Tuesday, March 8
DEADLINE — Candidate registration for May primary
Today is the deadline to register as a candidate in the May primary for local, state, or federal office. At the time of writing, all of the races I’m following have at least one candidate registered to run.
Wednesday, March 9
DEADLINE — Applications for Multnomah County’s Community Involvement Committee
Multnomah County’s Community Involvement Committee advises the county on improving community engagement and involvement. The county is currently recruiting four new members. While there are no residency requirements to join the committee, applicants who live or work in Multnomah County will be prioritized. Committee members typically do around five hours of work per month and are eligible for a small stipend for each meeting attended. The application can be completed online or by printing an application and mailing it in. The application includes questions about demographic information, as well as seven questions requiring longer answers.
9:30 a.m. — City of Portland council meeting
Portland’s city council meetings are broadcast live on YouTube. The agenda for this meeting is online and includes approving a settlement for injuries sustained in a car crash due a Portland Police Bureau officer’s speeding and ratifying the city’s contract with the District Council of Trade Unions. Attendees who wish to testify must register before 4:00 p.m. today (Tuesday) and use Zoom for the meeting. At the time of writing this post, more than half of public comments are about banning the sale of foie gras in Portland.
Thursday, March 10
4:00 p.m. — Expungement and Legal Name & Gender-Marker Change Clinic
The Q Center, CLEAR Clinic, and Pride Northwest are jointly offering a free legal clinic to assist Portland residents with changing legal names and gender markers, as well as criminal expungements. Advanced registration is required. While the clinic is free, there may be filing fees required by the state of Oregon to complete this work. Name and gender marker changes will be handled through remote calls, while expungements will be handled in person at the Q Center. (Note: If you were arrested at a protest in Portland and the charges were later dropped, you may be eligible to have the arrest expunged from your criminal record.)
6:00 p.m. — Portland City Charter Commission meeting
Portland’s City Charter Review Commission will hold a meeting devoted to hearing public testimony. The meeting will be held on Zoom. Register to speak as soon as possible. Members of the public will be able to speak for three minutes. I’ve created a guide to signing up and deciding what to testify about which is available as a PDF. The commission’s work so far has focused on the city’s form of government and how elections are held.
Saturday, March 12
10:00 a.m. — Basic Rights Oregon Statewide Action Summit
Basic Rights Oregon is holding an all-day event in Eugene to build skills and connections for statewide action around issues relevant to Oregon’s queer and trans residents. Attendees must register in advance and tickets are $25. Financial assistance for tickets, travel, and lodging is available.
11:00 a.m. — Wikipedia Art & Feminism Edit-A-Thon
Learn to edit Wikipedia and help add information about topics that aren’t well-covered on the site. Portland journalist and artist Sarah Mirk will lead the workshop, which will be offered both in person and online.
Sunday, March 13
Daylight Savings Time starts
Because we will be rolling our clocks forward an hour on Sunday morning, all events for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are listed with their times in Pacific Daylight Savings Time (UTC 7).
Monday, March 14
DEADLINE — Applications for the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program
Oregon’s pandemic rental assistance program will stop accepting new applications at 11:59 p.m. on Monday. If you or someone you know needs financial assistance to pay rent, get your application in as soon as possible. At this time, the support program is not expected to reopen applications in the future.
Tuesday, March 15
PDX Housing Solidarity Project workshop
The PDX Housing Solidarity Project will host a workshop on Portland’s history of racist housing policy and city planning, as well as ways to create a new future with stable housing for all, including by redistributing wealth and privilege. The workshop will be held online and attendees must register in advance. The workshop is a joint effort from Taking Ownership PDX, Resource Generation PDX, and Portland: Neighbors Welcome.
