Statement from Andrew Hoan, President and CEO of Portland Metro Chamber, on County Chair Inaction on Central Library Violence
For over a year through numerous communications, meetings, and pleadings, the Portland Metro Chamber, Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, the Downtown Retail Council, and numerous leaders from the community have demanded action from the county to address severe safety and public health issues at the Central Library.
Just two months after a deadly shooting at that library which rocked our community, another victim was stabbed multiple times by assailants yesterday. Today, we learned that once again, the attackers came from inside with undetected weapons.
The library should be a haven for the public, a beacon of learning, and one of Downtown Portland’s greatest attractions. Instead under County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson’s watch, it has become a hotspot for violence and drug use that make employees and visitors unsafe and is a deterrent to vibrancy in the heart of the Rose City. Persistent inaction by the Chair has been a direct contributor to these tragic incidents and the conditions that have enabled them.
How many more people must be hurt or killed until the county takes decisive action?
Below is the letter written by the Downtown Retail Council on behalf of the businesses surrounding the Multnomah County Central Library, sent to the Multnomah County Commission in July 2025.
Below is a letter sent to the Multnomah County Commission in response to the Chair’s Central Library Safety Plan.