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Originally Posted by downtownpdx
Yeah the Portlandia image wore thin pretty quickly. And the city went through a harder time than most during Covid, at least on the socioeconomic front. We fortunately had a low number of pandemic deaths compared to many metros.. but strict shutdowns, a long stretch of George Floyd protests/riots, homelessness increasing… hard to think of how things could have gone more sideways all at once to damage downtown.
That being said I’m sure the casual observer, if living under a rock for the last 6 years, would basically find a city today with a somewhat quiet downtown but otherwise livable and pleasant. A former resident who recently toured downtown after being gone for a year said it felt like the old Portland again. Anyway .. a bit off topic but I’m just saying I think the barrage of negative media attention has contributed to perceptions that in turn contributed the current sluggish economy.
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Portland is probably also suffering economically because two of its prime employers, Nike and Intel, are doing poorly. Nike's stock is down 70% from its peak at a level not seen since the mid-2010s and Intel business has badly lagged just about all semiconductor companies, even with its stock price rebounding. I'm guessing that those two companies and the multiplier effect (suppliers, etc.) could have some impact since Wiki says that Intel was the largest employer in Portland metro in 2024, at 25,000 employees, and Nike the 5th largest, with close to 11,000 employees.
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