I play gigs there very frequently - B Side, Slammer. I was just there about a month ago dude.
There have been protests outside the ICE building since the summer.
You should give us a heads up when you're playing next time, we'll come check you out!
Well aware of what's happening down there, I'm 15 minutes in traffic from that location, pass by it regularly. I was right there last night, did a drive by to rubberneck the War Zone. Same last Tuesday night. I'll post up a couple photos I took, yeah its Portland AF hahah. That's a big ass military helicopter they've got flying too. Yesterday there was 50, maybe a hundred people milling about, a crew of 15 - 20 hecklers on the opposing corner. Yes, this has been going on almost daily since the beginning of Summer, but for sure its ramped up since the decision was made to send in troops to "protect the building"
Without getting into the politics of it I would suggest everybody take a step back for a moment and consider that what's being told to the public re Portland being a war zone and on fire and under siege or a shithole whatever might not be 100% accurate. It's easy to cherry-pick a clip when something does flash off and present it as the norm. I trust the Weekly World News more than most media outlets and especially the Fox News hyperbole. Are there homeless people and drug addict issues like most major cities? Fuck yeah, it sucks. But the perception that the entire City is going through this just isn't even close. Old Town is for sure fucked up but its been that way forever, but that's literally 5 miles to the North from the ICE building.
Which brings me to the ICE Building. All of this shit is happening on the street at one building about the size of Guitar Center, located south of Portland by a few miles, barely Portland proper. Its sits on the south west corner of an area packed with high density luxury level apartments., rail road tracks right in back of it, Tesla building to the South, on the corner of Macadam and Bancroft. One spot, not anywhere else in the City. Same like that photo you posted of the Federal Building downtown from 2020 (that was super fucked up, for sure...) One spot, literally one block. What happens on one block is not representative of what's going on in a 145 square mile city.
The Portland Marathon is running today, pretty sure they wouldn't be following through with it if things in the city were anywhere near as has been described. We drove from the Pearl District through Downtown last night, Families hanging out, walking around pushing strollers, honestly it looked the best its been in years.
Just saying, take what you're being told with a grain of salt.