Update on the Moda Center process: I was recently asked to join a small group of councilors to stay close to the talks as the admin enters negotiation. It was conveyed to me that a condition of being in this group would be a commitment to honor an NDA between the city and the team. I refused. 🧵
bsky.app/profile/marc...
Thanks to @ginofanelli.bsky.social for writing about Rochester's Police Accountability Board.
We need to keep an eye on this from Portland as the Community Board for Police Accountability (CBPA), which will have the power to impose discipline, gets off the ground.
bsky.app/profile/marc...
From Rochester, NY, where the city "is appealing a March court ruling that blocked the Rochester Police Accountability [Board] from exercising most of its powers."
www.wxxinews.org/local-news/2...
At Mayor Wilson's State of the City address Friday, he again relied on anecdote -- not data -- to prove his response to homelessness is working.
@lmonghughes.bsky.social digs into the numbers today:
If you’re around Portland come hang out with us on Thursday to talk about the evolution of policing and how progressive politics sometimes acts as a cover for law enforcement violence, and how we can erode police power in every neighborhood. But like optimistic and happy, not depressed
Portland Cherry Bombs FC just dropped their new kit, and we’re obsessed 💥🍒
The USL W newcomers are gearing up for their first season in the Rose City 🌹
📸: @cherrybombsfc.bsky.social
The time is NOW to make your voice heard in the City budget planning process! Tune in or submit testimony. www.portland.gov/council/agen...
Livestream: Portland City Council Budget Committee/Mayor's Message & Public Hearing 04/21/26
*PCEF, cuts to urban forestry, and other critical issues being discussed!*
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKJL...
#Portland #PortlandOregon #PCEF #MayorWilson
People can find the Mayor's proposed budget here, although, there is a note that says:
"Some narrative sections of the Proposed Budget document may appear incomplete due to a technical issue. An updated version will be posted soon. Financial figures are accurate."
www.portland.gov/budget/2026-...
Here is a link to the item titled Mayor's Proposed Budget Report to City Budget Committee.
You will not find the Mayor's proposed budget there.
www.portland.gov/council/docu...
Website Feedback form for the testimony signup page. Type of feedback selected is "Fix an accessibility issue with a City app or website" and the details states: There should be a link back to the agenda item that this references. Elected officials and other community members often post links on social media to a testimony registration page. People who follow those links ought to be able to quickly find the actual agenda item that they are registering to testify on. NOTE: the doc_id is in the URL and the HTML of the page, so this should not be impossible to implement. Thank you.
Thank you for this!
Website feedback submitted to ask the Council Clerk to put a link on the testimony registration page that points back to the item.
Portland's mayor actually said we'd be a "flyover city" if we don't use taxpayer money to renovate the Moda Center. Pretty gross!
He's supposed to be a cheerleader for Portland, but this line just sounds like PBA/Portland Metro garbage talk
www.wweek.com/news/city/20...
Cops outside Hop Haven with guns drawn. What’s going on
🗣️ It's Budget Season, Portland! The Mayor's proposed budget has officially dropped and tomorrow starting at the 9:30am Portland City Council meeting is your first opportunity to weigh in! Sign up for public testimony and stay tuned for more opportunities to be involved in the budget process!
Facing mounting allegations of misconduct, Lori Chavez-DeRemer is stepping down from her position as America’s labor boss.
NOW there's a "wake up call" that county sheriffs will use their investigatory powers to disrupt elections despite me writing about this since 2021.
www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
NEW: Flight data reveals that the LAPD's "Drone as First Responder" program—sold to the public as a public safety measure—is in fact being used to spy on anti-ICE/anti-Trump protests in Los Angeles.
theintercept.com/2026/04/20/l...
Yes please. Let's do the thing that fixes the single biggest (?) budget problem in the city. Why have we not done the thing already? I am sure the reasons are very stupid.
Mayor Wheeler in 2023:
"In fact, you and I are paying taxes now to pay off pensions for people long gone."
Same thing in 2026, only now we're paying more, and next month - even more due to Ye Olde Favorable 27 Pay Period.
bsky.app/profile/marc...
Mayor Wheeler: So, and I'm oversimplifying this, and I completely acknowledge that. But, the current retirees and their beneficiaries will die off, and we have amortized, and I agree with you on the point you made about amortizing the cost, so there is a cost to future generations of liabilities already incurred. In fact, you and I are paying taxes now to pay off pensions for people long gone. But ultimately what happens is that liability will go down, will it not? Mr. Machiz: It will start going down, you know, basically around the time that nearly everyone has retired under the old system. So as of right now, under current assumptions, the liability would grow by that negative amortization amount of fifty to seventy million dollars per year. Mayor Wheeler: And in fact it will continue beyond that because, as you correctly pointed out, we're not paying down the whole debt. We're amortizing it, meaning it's carried over for a longer period of time. The reasoning, I believe, behind that, and the reasoning it was set up that way was to keep the property tax and the contributions to the public at large minimal year over year. Is that your understanding, or do I have that wrong? Mr. Machiz: I mean, you know, why they did it, I can't speak to that. That happened in, I think, the 1940s. Mayor Wheeler: Yeah, so it was a while ago, long before you and I got here.
Mr. Machiz: Yeah, I mean I've done public records requests to look into this issue, but I have not quite gone back to the 40s. But yeah, that is currently the effect now is that the annual property tax is lower, but consequently the long term property taxes are going to be much higher. For example, over, say, a 20 year period, it does increase property taxes relative to an example alternative funding policy. Mayor Wheeler: And just with regard to transparency, are there specific recommendations that you would have for Mr. Kramer or his colleagues or future appointees to this board? Are there specific types of transparency you would like to see? Mr. Machiz: Yeah, I think there are two more immediate steps that could be taken. First would be to request this analysis that I mentioned of potential cost savings, and the second would be to engage with independent national experts who have written about this issue and can only engage by invitation. Mayor Wheeler: Okay, that's helpful, and you've now given the Director and at least one member of the board the presentation, and I appreciate your public testimony, and I appreciate your responding to my questions. Thank you. === This sentence is highlighted in yellow: First would be to request this analysis that I mentioned of potential cost savings, and the second would be to engage with independent national experts who have written about this issue and can only engage by invitation.
Heard by Mayor Wheeler, Director Hutchinson, and FPDR Board Member Kramer in 2023.
"First . . . request this analysis that I mentioned of potential cost savings, and the second would be to engage with independent national experts who have written about this issue and can only engage by invitation."
Maybe this is the year we shell out for an analysis of a comprehensive actuarial funding policy?
bsky.app/profile/coun...
"So my question to Council is - are you interested in transparency?"
To his credit, Mayor Wheeler engaged with Kevin after his testimony.
This is "must watch" FPDR educational material. The whole thing is just 12 minutes long.
(Still waiting for the transparency.)
www.youtube.com/live/gZLmcd8...
Take the year-labels off the chart obvs.
Also, (1) everyone should just start calling all years beyond 2027 "unfunded pension obligations" until the money's in the bank, and (2) FPDR should be counted as part of the Fire Dept and Police Dept budgets.
The FBI Director, the DC US Attorney, and the Secretary of Defense walk into a bar.
Apparently like every day.
I am so, so grateful to be nominated for an @inn.org Award for a second time.
Thank you to @mitsciwrite.bsky.social @ijnr.bsky.social @uprootproject.bsky.social and our co-publishing partners @drilledmedia.bsky.social @floodlightnews.org @deceleration.news!
If you haven't, check out the series:
