Downtown in distress: Portland’s core is unsafe and uninviting, residents say in new poll Perception threatens city’s economic recovery By Jamie Goldberg, oregonlive.com (TNS) Published: May 15, 2021, 8:31pm Share: Residents across the metro area say downtown Portland has become dirty, unsafe and uninviting, and many anticipate visiting the city’s core less often after the pandemic than they did before. Those are the worrisome findings of a new poll of 600 people in the Portland metro area commissioned by The Oregonian/OregonLive. Asked for their perceptions of downtown, respondents frequently used words like “destroyed,” “trashed,” “riots” and “sad.” Many cited homelessness as a particular issue, and said there is an urgent need for the city to find housing and support people living on the street.