Business leaders do believe accepting the whole picture will enable the good parts of Downtown Portland to go forward with seeing businesses prosper. It will eventually outweigh what is considering the frustrating aspects such as street camping, garbage, and vandalism.

Business Leaders Still Feel People are not Frequenting the Downtown Area

A lot of people really are still avoiding the Downtown Portland area, between those obvious deterrents and the COVID-19 pandemic. This is what Vanessa Sturgeon, president, and CEO of TMT Development said. Also, the company does own many downtown properties which include the Fox Tower.

Sturgeon has said: “Downtown is really ready to have you back.” “Moreover, when people are ready, Downtown is ready to reopen.”

There are some promising signs of change, Sturgeon said. Moreover, the businesses are once again signing leases for vacant downtown spaces and the employees to return to the Downtown offices. She has pointing to the resources which are aiming at addressing the homeless crisis. This would include the $2.4 billion housing services measure.

“Starting to roll in is that funding. We have to start to think really big and forget the idea of small incremental change,” said Sturgeon.

Would-Be Shoppers Getting Conflicting Messages

There are other signs that do show that things are really starting to show change is slow. In fact, there are many open Downtown businesses that are keeping their windows still boarded up. The optics do send a mixed message for the several would-be shoppers. It does lead to questions: is Downtown safe? In fact, why do they not take the boards down? In fact, Sturgeon does believe the answer has multiple layers.

“Way down is the visitor traffic and that has not come back,” said Sturgeon. “Moreover, until it does, with people having their eyes on the streets at all times, they are not feeling as emboldened to commit the acts of vandalism. So people are more than likely going to have to wait to take down the boards. It seems that oftentimes those windows are being replaced many times on their own dime.”