Columbia CEO donates $1.5 million for Portland homeless centre
15/05/2018
At a press conference hosted by city officials, Mr Boyle said: “I care about Portland. I grew up here. Our business is here. We’re trying to attract more employees to the city, to our place of business, and that’s why I’ve decided it’s important to invest in the project.”
In December 2017, Columbia’s store in the centre of Portland had to close because local campaign groups staged a protest over the treatment of homeless people in downtown areas; city authorities had adopted a ‘no-sit’ policy to stop people from gathering at the entrance to buildings.
This followed an opinion piece that Tim Boyle had contributed to a local newspaper in which he complained that workers at Columbia’s outdoor footwear brand Sorel had faced intimidation from homeless people. He said he was considering moving Sorel’s headquarters to a new location.
At the time of the December protest, Mr Boyle said he wanted to help fund new solutions for Portland’s homeless people and he said at the April press conference: “It’s my personal philosophy that if you say something, you better do something.”
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