
Lars Larson: ‘When even the presence of police doesn’t deter criminal violence … you know it’s bad’
Lars Larson
The Northwest Nonsense
I guess you could say Portland and Seattle are doing a “bang up” job of making their downtowns safe … lots of bangs if you’re foolish enough to go there.

This past weekend, two people shot in Portland’s Old Town-Chinatown, a man and a woman. They’ll survive, we’re told.
In Seattle a few days earlier, a man in a wheelchair, shot in the chest. He’s on the mend too. That shooting happened on the shiny new waterfront development that Seattle just spent 800 million bucks on.
Prospects for the two cities seem dim lately.
The “Big Pink” bank tower in Portland fire-saled at a nearly 90 percent discount from its value just ten years ago. The new Ritz Carlton hotel and condos in bankruptcy. Big retailers fleeing and those who can’t afford to leave boarding up their storefronts against Antifa terrorists who have friends at City Hall.
Nordstrom hints it may not keep its signature store at Pioneer Courthouse Square much longer because of crime and filth.
Police have been defunded. And this seems telling to me…police were actually watching the crowd where that shooting happened over the weekend.
When even the presence of police doesn’t deter criminal violence … you know it’s bad.
Also read:
- Vancouver bowlers make their marks at HBCU Alabama A&MFort Vancouver and Hudson’s Bay grads helped Alabama A&M win its first conference bowling title in 12 years.
- Letter: ‘Don’t take the deal’Camas resident Tony Teso calls Nancy Churchill’s column a partisan recruitment pitch disguised as personal awakening.
- Letter: ‘We need more WSP visibility and aggressive driving patrols’Bob Zak urges WSP to deploy more unmarked patrol units on I-5 and I-205 in Southwest Washington.
- Letter: ‘IBR I-5 Bridge space allocation grossly unfair’Camas resident Douglas Tweet argues IBR allocates half the bridge to modes used by just 2.3% of travelers.
- Opinion: $2 trillion and no one aboardRandal O’Toole argues $2.1 trillion in federal transit subsidies has produced fewer riders per capita than 60 years ago.







