PORTLAND, Ore. — One Portland business owner said she's praying for answers and action, after her rental truck full of equipment vanished early Monday morning. She knows she's not the only one facing high levels of theft and crime in recent months.
"It's lawless. It's completely lawless and there's no consequences right now," said Amy Theberge, owner of Block Party Barricades on Wednesday.
She's one of many who help make fairs and festivals across the city possible by supplying different sized roadblocks and signs.
"I bet if you did something outside this summer, we had something to do with it on some level," she explained. "We work for nonprofit events, mostly, that are doing any kind of street closures. Anything from a block party, to a street painting, to a community festival like Rose Festival, Shamrock Run — things like that."
Theberge said it's been a rocky couple of years, between the lack of events during COVID to living paycheck to paycheck without Paycheck Protection Program funding. She's fought hard this summer to get her business back up and running.
"Up until this point, we have basically just been hanging by a thread."
Now, Theberge faces yet another obstacle after thieves stole a rented van — a 15-foot U-Haul with Arizona plate AD15811 — with $10,000 worth of equipment inside, following the Hawthorne Street Fair on Sunday.
"We loaded up two vehicles, one with some equipment, and then the other with the other, larger equipment on the rented U-Haul. Then we got a crew to come back here and unload it. The truck was left, and then the crew came back and the truck was gone," she said.
"Despite our best efforts of trying to track it down and track down the equipment, we have not be successful yet."
The remaining equipment that Theberge does have stored in her North Portland warehouse isn't nearly enough to cover the upcoming events on her calendar.
"I have to make those phone calls to all the businesses that are coming there, events are coming this weekend to say, 'Sorry, Art in the Pearl. Sorry, First Thursday. Sorry, other block parties and street paintings that are happening for Labor Day weekend ... We don't have the stuff to fulfill your order.'"
As frustrated as she is, she hopes to recover it all as the events season comes to a close.
"I just want some accountability and I want things to change so that these events can go forward. So small businesses like mine can just survive, let alone thrive," she said. "And I want people to feel safe here ... It should not be too much to ask."
Police are looking for the stolen truck. Again, it's a 15-foot U-Haul with Arizona plate AD15811.