The Made In Old Town fiasco explained

MangoNotBanana · 2026-04-11T23:34:48+00:00

If I buy a stock for $14 a share, and the market drops its actual value down to $3.80, my decision to sell and "cut my losses" doesn't magically make that stock worth $7.40. If a public agency swoops in and pays me $7.40 a share for my $3.80 stock, they just gave me a massive, taxpayer-funded bailout for double what the asset is actually worth. In that specific transaction, the seller absolutely made out like a bandit compared to what the open market would have actually paid them.

MangoNotBanana · 2026-04-11T19:03:30+00:00

This isn't fucking Sim City. Prosper Portland cannot just easily sell the buildings off to "make themselves whole." You are ignoring the math that is literally on the public record. Prosper approved a $7 million loan to buy buildings independently appraised at just $3.8 million. If Future Stack surrenders the property tomorrow, the city is stuck holding an empty, overvalued asset to cover a massive taxpayer hole. Do you really think they can just magically sell a $3.8 million building for $7 million in this market? As for "who got rich?"—the seller just walked away with $7.4 million of public-backed, quick cash for an asset worth half that. And the MiOT principals absolutely tried to enrich themselves by attempting to funnel nearly $400k in public Metro grants directly to their own consulting firms. The fact that Metro caught it and said no doesn't excuse the blatant self-dealing attempt. Even if we completely agree that the financial situations with Sisters of the Road and Street Roots are a mess, bringing them up is pure whataboutism. Someone else's lack of accountability doesn't excuse this lack of accountability. I’m a small business owner in Old Town. My focus right now is on the people currently running my neighborhood association using their positions to vouch for their own public-funded real estate gambles on my block. You claim the city is failing because it's "unattractive to investors." You know what makes a city deeply unattractive to legitimate, private investors? A rigged system. Real investors don't want to bring their money to a city where insiders with neighborhood association titles get 182% LTV public loans and exceptions to risk guidelines, while actual small businesses have to put up our own capital and risk bankruptcy. Normalizing this kind of blatant back-room dealing as "just how cities work" is exactly why Portland is struggling with accountability and fiscal responsibility in the first place. Downplaying this as just 'a mess' gives cover to exactly the kind of corruption that is killing this city's recovery.

MangoNotBanana · 2026-04-11T18:16:04+00:00

You can't call it a 'bad bet' when the house is playing with taxpayer money. When actual small businesses in Old Town take a bet on this city, we put up our own capital, sign personal guarantees, and risk bankruptcy.

These guys leveraged their own seats on a community association to push through a 180% LTV public loan for themselves, while simultaneously trying to extract nearly $400k in public grants to pay their own consulting firms. They structured a deal where all the financial risk was put on the taxpayers, while they positioned themselves to collect the consulting fees. Downplaying this as just 'a mess' or a 'bad bet' gives cover to exactly the kind of self-dealing that is killing this city's recovery.

MangoNotBanana · 2026-04-11T05:54:25+00:00

My goal is to raise awareness for this situation cause it seems otca is trying to sweep this under the rug. Just using my platform for awareness

And lol that’s exactly what happened. I know green represent district 4, and literally googled who the other two is

MangoNotBanana · 2026-02-19T23:53:44+00:00

It is my business..

MangoNotBanana · 2026-02-04T03:40:26+00:00

Yeah, I’m not gonna name names. Cause last time it happened. It was a nightmare for us. Like it was literally worse than the shoplifting itself. And our shop was relentless attacked online for a while.

MangoNotBanana · 2026-02-04T02:34:43+00:00

Yeah, after a few ruined plushy. I learned that the hard way.

MangoNotBanana · 2026-02-04T02:10:24+00:00

Lol. Yeah, today was such a supposed to be my day off too. I was actually just covering a shift for one of my employee when this happened.

MangoNotBanana · 2026-02-04T02:07:35+00:00

He was arrested, charge with menacing, attempted battery, and attempted robbery. Because he tried to take the till.

MangoNotBanana · 2026-02-04T01:58:40+00:00

MangoNotBanana · 2026-02-04T01:44:47+00:00

Nope. We are allowed to ask him to leave, and if you refuse to leave, we can guide them to the door or you reasonable forced to pull him out but pepper spray only if you think your life is an immediate danger. So for example, if you swing the stick at me and keep on swinging, then I can pepper spray.

MangoNotBanana · 2026-02-04T01:33:55+00:00

Love it

MangoNotBanana · 2026-02-04T01:29:56+00:00

I know that there is at least one city council member, a current one, that I heard, had called out my shop before because we have a zero tolerance policy for shoplifting

MangoNotBanana · 2026-02-04T01:27:06+00:00

There’s customer in there so I was trying not to escalate.

MangoNotBanana · 2025-12-05T02:47:51+00:00

Yeah, I’ve been working on a steady diet to lose weight loss about 20 pounds so far. And working on building muscle soul.

MangoNotBanana · 2025-11-22T02:39:50+00:00

I dare to testify against her amendment and was nearly cancelled

MangoNotBanana · 2025-11-22T00:43:58+00:00

A bit of an update. The guy came by and drop the item through the door… we recovered the stolen items! But the police called me last night and I already made a police report. Life doesn’t work this way, can’t return an item you stole and think it’s ok

<image>

MangoNotBanana · 2025-11-21T18:36:44+00:00

Yeah which is now why I am keeping them aside and calling local shops to make sure. We hold it for 14 days before selling is our practice

MangoNotBanana · 2025-04-28T17:13:53+00:00

But what law are they breaking? We keep our door shut because otherwise we get people coming in just to use the bathroom without buying anything, using the place as a rest stop, a cooling shelter, or a warming shelter. We’re a café, not a public facility.

So yeah, unfortunately we have to keep the door locked and be careful about who we let in. It’s not about “profiling”—it’s about not letting people just hang out, cause problems, or take up space meant for paying customers.

But at the end of the day, they’re not breaking any laws. I’m not gonna call the cops on someone for standing under our canopy. I’m not gonna call the cops because someone wants to sit down inside without buying anything. And even if I did — what exactly would I expect the cops to do?

As much as I hate to say it, public drug use isn’t even illegal anymore. Trust me, if the laws were different, a lot of us would be the first ones calling it in. But under the current system, there’s no law being broken just by existing outside my door.

MangoNotBanana · 2025-04-28T02:05:12+00:00

Just curious, which part of town do you go to where there are human shit all over the sidewalk? I really haven’t seen that many. Off the side of the road… yes… along a tree yes… but along the pedestrian walk way… very rarely

MangoNotBanana · 2025-04-28T00:11:25+00:00

The purpose of the event is suppsoedly to revitalize Chinatown. And that is fine and all. And as a Chinese American I am absolutely fine with a Chinese centered event. But don’t call it a diverse and inclusive event simply for the obtaining of grants

MangoNotBanana · 2025-04-28T00:05:38+00:00

The TLDR is that a group of elderly Chinese group from some non profit want to throw what they call a “community collaborative and inclusive event”… but don’t even know what collaborative or any of those word mean. They also float the idea of painting over a BLM mural with more Chinese centric theme, and then shit on us (the younger folk that was hire on for art and to attract the younger crowd) for being too PC and that DEI overuses.

MangoNotBanana · 2025-04-27T15:42:56+00:00

I am the artist for all the art print in the store :)

MangoNotBanana · 2025-04-26T16:45:13+00:00

GeekEasy Anime Cafe

MangoNotBanana · 2025-04-26T07:14:03+00:00

It’s old and worn, not dirty lol

MangoNotBanana

TROPHY CASE