What Portland Liberals did to the famous Lloyd Center Mall they will soon do to Oregon if voters allow them to continue down this ruinous progressive path. Lloyd Center Mall once made history. When it opened in August 1, 1960 it was the nation’s largest open-air shopping center. It was famous for having the first year-round ice rink in a mall in America. It was a hub of activity. Newberry’s had its largest store in America at this mall. It was the center of attention with Senator Bobby Kennedy, his wife Ethel and astronaut John Glenn skating there on May 25, 1968, just days before Bobby’s assassination in Los Angeles on June 5th. Tonya Harding skating there starting at the age of 3. In addition, a Supreme Court case originated from the mall.
UNDER PROGRESSIVE POLICIES, LLOYD CENTER MALL COLLAPSED
The fall was made complete with the recent decision to tear most of the mall down. A few years ago, media reports on Lloyd Center’s decline focused on changing shopping patterns and online shopping. Tragic misdiagnosis and just plain Leftist poppycock.
The Lloyd Center should have survived. It is in the heart of the city, surrounded by a huge customer base such as a high school, some of Portland’s tallest condo buildings and Bonneville Power Administration’s 2,900 employees,^ all within a single block from the mall. The customers are right there across the street.
Then came the 5-year rioting in Portland, aided & abetted by Democrats.
Lloyd Center Mall fell apart from death-by-liberalism as BLM/Antifa terrorists and common criminals took over the streets. Democrats defunded police while unleashing hundreds of criminals upon the streets creating a massive crime wave. A dozen tax increases in just over a decade on local businesses hurt the smaller mall shops, as well as small businesses in the rest of Portland.
Portland’s homicide numbers experienced a dramatic surge starting in 2020 with five months of BLM/Antifa rioting while Portland Police stood by watching, reaching historic peaks in 2021 and 2022 before beginning a significant downward trend that has continued through early 2026.
PORTLAND’S HOMICIDES
While figures can vary slightly depending on the reporting agency (e.g., Portland Police Bureau vs. FBI), the general trend is consistent:
Portland’s Year By Year Homicides: 2019: 29; 2020: 53; 2021: 90–92; 2022: 101; 2023: 75–80; 2024: 67. This, despite the decline in the population beginning in 2019, with residents moving to red states. Murders increased to 10.8 per 100,000. Only after Trump took office in January 2025 did the number of murders decrease significantly to 33-35 in 2025.
The 2020-2022 Spike: The increase in Portland’s murders (83% from 2019 to 2020) significantly outpaced the national average increase of 30%, despite the fact that BLM/Antifa thugs only assassinated one person (wearing a red hat) during the Democrat riots of 2020.
TOO MANY RIDING IN THE WAGON, NOT ENOUGH PULLING THE WAGON
Decriminalizing drugs and handing out free drug supplies, flooded Portland with wandering daytime addicts. Lavishing the homeless with goods attracted the homeless from across the region. Following is the list of taxpayer-funded stuff the Democrats controlling the State of Oregon and the Democrats controlling various government entities within the state have been handing out. NOTE: the majority of these funds are grifted by NGOs, politicians, bureaucrats, and their various cronies before they ever arrive in the hands of “the needy” which progressivism created.
Inviting the lazy, the welfare queens, the illegal aliens, the criminals and various others who provide NO benefit to the city wasn’t enough for Democrats. Spiking labor costs (minimum wage and wage taxes) and spiking electricity costs (+50% in 5 years) made it impossible for businesses to compete with online shopping and other malls, not to mention the impact on residents.
Liberalism killed the Lloyd Center Mall, 1960-2026: RIP
Follow me on X @DianeLGruber
How Much More ‘Progress’ Can Portland Endure?
Subscribers: I lived first in Portland & then in a suburb, West Linn, the majority of my adult life, before being chased out by the Democrat mob in 2020. It hurt to give up our dream home; but, in hindsight, it was a great decision as both our burb & Portland have gone way downhill since then. The articl…
^My husband worked for the Bonneville Power Administration for 27 years. At lunch time many, many employees walked over there to eat and/or shop, including my husband.
The author, Diane L. Gruber, is a First Amendment advocate who writes for Substack. She calls her Substack newsletter America First Re-Ignited. Follow me on X @DianeLGruber.
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us. Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA
Patriot.Online: @AFNN