PORTLAND, Ore. — A Portland area entrepreneur said the federal government shut down has frozen his efforts to open a distillery and grill in Northeast Portland.
Jon Poteet is building the project at the corner of North Williams Avenue and North Skidmore Street. It will be called Shine Distillery and Grill.
Much of the equipment has been purchased and ready to go but the inside of the building has not been finished.
Poteet said he needs his bank in Texas to release the final part of his Small Business Administration Loan so he can complete the project. But he said the bank will not release the money without the approval of the federal government.
He’s extremely frustrated.
“None of what I'm doing has anything to do with a border wall in any way, shape or form," he said. "Not a damn part of it. Nothing!"
He wants the politicians in Washington D.C. to get the government back working.
“These people are sitting back there flexing their egos and playing games and using us as the pawns, literally,” Poteet said. “It’s not just the federal employees, it’s the rest of the people in the world trying to do something!”
KGW tried to contact the Small Business Administration for this story but emails and phone messages were greeted with word that the SBA is closed as part of the government shutdown.