My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed spending several hours in downtown Portland at the Oregon Chinese Festival, (“Chinese Festival brings music, dance and more to Pioneer Courthouse Square,” Aug. 2). It was fabulous to see people enjoying the day at Pioneer Square. But the beauty of the festival and the vibrant atmosphere of people walking the sidewalks in the city was attenuated by the overwhelming number of vacant storefronts.
A recent Oregonian/OregonLive featured an article on the beauty of the waterfront in Seattle; it painted a picture in stark contrast to the struggles facing downtown Portland, (“Seattle waterfront gives cruise-goers a taste of why they should return,” Aug. 3). Having recently visited Seattle, it reminds me of the joy in being out with people who are celebrating the beauty of the area. A notable difference between the downtowns is that Seattle seems to be thriving while Portland is full of empty storefronts.
Correctly or not, I get the feeling that our city government is fixated on housing issues with nary any emphasis on doing whatever needs to be done to attract businesses to settle in the downtown area. Earlier this year notable Oregon company Dutch Bros coffee announced it would relocate its headquarters out of state. Yet it could have just come up the road to Portland and put its headquarters here.
Where was our city government in trying to attract these companies to Portland? No matter how much optimism and cheerleading we hear about how traffic is returning to downtown Portland, it’s never going to return to its vibrant past unless the business community returns.
Harry Davis, Portland
To read more letters to the editor, go to oregonlive.com/opinion.
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