like LSD, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroine. Measure 110 is also called the Drugs Addiction Treatment Recovery Act or DATRA.

Oregon is the first State to decriminalize small amounts of drugs for personal use.

DATRA has wooed hundreds of drug addicts, drug dealers and drug cartels to the inner city areas of Portland, who have helped in the deterioration of the once beautiful city. According to CBN, these individuals are in Portland to take advantage of Oregon’s weak drug laws. In the CBN report, it was claimed that 79 percent of businesses surveyed in downtown Portland have either been vandalized or robbed.

Both Walmart and Cracker Barrel, in addition to 2,600 other businesses, have left downtown Portland. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC founders have moved their financial firm from Portland to Vancouver, Washington.

The CEO of Menashe Properties has fled for Dallas. Multnomah County has lost residents over the past three years.

Before 2020, the county hadn’t lost people since 1987. The influx of drug addicts has coincided with the unusually high homeless rate, with many tent encampments that now litter the landscape of Portland.

On January 26, 2022, there were 5,228 homeless people in Multnomah; 808 in Washington and 597 in Clackamas. One out of every two police stops involves a stolen car, according to CBN. The Bahamian readership might be asking: Why write about Portland, which is 2,927 miles from The Bahamas?

I am writing about Portland because I see uncanny, unsettling similarities between that US northeastern city and Freeport City.

For starters, Freeport, like Portland, has seen its economy hit rock-bottom with no clearcut strategy to salvage it.

Freeport, like Portland, has also suffered a brain drain, with many educated Grand Bahamians leaving for greener pastures.

Like downtown Portland, downtown Freeport has also become a ghost town, with many businesses being shuttered. I’ve argued in the past that Solomon’s Downtown Freeport is not enough to save the downtown area.

The only difference between Freeport and Portland is that the latter’s downturn is tied to the influx of drug addicts who have moved in.

Freeport, like Portland, is also grappling with a high rate of homelessness, which isn’t being adequately reported by the media or the state. In one morning, I saw homeless drug addicts on Cedar Street, Queen’s Highway and Settler’s Way on the day following Easter Monday.

On the day before Easter Sunday, I saw another homeless drug addict talking to herself near the rundown International Bazaar, which is alleged to be a homeless shelter for many Grand Bahamians who have fallen through the cracks. Both Freeport and Portland are now inundated with dilapidated buildings due to the mass exodus of businesses and residents. The misery index in Freeport has to be through the roof. Both Portland and Freeport are victims of man-made policies, which can easily be fixed.

There’s no way that Portland, which is a city in the greatest economy in the world, should be in the current dismal state that it is in.

With Freeport, which is located on an island about 50 miles from the State of Florida, there’s no logical excuse for the city to be languishing for two consecutive decades, while other Family Islands like Abaco, Exuma, Eleuthera, Bimini and San Salvador are booming economically.

Like Portland, Freeport’s disastrous economic state is self-inflicted.

This is why I now consider Portland to be the Freeport City of the US, for what it’s worth.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama

April 11, 2023.