St. Louis and Portland Mayors Flee Their Homes As “Peaceful Protests” Hit Their Doorsteps

Reuters described the Mayor's flight:

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said he planned to move out of his apartment after repeated protests outside his building demanding he resign over his handling of months of anti-racism protests in the Oregon city, according to a report.

In a Tuesday email, Wheeler told residents of the building in downtown Portland it would be best for their safety if he found a new home, The Oregonian newspaper reported on its website.

“I want to express my sincere apologies for the damage to our home and the fear that you are experiencing due to my position,” Wheeler wrote, according to a screenshot of the email sent to The Oregonian.

Wheeler’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Portland has seen over 90 days of protests calling for policing and social justice reforms since the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, by police in Minneapolis on May 25.

Demonstrators have gathered outside Wheeler’s building calling for him to step down over police violence, including the use of tear gas against demonstrators.

Police declared a riot on Monday and arrested 19 people as some graffitied the walls of the building, smashed windows and threw burning material inside, Portland Police said.

STL Today also covered the pitiful Mayor:

Mayor Lyda Krewson has temporarily relocated after a string of protests at her Central West End home.

The mayor on Wednesday confirmed that she and her husband, former television reporter Mike Owens, have been living at an apartment, also in the Central West End.

“We have not lived at home for 2 months,” Krewson said in a text message to a reporter. “We did it to deescalate the situation, to save police resources, and importantly because our neighbors were being disturbed and threatened.”

The mayor said “for me it comes with the territory.”

“I ran for this job — my neighbors did not,” Krewson said.

Krewson said she and her husband paid for their alternate lodging out of their own funds. She said no city money or campaign funds were being used.

Krewson is among mayors around the country who have contended with demonstrators showing up outside their homes during the wave of protests following the death in May of George Floyd, who is Black, while in police custody in Minneapolis.

Protesters appeared at Krewson’s home on Lake Avenue several times in late June and early July. She said the last time was in early August.

During one such protest on June 28, attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey gained national attention after they were photographed pointing guns at marchers outside their Portland Place home. The protesters entered the private street on their way to Krewson’s house.

The mayor said she stopped staying at her home in early July.

And the NY Post covered the shameful Portland Mayor:

The Democratic mayor of Portland, Ore., is moving from his $840,000 condo to avoid rioters who have repeatedly targeted the building, according to a report.

Ted Wheeler wrote to neighbors in his building to say it would be “best for me and for everyone else’s safety and peace” for him to move from the building that rioters tried to torch on his 58th birthday Monday, according to The Oregonian.

“I want to express my sincere apologies for the damage to our home and the fear that you are experiencing due to my position,” Wheeler reportedly wrote, according to a screenshot of the email.

“It’s unfair to all of you who have no role in politics or in my administration.”

The mayor bought his two-bedroom condo in the building with 114 units for $840,000 in 2017, the paper said, citing property records. It has regularly been a scene of protests, with fireworks lit and lights shone on the building as fires also get lit in the street.

Wheeler has faced harsh criticism for his handling of the protests in the City of Roses for 97 consecutive nights since George Floyd’s police-custody death in Minneapolis in May. 

He has sympathized with protesters, called for cops to refrain from arrests and also pledged to defund the police.

President Trump on Sunday called him a “wacky Radical Left Do Nothing Democrat Mayor of Portland” who has “watched great death and destruction of his City during his tenure.”

Portland’s police chief, Chuck Lovell, used the arson attack on Wheeler’s condo building as proof that “the nightly violence is coming at increased cost.”