Calendar: March 30 to April 6

Wednesday, March 30 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 authorizing a new agreement with Clean and Safe Inc and a proposal to extend the housing emergency declaration by City Commissioner Dan Ryan. 6:00 p.m. — City of Portland Noise Review Board Special Session The… Continue reading Calendar: March 30 to April 6

Digest: Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Portland Street Response expands Portland’s unarmed street response team has expanded their coverage across the city as of yesterday. Portland Street Response can now take 911 calls without needing to check a map. The program responds to calls about crises that don’t involve criminal activity, usually related to an individual’s mental health. Team members also build… Continue reading Digest: Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Digest: Thursday, March 24, 2022

Normandale Park shooter booked into jail system Ben Smith was relocated from OHSU and booked into the Multnomah County jail system yesterday. Smith was identified as the shooter responsible for killing June Knightly and injuring four other protesters at Normandale on February 19. A grand jury indicted Smith on nine charges last week: one count of murder in the… Continue reading Digest: Thursday, March 24, 2022

Calendar: March 23 to March 30

Please note that calendars will be published on Wednesdays moving forward, rather than Tuesdays. Thursday, March 24 12:00 p.m. — Strike at Artifact: Creative Recycle Workers at Artifact: Creative Recycle will hold strike actions Thursday through Sunday, 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. They’re asking that the store’s owners put anti-discrimination policies into place, provide equal pay for… Continue reading Calendar: March 23 to March 30

March State of the Ballot, Part One

We passed two major deadlines for the May primary last week: March 8 was the last day candidates could file to run in the primary. March 11 was the last day candidates could withdraw from the primary. With those two dates behind us, we now know who is actually on the ballot and which races… Continue reading March State of the Ballot, Part One

Digest: Thursday, March 17, 2022

Emergency rental assistance deadline extended The Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program will accept applications through midnight on March 21. Applications were previously scheduled to close on March 14. The extension is due to new funding from the U.S. Department of Treasury that came through late on March 14. That funding will likely cover an additional 2,200 households. Renters in Oregon… Continue reading Digest: Thursday, March 17, 2022

Calendar: March 15 to March 22

Tuesday, March 15 6:00 p.m. — Portland Police Bureau Equity Advisory Council meeting The Police Equity Advisory Council is responsible for holding PPB accountable for implementing the bureau’s racial equity plan. As of Tuesday morning, no agenda for the meeting is available. The meeting will take place on Zoom. Wednesday, March 16 9:30 a.m. — City of Portland council… Continue reading Calendar: March 15 to March 22

Digest: Friday, March 11, 2022

Seven Portland-area Starbucks are unionizing Starbucks locations all over the U.S. are unionizing, including multiple locations here in Portland and even more throughout Oregon. At the time of writing, the following Starbucks locations have filed paper work with the National Labor Relations Board: SE 28th and Powell U.S. Bank Tower / SW 5th and Oak West… Continue reading Digest: Friday, March 11, 2022

Digest: Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Oregon’s expiring COVID emergency declarations The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance in February suggesting that most healthy adults can reduce wearing masks in many situations. They also released new metrics for assessing risks in specific communities. The new metrics shift the CDC from looking at how COVID is actually spreading to how many… Continue reading Digest: Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Calendar: March 8 to March 15

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… Continue reading Calendar: March 8 to March 15