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Portland hotel takes financial punch over city's crime, homeless encampments as corporate clients flee

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Heisman Winner
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May 29, 2001
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Williamstown, WV
Can you imagine how you would feel if you played a part in getting these leftists elected and re-elected?

Illegal foreign nationals and criminals before Americans. Pathetic. Again...These bleaters need to stay and suffer with what they voted for.

Then we have a goofball president and his leftists cohorts blaming Republicans for this atrocity.

Come on, board bleaters...Let's talk about the issues and not your hatred for Trump.

Leftists are destroying our country

LINK: The city is not living up to its duty to provide basic services (cleanliness, safety & security)

A historic hotel in downtown Portland is considering a lawsuit against the city after a corporate client dropped staying at the hotel over "safety concerns," according to a local outlet that examined email correspondence from business leaders.

"The city is not living up to its duty to provide basic services (cleanliness, safety & security)," an executive from Coast Hospitality Management, the company that owns the Benson hotel, wrote in an email to the president of the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association, Jason Brandt, according to Willamette Week. "Too many homeless and crazy people running around. Suffice to say, I’m furious!"

The corporate client that dropped the Benson was not named in the email, and had a contract for 300 rooms at $156 a night over the course of each month, according to Willamette Week. The email correspondence obtained by the outlet reportedly noted that Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines "have been unwilling to come back in full for the same reason."

"It’s a $50K monthly contract for The Benson," the unnamed executive wrote to Brandt.

"I am thinking seriously about suing the city," the executive added. "I’ve got to believe we can get other hoteliers to join in and make it a class action suit. We are not the only ones suffering."

Fox News Digital reached out to leadership at Coast Hospitality Management and the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association for additional comment on the matter Tuesday morning but did not receive immediate replies.

Willamette Week also obtained an email response from an attorney representing the restaurant and lodging association, Matthew Lowe, who said a legal team was looking into "a plausible theory" for suing the city.

"That goes against my general predisposition to counsel clients out of litigation given the cost and burden," Lowe wrote, according to the outlet. "But this appears to be an instance where we can only make headway with the city if we can get a court order."

Lowe did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry for comment on a potential lawsuit.

Crime in Portland has skyrocketed in the last few years, with a recent study finding violent crime in the city drastically rose over the last three years, most precipitously in 2020, when the city saw near-nightly protests and riots over the death of George Floyd.

Researchers for the California Partnership for Safe Communities compiled crime data from the city, specifically examining homicides and non-fatal shootings from 2019 to 2021. The data found that there was a 144% increase in homicides from January 2019 to June 2021 while non-fatal shootings increase by 241% from January 2019 to December 2021.

The violent crimes began ticking up in 2019, with 36 homicides that year compared to 26 in 2018. The city had held a 20-year average of 28 homicides per year, with 2004 as the outlier at 29 homicides.

That average was soon obliterated when the data showed 2020 notched a 58% increase in homicides compared to the year prior, at 57 deaths, and 2021 recorded a 54% increase, at 88 homicides. The number of homicides in 2021 was a 238% increase from numbers recorded in 2018.

The city has also struggled with widespread homeless encampments, which has forced some Portland families to recently sell their homes and leave the city.

"I would say the migration to the suburbs, I’ve seen quite a bit in the last two years," real estate broker Lauren Iaquinta told KGW8 last month regarding people leaving the North Portland neighborhood. "Most people don’t want to have to worry about if they can leave their car parked in their driveway overnight without maybe having it broken into. It’s a pretty testy subject."

Another resident of the city told the outlet in late August that even early in the morning he sees people openly doing drugs and other illegal activities on the street.

"At 8 o'clock in the morning there are folks that are smoking meth, they're shooting up, there's domestic violence. It's absolutely absurd," Nathan Lamb told KGW8.

Several businesses in downtown Portland fled the area recently in response to dwindling foot traffic and increasing crime. Even a Cracker Barrel abruptly closed last month, with employees reporting at the time that the closure was due to security issues in the area.

"There is a growing number of businesses (both in our industry and outside our industry) that continue to be deeply concerned about public safety and cleanliness issues in Portland," president of the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association, Jason Brandt, told Willamette Week in comment regarding the Benson hotel. "We look forward to being a partner in any way we can to create a laser-like focus on these fundamental responsibilities of local government."

Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on efforts to clean the city up.

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More results of bleater voting...

Don't flee your leftist-cities, bleaters. Bask in all of the glory you voted for!

LINK: DC-area Maryland county to enforce youth curfew after juvenile crime more than doubles

Children under the age of 17 in Prince George's County, Maryland, will be under curfew for at least 30 days beginning this weekend, as the local government tries to combat a wave of juvenile crime.

The announcement came after an August that County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said was the "single-deadliest" in county history and that juvenile crime arrests have more than doubled since a year ago. During a Monday press conference, Alsobrooks justified the curfew by pointing to past government programs aimed at helping youths that do not appear to have worked in the county, which borders Washington, D.C.

"The government alone cannot solve this problem," Alsobrooks said. "Somebody has got to take responsibility for these armed and dangerous children, and it is not just the police and not just the government."

Alsobrooks stated that as the number of local carjackings has gone up, many of those offenses have been committed by children. This, despite past efforts to help the community such as an employment program where the government got summer jobs for more than 6,000 people between the ages of 16 and 22, as well as new mental health and addiction facilities.

Alsobrooks led to the curfew announcement by pointing out that many crimes are being committed by children at 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.

"No summer job or government program is going to help that," she said.

With that in mind, Alsobrooks pointed to families to step up and do their part.

"At this point, these kids don’t just need a hug, they also need to be held accountable," she said. "I know this isn’t a popular thing to say, but the truth of the matter is it’s a fair question: Where are their parents? Where are the aunties, where are the uncles, and other family members who are responsible for them?"

The curfew will be enforced under existing law and calls for children under the age of 17 to be home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and between 11:59 p.m. and 5 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Violation will result in parental notification. If a parent or guardian does not respond, child services will get involved.

Additionally, Alsobrooks said that owners of establishments that let children stay during curfew hours will face fines of $50 for a first offense, going up incrementally for subsequent offenses up to $250.
 
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