Plywood boards covering the windows and glass doors of the Portland Police Bureau’s Central Precinct came down Wednesday, as city officials aim to shift public perception of downtown Portland.
Workers installed the plywood coverings in June 2020 amid nightly racial justice protests that roiled the area for months and left the Central Precinct’s windows smashed and walls graffitied.
A pile of plywood boards and wooden planks rested Wednesday afternoon on the sidewalk near Southwest Main Street and Second Avenue. Around the corner, splatters of what appeared to be dried pink and white paint remained on the glass double doors to the precinct’s public entrance.
A Central Precinct employee inside the building Wednesday said Mayor Ted Wheeler had given the bureau approval to remove the boards this week, but did not say why.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday from The Oregonian/OregonLive about the change.
Not everything in the building has returned to normal. The Portland Police Museum & Historical Society, located inside the Central Precinct building, remains closed. A sign taped to the museum’s door said the attraction was closed due to Covid-19 precautions. The precinct employee said the museum has been emptied, but will possibly reopen in the spring.
-- Catalina Gaitán, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_
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