If there was one, major U.S. city that epitomized a tragic downfall from obscure laws and government policies, it would have to be Portland, Oregon.
Portland is proudly liberal. But, the city’s progressive laws and policies have spiraled out of control, leaving the once beaming city a shell of itself.
Now the city is taking a drastic measure to turn things around.
Tossing it’s entire city government.
According to a report first published by Politico, voters in Portland recently decided to throw out their entire government structure and replace it with a weaker mayor, expanded City Council and ranked choice voting.
The genesis of this desperate move stems from the passage of “Measure 110” — a measure that decriminalized all drugs back in 2020, which was surprisingly backed by 74 percent of Multnomah County’s residents (the county where Portland resides).
Unfortunately for residents, they never anticipated how this policy change would reshape a city already strapped for money, dealing with a public health crisis and confronting rising rates of homelessness and fentanyl abuse.
The impact of the measure led to more drug use, more homelessness, and a mass exodus of residents fed up with the state of the city.
According to the Politico report, now it’s a large collective of residents ready to tackle the city’s growing problems.
There are 19 people running for mayor and 98 people seeking seats on the City Council. They’re nearly all campaigning on left-of-center platforms — which is historically what Portland has focused on. However, there are a large group of moderate candidates bemoaning the city’s far-left shift and pushing for bigger policy corrections.
“I didn’t move to Portland because it was weird,” Rene Gonzalez, a city commissioner and mayoral candidate, said in an interview — referencing the popular “Keep Portland Weird” mantra. “I moved to Portland because it was livable.”
The ramifications are measurable: Nearly 12,000 people moved out of Multnomah County between 2020 and 2023, per data from Portland State University. The exodus between 2020 and 2021 alone took nearly $1.1 billion in taxable income out of the city, according to data analyzed by the Economic Innovation Group. Portland’s once bustling downtown is nearly empty, and a negative national reputation clouds its economic future.
Even Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a retiring Democrat congressman who has represented parts of Portland since 1996 and before that served on both the Multnomah County Commission and the City Council, said parts of downtown look “like Dresden in World War II.”
“I’ve spent 54 years trying to make Portland the most livable city in the country or in the world,” said Blumenauer, his voice cracking, in a mid-September interview.
“No one’s going to describe it like that now.”
For many city residents, the drug decriminalization and the city’s open camping rules have compounded the feeling of insecurity.
Homeless encampments spread through empty public spaces and filled sidewalks during the lockdown, and some became epicenters for the fentanyl trade. Even Portlanders who voted for decriminalization and believe in a compassionate approach to homelessness didn’t feel as safe in their own neighborhoods.
Will the massive shift of disbanding the government of this once proud, bustling city work… or backfire?
Time will tell.