Businesses continue to suffer by rampant crime in blue cities within blue states with many stores either closing down or relocating to safer areas. The latest in this series happens to be Target, which is set to close nine stores in Democrat-run cities across four Democrat-run states.
Target announced on Tuesday (September 26) that it is closing nine of its stores next month in response to unchecked retail theft. The stores thus set to close include three in Portland (Oregon), three in Oakland-San Francisco area (California), two in Seattle (Washington), and one in Harlem (New York). The reasons for closing all these stores, as Target explained in its announcement, are “organized retail crime” and threats to the business.
“We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance.”
Conservatives have long criticized liberal administrations for being soft-on-crime to the level of being pro-crime and anti-accountability. The conservative public’s response to the news of Target’s decision on stores closure was no different.
However, the hit taken by businesses by crime-ridden cities was not entirely attributed to leftist administrations in blue districts; some questioned Target’s own decisions relating prevention of theft. Comedian and political commentator Jimmy Dore, a former Democrat, wondered why Target chose to close down its stores in Portland instead of hiring security guards to prevent theft.
Target had addressed this question in its statement as cited by Yahoo Finance saying that they invested in security including hiring the services of third-party security guards as well as employing “theft-deterrent tools.” It added that there was no choice left except closing the stores in those locations.
One response to Jimmy Dore on Twitter/X came from someone who says he worked at a store in Portland before moving away and knows what’s wrong with the place. His comment hints at weakness in law enforcement and the judicial system:
“They were overrun with homeless people and meth addicts grabbing whatever they wanted. They knew even if they were arrested they’d be out in a hour.”
NBC affiliate King5 reported in 2021 that at least 160 businesses had left the city over a year due to crime and violence as well as repulsive scenes on the streets, like “human fecal matter and homeless people on the sidewalk.” In March 2022, Amazon was reported to have moved its downtown Seattle office due to rise in violent crime in the area.
In comparison with Portland, the law and order situation is only worse if any different in Oakland and San Francisco area of California. According to CBS News of Bay Area, more than 200 businesses in Oakland closed their stores on Tuesday for a one-day strike against rampant crime. A week earlier, Oakland NAACP President Cynthia Adams had expressed her frustration at the news that the city’s administration had missed the deadline for the application to secure millions of dollars in state crime fighting funds. She blamed the city’s Democrat mayor Sheng Thao:
“The buck stops with the mayor. This is the mayor’s fault. It stops with the mayor. We need to hear from the mayor.”
On the East Coast, the Democrat-run New York has been sinking in crime for years and it has only got worse over time. Even public servants are giving up on the state and big crime-infected cities, notably the New York City. Last year, Fox News reported that hundreds of prosecutors had quit the district attorneys’ offices due to “soft-on-crime policies and burdensome state reforms.”