Board Chair, Ken Thrasher: Thoughts on the Declared Fentanyl State of Emergency

The NWCC advocates for the Pearl District on multiple levels.

Rite Aid in the Pearl District is of great concern to the NWCC, their partners (LOA and Echelon), and law enforcement.

Letter to Governor Kotek, Mayor Wheeler, and Chair Vega Pederson:

As Chair of the Northwest Neighborhood Conservancy (NWCC), I was glad to see you take some action on the fentanyl issues facing our city and state through your State of Emergency declaration. It was not clear in the release what specific actions you were taking and which areas are included, so I wanted to weigh in on our suggestions since we are dealing with this day in and day out in the Pearl District of Portland due to a lack of state, city and county resources taking action around our issues of safety, livability and having a good business climate to operate in.

I served on the Livable Neighborhoods Committee of the Governor’s Central City Task Force and made many recommendations due to NWCC’s on-the-ground efforts to solve our issues. When it comes to fentanyl sale and use, it’s not only taking lives and harming many with substance abuse and mental health consequences, it’s causing businesses to close, eliminating jobs and losing critical services our communities need.

Here are some actions you should consider and act on immediately:

1. End the Cycle of Despair: people who become homeless and live on the streets need to be contacted immediately and offered shelter and services. The faster we can get them off the street, the less risk they are to become addicted to fentanyl and engage in criminal activity. Having adequate shelter space and coordinated services are critical. Funding organizations like Loving One Another (LOA), which meets these individuals where they are on the street and helps them get into shelters and services, is critical. It’s better than putting in hardening assets under ODOT properties, which just moves the problem elsewhere, versus having LOA get them into shelters and services to start improving their lives, eliminating tents, reducing garbage (including needles and bio-waste), and reducing fentanyl use and crime. Please help fund more LOA support staff now.

2. Measure 110 Reform: The legislature needs to get this done in the special session; it’s failing our city and state. Look hard at Kevin Barton’s three-point plan for dealing with drug users: I) pre-booking diversion, II) criminally charge users with diversion options, and III) if they don’t accept the first two options, they need to be prosecuted with probation options if they accept treatment. It’s not only about individual accountability, it’s about saving lives.

3. Bottle Bill Reform: The original bottle bill had great intentions, but it now funds the selling and use of drugs and has partially been the cause for three Targets in Portland and the Rite Aid on NW 10th and Hoyt to close.  The store bottle return line-ups, trash, store thefts, and cash refunds being used to fund fentanyl use are obvious for those of us observing the consequences of this legislation. Small independent operators like World Foods in the Pearl, as Rite Aid closes, will now be hit with the wave of bottle returns. The costs of the green bag program or reverse vending machines, even if they had the room for them, are extremely expensive for small businesses. The immigrant family that runs the two World Foods stores is seeing the impact, causing high security and theft costs, while trying to serve the community at a time of less office employees shopping their stores. Get bottle returns out of the stores into redemption centers and don’t redeem returns in cash. The OLCC and OBRC need to do this now, as they are receiving large funds for the unredeemed bottles and containers and high aluminum scrap prices. Please don’t add things like wine bottles to this program, as it will only aggravate the drug problem. Returns are often not clean, have fentanyl residue in them, and are a health hazard for stores and employees. In addition, employees in stores handling bottle returns are consistently dealing with confrontational and aggressive bottle bill returners, a real OSHA concern for employee safety. Bottle bill returners often bring in slips for redemption from other retailers for a second time, clearly fraudulent activities that require enforcement.

4. Strengthen penalties for drug distribution and selling: we need to stop the flow and selling of fentanyl and other illegal drugs. This requires stiffer penalties for drug distribution and selling, prosecution, and treating this as a crime causing the loss of life. It’s time to be harsh about the penalties in Oregon for these acts.  This also requires the PPB to confiscate drugs from both sellers and users on the streets, a right we understand the PPB has.  Make it clear you care about dealing with fentanyl and other drug crimes.

We need your help now. We are living with the consequences of inaction, seeing our commercial vacancies in the 126-block Pearl District go from 103 in June 2023 to 112 in December 2023, with REI closing today, and many businesses with sales still down up to 30% from 2019 levels. It’s one of the reasons we have advocated for the City’s business tax credit being expanded to include state and county funds to help all small businesses through tax credits to Portland area businesses, including those businesses in the Pearl District, which were excluded in the original city program. In a year, individuals are getting about 45% of their 2022 Oregon State income tax paid back as a kicker, don’t forget businesses don’t get the kicker as their kicker funds go toward supporting Oregon schools. Small businesses are struggling big time (especially now due to January’s severe winter storm), as evidenced by our Pearl District declining numbers, as it’s more than just downtown problems. NWCC is being funded by the community in taking action to improve the Pearl District, and we need your support through actions to help the entire city of Portland and our state.

Sincerely,

Ken Thrasher

NWCC Board Chair

For more information on the NWCC, visit NWCCpdx.org