Amid weeks of protests and unrest, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler says he plans to move. Wheeler reportedly disclosed the information in an email to the other residents at his high-rise condominium earlier this week.
In recent months, the Mayor’s residence in the city’s Pearl District saw a number of protests. Wheeler apologized to the other residents in an email obtained by OregonLive.com.
“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 writes. “It’s unfair to all of you who have no role in politics or in my administration.”
Earlier this week, a violent clash broke out at the 16-story building. On Monday, protesters broke windows and set fires near the property. One Twitter user shared a video of a picnic table covered in flames in front of Wheeler’s condo during a protest.
The mayor purchased his two-bedroom condo in 2017 for $840,000. The building contains 114 units, according to property records.
President Trump and Acting Homeland Security Secretary React to Ted Wheeler and His Leadership in Portland
In response to the ongoing protests, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf sent a letter to Ted Wheeler urging him to request federal assistance, Fox News reports.
“I urge you to prioritize public safety and to request federal assistance to restore law and order in Portland,” Wolf wrote in the letter. “We are standing by to support Portland. At the same time, President Trump has made it abundantly clear that there will come a point when state and local officials fail to protect its citizens from violence, the federal government will have no choice but to protect our American citizens.”
On Sunday, President Donald Trump voiced his criticisms of Wheeler’s handling of the protests. The President called him the “wacky Radical Left Do Nothing Democrat Mayor of Portland.”
Trump also says Wheeler “watched great death and destruction of his city during his tenure.”
[H/T OregonLive.com]