Urban unraveling

Ten years ago, Portland, Ore., was known as a mecca for young professionals drawn to its beautiful setting and trendy urban vibe. Today, the city’s streets are littered with drug paraphernalia. Many of its chic cafés and boutiques have vanished, driven out by a lack of customers and a growing lawlessness. Emma Freire knew about the city’s rapid decline before her visit this spring. Still, the extent of its unraveling shocked her. Read more about what prompted the decline in “Portland's lethal prescription” in this issue.

As part of your reporting trip, you visited a city-funded camp for the homeless. You didn’t exactly get a warm welcome. What happened? A staff member confronted me after I took some photos on my phone. When she found out I was a journalist, she marched me out the front gate.

You’ve lived in several places plagued by high crime rates, including South Africa and Brazil. What struck you as so shocking about Portland? In South Africa and Brazil, the problems have deep historical roots. Reforms are hindered by a multitude of structural factors. By contrast, Portland’s struggles seem to be much more the result of deliberate policy choices—and recent ones at that. Many locals told me about spots where they used to ride their bikes or take their children just a few years ago, but now they can’t because it’s unsafe. That gives me hope that things could also improve again quickly.

You noted in your story that several members of First Orthodox Presbyterian Church left the city because of the increasing lawlessness. What compels the ones who have stayed? Julie and Mark McConnell have been members of First OPC since 1995. It can only be the Holy Spirit who gives them the strength to keep fighting in the face of such relentless adversity. Mark told me that the problems in the neighborhood have brought together Christians from different backgrounds. They meet weekly to pray. Some of the Christians who live around First OPC attend a charismatic church. He said, “Orthodox Presbyterians praying with charismatics: When does that happen?”

You have family in Portland, so you’ve visited several times before. What changes have you seen over time? I visited Old Town Portland in 2022, and it was like a horror movie. Everywhere you looked was chock-full of tents. As I walked around, a friendly local approached to tell me I should leave. “People who are dressed nicely like you aren’t safe here,” he said. The situation had improved considerably when I returned this April. I saw far fewer tents, in part because of a lawsuit filed by people with disabilities. They argued tents blocking the sidewalks violated the Americans With Disabilities Act. Despite those visible improvements, I detected very little optimism in the people I ­interviewed. They think the cosmetic changes mask the fact that the root causes of the problem haven’t been fixed.