PORTLAND, Ore. — A Northwest Portland bike shop has seen four break-ins in less than a year. The general manager is looking for elected officials to make some changes.
Barry O'Connor runs Fat Tire Farm a bicycle shop on Northwest Thurman Street and 27th Avenue. He said a stolen van crashed into the front door, wall and steel roll-down door on February 6 — the damage was extensive.
The door and wall were destroyed, and the store is forking over $40,000 to make the repairs and some other upgrades.
"A week prior to the van smashing into the wall, we had a window broken and a five thousand dollar [bike] frame and a one thousand dollar [bike] fork stolen as well," said O'Connor.
According to O'Connor, the person that crashed the stolen van into the shop also stole a Yeti SB160 T1 in Radium — a $10,000 mountain bike.
Dozens of businesses have been struggling with crime and vandalism across Portland. In a recent survey from the Portland Business Journal, more than 80% of Portland restaurant owners that participated in the survey said their businesses had been broken into, and 90% of that group said the break-ins happened in the past year.
O'Connor said in one of the break-ins, four bikes were stolen and now he's taking security to a new level at the shop.
"We will be installing some concrete pollards out front so someone can't drive through the wall again ... then ultimately I believe we will have roll-down security doors the length of our building," he said.
In the case of the stolen $10,000 mountain bike, O'Connor said a customer spotted that very bike in the back of a car. The customer took a picture of it with the car's license plate. It was sent to police but nothing has been done yet.
"It's my understanding there aren't enough officers investigating property crimes to pursue these things," said O'Connor.
He's looking for elected city officials to make some changes. Fat Tire Farm said in an Instagram post that "small businesses and citizen tax payers are definitely not getting our money's worth out of the city government."
"I don't envy elected officials," O'Connor said. "That's what they are getting paid for, to make difficult decisions on where to prioritize spending and to create a vision and take action."
Portland police said in a statement that it can be discouraging when they don't have the resources to follow through with solving these types of crimes. They understand the frustration coming from the victims because they feel the same way. They said that their current resources force them to prioritize shootings, robberies and assaults.