News Column

Did a city ‘hit team’ lower the boom on Cindy’s?

On the Town

By phil stanford

The Portland Tribune, Aug 23, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (7 Reader comments)

What was once Cindy’s Adult Bookstore is now a pile of rubble.

Next thing we know, all the bricks and shattered boards will be tidied up – and for a while, at least, the prize piece of property at the corner of West Burnside and Fourth, may become home for some sort of open-air market.

At least, that’s one of the plans being contemplated by Michael Wright, who along with Dan Cossette, has owned the place since 1983.

After years of trying to shut down the place as a public nuisance, the city finally succeeded late last fall by running in fire inspectors who found 30 violations, where previously they’d found two.

Naturally, Wright called foul, claiming that the city was simply trying to force him to sell his property for less than it was worth. The city employed the same tactic, Wright says, with the Grove Hotel across the street, which the city purchased for $1.8 million after finding a similarly long list of code violations.

According to published reports, the plan is to tear down the Grove and build two blocks of condos, as well as an upscale hotel.

Although no one has yet said what’s planned for the land he owns, Wright doesn’t doubt that something equally grand is in the offing.

And while he’s undoubtedly got a right to his suspicions, considering Wright’s criminal record — which includes convictions for a 1968 gangland murder and for cocaine trafficking — it’s probably no surprise his complaints haven’t received more attention.

• • •

In fact, as the Portland Tribune revealed last November, the city now has a special task force, operating under the direction of Commissioner Randy Leonard, which uses building and fire inspectors to shut down businesses deemed to be linked to criminal activity. Leonard himself calls it his “hit team,” and makes no bones about using it aggressively, or in a way that other cities might “shy away” from.

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