Downtown Portland businesses report improvements in theft, vandalism in newest survey

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Progress is being made in efforts to revitalize downtown Portland businesses, according to a new survey.

The results of the 2024 Downtown Portland Clean & Safe Business Survey show the majority of businesses polled are more optimistic about the future, thanks to improvements in public safety and cleanliness.

“Organized crime is having a hard time doing business in downtown and that’s exactly what we want,” said Downtown Portland Clean & Safe Executive Director Mark Wells. “A year ago, you would walk around, it would be very common to see open drug use and open drug dealing. It still exists, for sure, but it’s dramatically decreased, and that adds to that sense of safety and security.”

The non-profit Downtown Portland Clean & Safe provides 24-hour dispatch and cleaning services. Wells said nearly all 300 participating businesses were satisfied with their safety services.

The results of the new survey show businesses experiencing sheft or shoplifting incidents dropped from 47% in 2023 to 30% in 2024. Businesses repairing windows or physical damage decreased from 67% in 2023 to 47% in 2024. In addition, 57% of businesses now feel optimistic about being downtown.

However, there are still areas of improvement. While nearly half of businesses reported employees quitting due to safety concerns in 2023 (45.8%), that figure dropped to on-third in 2024 (29.2%).

“We saw about a 17% decrease in those numbers, but a third, you know, that’s still too high,” Wells said.

Wells said Downtown Portland Clean & Safe continues to partner with the city to address top concerns, including the homeless crisis. Hundreds still live in tents downtown and Wells said his crews clean about one ton of trash daily.

“We are still playing ‘Whack a Mole.’ The city is coming out, posting the camp we have. The city has to follow different legal parameters. The camp can be abated on a Monday, the sidewalk is perfectly clean. We’ll come out and do extra cleaning to support that, and then the next day, the campsite is right back,” Wells said.

Despite the progress, businesses are still struggling. Only about one in four reported higher revenues in 2024 than the year before. Wells weighed in on what that means for the overall state of revitalization.

“At Clean & Safe, we’re optimists. But we’re also realists. We need more foot traffic. We need more people coming downtown and shopping and eating and dining than we did pre-pandemic. We’re not back there yet.”

DPCS said they and community partners will continue efforts to boost the health of downtown Portland businesses by prioritizing investments in economic revitalization, public safety and cleaning initiatives.