antifa is not even organized. It's hard to say who identifies as antifa and who doesn't. One thing is certain, the violent alt-left has hijacked the movement. Some of these people have been running amok before joey and his proud boys came to town. They have been causing mayhem for years. Breaking windows, blocking traffic, harassing motorists, etc... People not from here don't understand that this has been going on for a long time. antifa wants to make it about them vs the racists/fascists but if that's the case then why were they causing problems before the racists and fascists even came to town?
antifa needs to purge itself of the radical violent criminals and get themselves organized. If they fail to do that they will be as despised as the pathetic racists that they oppose. We're getting sick of it. Portland is a beautiful city. Most of us want to be able to go downtown on a Saturday and enjoy a walk along the waterfront, a bite to eat, and just enjoy all the city has to offer which is a lot. Unfortunately we get these idiots from across the country showing up with their nazi flags trying to provoke a confrontation and then we get the masked, dressed in black antifa showing up to oblige. Basically taking over our city for with their nonsense. It just sucks. We just want them all to go away. And I speak for the majority. Portlanders are sick of this crap. GIVE US BACK OUR CITY!
I don't care what their cause is, their beliefs, whether they're racist or not, antifa or not, skin color, country of origin, etc... Just get the hell out of Portland and fight with each other elsewhere.
And to those that have never been to Portland and only see what's on the news or from that stupid Portlandia television show, Portland is not what you might think. It's a beautiful city with great things to do. We have nice venues for concerts and Portland is a big stop for big name bands. We have an incredible microbrew scene and tons of great restaurants. We have museums, beautiful parks, the world renowned Portland Rose Test Garden, the Oregon Zoo, Lot's of waterways, the Columbia and Willamette rivers with public boat access everywhere to launch your boat and go wakeboarding, waterskiing, or just spend the day on the water. We're little more than an hour away from Mt Hood and about the same to the Oregon coast. It's beautiful here. Hiking, snowboarding, surfing, wakeboarding, mushroom picking, too many activities to list are all just an hour or a little more away. Don't let this playground brawl between a bunch of children be the impression you have of this great city. We'll get this situation under control. Come and visit but as the late great Oregon Governor Tom McCall said, “I urge them to come and come many, many times to enjoy the beauty of Oregon. But I also ask them, for heaven’s sake, don’t move here to live.”. Tom McCall was a Republican although the way that party has moved so far to the right he wouldn't be today.
Wheeler should have learned from Tom. He should have paid all the local bands to play at the Moda Center and then gave away free tickets.
In 1970 McCall was faced with a potential riot in Portland. In May of that year a week-long student protest at Portland State University over the Kent State shootings had ended with charges of excessive police violence. The American Legion had scheduled a convention in Portland later that summer; local antiwar groups were organizing a series of demonstrations at the same time under the name of the "People's Army Jamboree" and expected to draw up to 50,000 protesters.[12]
After attempts to convince the People's Army Jamboree to either not carry out their plans or to move the date, McCall decided to hold a rock festival at Milo McIver State Park near Estacada, Oregon called "Vortex I: A Biodegradable Festival of Life," in imitation of the famous Woodstock Festival held the previous year.
"I think I just committed political suicide," McCall is reported to have remarked immediately after approving the event. Vortex was the first and so far only state-sponsored rock festival in U.S. history.
The festival, nicknamed "The Governor's Pot Party" by Oregonians, was a success, attracting between 50,000 and 100,000 people. Gold, The Portland Zoo, Osceola, Fox, and Chrome Cyrcus were among the bands that played. The media announced that Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead were on the way, but none of them appeared. The feared violent clash between the antiwar groups and the conservative American Legion was avoided, and the city of Portland passed the summer relatively uneventfully. McCall was re-elected in November, with 56% of the vote.
