‘It’s nuts down there’: Lawlessness spikes in Portland’s Old Town as coronavirus shutters businesses

More than 100 tents dot sidewalks in Portland’s Old Town. Pedestrians have to step around feces and garbage as they walk through the neighborhood.

Owners of businesses shuttered during the first wave of Oregon’s coronavirus epidemic are worried about reopening starting Friday, their entrances blocked by street campers.

“State of Old Town & Reaching Out for Help,’’ read the subject line of an email from Helen Ying, chair of the Old Town Community Association to Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office. She included photos of the area’s blight.

The complaints prompted Police Chief Jami Resch to devise a “high-visibility'’ police patrol plan for Old Town. On Wednesday, officers began what will be a 30-day presence on bikes, in cars and by foot.

Residents and property owners say they’re seeing blatant drug dealing, aggressive behavior and unprovoked assaults.

The number of people living in tents on Old Town sidewalks has spiked dramatically, they say, since the city halted cleanup of homeless camps because of the epidemic.

While police calls from the neighborhood are down, Central Precinct Cmdr. Mike Krantz said it may be because businesses are closed and fewer people are in the area during the day to report offenses.

Scott Kerman, executive director of Blanchet House, said he rarely called police before the COVID-19 public health crisis. The nonprofit provides free food, clothing and housing to people in need.

“Everything was more or less pretty chill,’’ Kerman said, during the community association’s board meeting Wednesday. “That’s changed a lot under the current situation. We’re not seeing a lot of our regulars anymore. … We do have elements coming in here just looking to cause trouble.’’

On Wednesday morning, a Blanchet House resident was outside cleaning up when a stranger walked up, looked at him and took a swing, breaking his nose, Kerman said.

“It was totally unprovoked,’’ he said.

Kerman, in the association’s letter to the mayor, said he shared the view that “the streets have essentially been left to the homeless – both to their disadvantage and that of residents/businesses in our community. No one is helped by the current situation.’’

Ying, during the association’s board meeting with the police chief and police commander, said that she appreciates police stepping up patrols but also hopes soon to bring together social service providers and homeless advocacy groups, such as Street Roots and Sisters of the Road, to organize a coordinated approach.

Jane DeMarco, interim executive director of the Lan Su Chinese Garden, said she’s been surprised by the number of people sleeping in tents around the garden, including some pitched on the sidewalk near its entrance. Dirty clothes have been thrown over the fence into the garden, she said.

Compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak, “where there might have been four or five tents, now there’s 18 around the garden,’’ she said. “People seem quite angry and agitated.’’

DeMarco has been discussing how to reopen the garden and is considering eventually allowing 30 to 35 visitors in at a time with time slots arranged online.

But she said, “The concern I have moving forward is when we learn we can reopen, how do we graciously, politely ask those campers on our sidewalk to move somewhere else so we can clean the sidewalk for our visitors to come back?’’

Eric Bowler and his wife, Karen Bowler, who own three bars in Old Town – Tube, Fortune and Maxwell – closed them in mid-March and boarded up two of their businesses.

When they returned recently to check the mail and get something out of their office at Tube, they were disgusted to find “somebody pooped into our mail slot’” and needles had been shoved in as well, Eric Bowler said.

“It’s nuts down there,’’ he said. “It’s always crazy, but with most businesses closed, the streets are overrun with open-air drug dealing” as well as people in mental health crisis who need help.

Daniel Klinkert, a member of the community association board, asked Krantz, the precinct commander during the board meeting: “Are you aware that many types of retail business will open this Friday? I have concerns about business owners opening up who are under significant stress combined with exacerbated psychiatric illnesses in the streets. Do you have any specific plans for this potentially combustible situation?’’

Krantz said that’s the reason the Police Bureau is dedicating eight officers and a sergeant to be on patrol in the neighborhood Mondays through Fridays, and some weekends, for the next month.

Members of the police Behavioral Health Unit also will try to connect people on the street to social services, he said.

The mayor’s public safety liaison, Robert King, told the association’s board that the problems are “front and center’’ for Wheeler.

“Hopefully our presence will help deter crime,’’ said King, a retired Portland police lieutenant.

“Because of COVID, the city is not currently moving camps,'' he said. "The conversations behind the scenes are happening to ensure the safety and health of everybody, including the people on the streets.’’

Officers Matt Jacobsen and Brad Browning walked through the neighborhood’s streets Wednesday morning. They checked in with people sleeping in tents to see if they were ok and if they needed any help.

Edward Moran, who had left a shelter that morning and was looking for some place else to sleep, said he welcomed the police presence.

"Everybody is out for themselves still,'' Moran said, adding that he has noticed people stealing from each other on the streets.

Mitchell Menashe, who owns and manages 226 units of affordable housing at Fifth Avenue Place Apartments and Pacific Tower in Old Town, said he understands that the neighborhood would draw homeless people because it’s the central location for many social services in the city and those services are crucial.

But he said there needs to be "more of a balanced eco-system'' in Old Town.

He said he fears for the safety of residents and employees who work in and around his properties. They've noticed an increase in blatant drug dealing and alcohol use, public urination and defecation.

While he applauds the police for providing more attention in the next month, "ultimately there needs to be a comprehensive long-term solution.''

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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