After nearly three years on NE Glisan Street, TriTech Bikes moved out of Montavilla. A relentless series of break-ins, vandalization, and assaults pushed this business out of the neighborhood. Its departure could become the first in a wave of area shops relocating to better parts of Portland or closing down permanently.

TriTech Bikes owner Dylan Carrico-Rogers grew up around NE Glisan and wanted to be part of its revival. His shop, formerly located at 7323 NE Glisan Street, occupied a transitioning section of Glisan across from the Candlelight Restaurant and Lounge. Before the pandemic, despite challenges, the area was on its way to becoming a walkable business corridor. 

Within the last 18 months, Carrico-Rogers experience three break-ins, two nearby shootings, property destruction, and biohazardous waste all over the property. After losing $25,000 to theft, TriTech Bikes’ insurance premium increased by 150%, with the insurer threatening to terminate coverage if it happened again.

In a phone interview, Carrico-Rogers expressed how disappointed he is in the neighborhood support systems. According to Carrico-Rogers, he reached out to his landlord after each break-in but found them unsupportive and incapable of securing the building. The Portland police failed to patrol the area after months of sustained burglary and violence surrounding his shop. Even when an unlicensed and uninsured motorist totaled his vehicle parked out front, police officers let the person drive on due to insufficient resources.

Carrico-Rogers felt ignored by a local business association that he saw as focuses on Stark Street. By his assessment, the community is mishandling Portland’s problems and unwilling to voice a collective outcry for help.

He pointed to the community’s excessive empathy for the houseless as contributing to open drug use, public defecation, and increased larceny. He admits he reached a breaking point but cautions the neighborhood that he is not alone. 

According to Carrico-Rogers, other business owners he spoke to on NE Glisan, from NE 67th to 82nd Ave, are also looking to move. He explained that those who owned their buildings would keep the property but shutter the business. People working in the area see a future where NE Glisan is build up like inner SE Division Street. However, they know that transformation is five or ten years away. Carrico-Rogers explained that no business could survive what the area has become, waiting for things to improve.

Daily life has vastly improved for Carrico-Rogers and TriTech Bikes staff. They relocated to SE Clinton Street in a single-story shopfront located at 2622 SE 25th Ave, Suite A. Now positioned in an active commercial area closer to the city center, things are safer and calmer. Now they can focus on supporting customers and recovering the losses suffered over the last year and a half. 

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UPDATE – The opinions of the subject interviewed in this story do not represent the perspective of Montavilla News.