PORTLAND, Ore. — You may remember when someone punched the gas, slamming into River City Bicycles.
They didn’t get in, but it shook up the business, which has been in that Southeast MLK location nearly 30 years.
And here we are, five months after that incident, and staff is still dealing with the regular drama impacting the Central Eastside.
There was an attack on their business neighbor, right across MLK, at Rinella Produce. The owner, David Rinella, was beaten with a baseball bat, leaving him with five broken ribs, a broken scapula and lung damage.
River City General Manager Brice Stivers said that one hit home with all his employees.
“It did cause some concern with the staff, absolutely. We are going to continue on, but definitely much more diligent about what’s happening around us, at all times, said Stivers.
And it’s the daily struggles — the break-ins, the graffiti.
“In particular, lots of vandalism, which has been a bit of a strain on the local businesses here. So as far as constantly repainting or replacing windows and whatnot,” Stivers said.
Right across the street at Linoleum City floor covering, what’s happening in their neighborhood impacts their bottom line.
“I’ve had customers and friends who live in other areas, because they need to see me about something, and they’re like, ‘I don’t come down here,’ and I was left thinking, ‘Well how many people are out there like you — that have some sort of fear for whatever reason to come down here. It appears that if I’ve had five of you tell me this, there’s quite a few more,’” said Mike Worley.
Worley says he has seen some improvements. In fact, both businesses we spoke with say the homeless camps are better managed now. The area around their buildings used to be lined with tents — not as many people milling around today.
But Worley feels the city still has a lot of work to do with the homeless, and the open drug use.
“I just think we need to look back — what was the city like five years ago, what was the environment? How did things look? We need to get back to that. Unfortunately, I don’t have all the answers on how to get that done,” he said.
Brice Stivers from River City Bicycles doesn’t have all the answers either. His employees now use the buddy system — walking staff members to their cars. They installed a rollup door to help prevent break-ins. But he would like to see more city resources going toward stopping graffiti that’s affecting so many businesses.
“It’s really disheartening. When these small businesses put a lot of work and effort into their storefronts, and you come in to work the next day, and you spend the first half of the morning cleaning graffiti off the surfaces — so we would like to see a bit more from the city,” said Stivers.
And he’d be thrilled if that included a fund to help pay for the costs of the graffiti and vandalism.
“With the business taxes we pay, it’d be nice to see a fund given back to these small businesses so they can continue to stay here and provide services for the people of Portland and the metro area,” said Stivers.
KATU reached out to the city of Portland to see what kind of help is available for businesses constantly hit with graffiti. They do have graffiti removal assistance programs, but there are restrictions. And there don’t appear to be funding programs like these businesses are looking for.
Meanwhile, despite the crime around them, which included a vicious attack on a good neighbor, both River City Bicycles and Linoleum City plan to stay. They just need the city to help them do that.
“Moving a business to another location — it’s a big task — I’d rather not do that. I like being here, but I need more customers that are coming to this area,” said Worley.