also, this is more politics posting than i wanted to do today, but if you feel crazy, if all of this makes you feel unmoored and insane and unbalanced, understand that this is a normal reaction to all of this. none of this shit should be happening.
Hateful people like Brian Owendoff and Ciatta Thompson are responsible for the bogus attempts at undermining peacock. It’s telling that Ciatta Thompson was next in line for public comment but cancelled. Bigots get caught spewing hateful rhetoric and half our council silently supports them
If people want to know what is actually "wrong" with Portland in regards to local politics, it is corrupt politicians and wealthy racist conservatives trying to sabotage city government. They hate what our city stands for, what our people stand for and most of them don't even live here. Read this:
update: on their third day of deadlock on the council president vote, and right after this mercury piece, the conservative bloc switched their votes from their current president to the only POC in their caucus because they really believe race works like that
That is mostly correct from what I remember. The final transpo package was going to fund city and county DOTs, but it did not pass during the regular session.
I have a worsening suspicion that Kotek will not have a job in 2027
I also want to note the clear power imbalance in this election. A candidate for the presidency running the meeting and asking the other candidate if they’d like to speak is making it very clear that the thing wanted is power. Personally, I find this to be very concerning.
Did Rep. Gamba end up voting yes on this amendment?
Look, I’ll tell you one thing for sure: Portland’s renaissance will absolutely never come from alienating young people who want to start families in favor of wealthy business interests. It just won’t.
This weekend the Mercury is devoting our website's home page to "Blackout: A Five-Year Retrospective on Portland’s Racial Justice Movement" written exclusively by Black Portlanders, reflecting on the legacy of George Floyd. Get your print copy at 500+ spots across the city.
www.portlandmercury.com
Why must Oregon State Democrats fight for wealthy business interests instead of the constituents that voted them into office. So embarrassing www.opb.org/article/2025...
Love opening the 11:50pm city council meeting to see police funding redirected back towards parks!!! Thank you progressive councilors! Thank you charter reform!
If the best case Democrats can make to voters against a lawless authoritarian regime that is dismantling our institutions at home and selling out our allies abroad is "but egg prices" then we're totally cooked as a society anyway.
cambridge massachusetts with a *huge* mic drop - legalized six floors of housing, citywide.
Depending on who you are this might sound scary or exciting.
In reality, I think it’s reasonable. We were in a place where 85%+ of the existing housing wasn’t even legal.
Now the houses that make up Cambridge, are allowed once again.
Thank you to my peers in the BDS movement for identifying Chevron as a sponsor of the PDX City Club event series. I asked them to drop sponsorship and they’ve agreed. Solidarity includes actions of all sizes. Special thanks to Councilor Koyama Lane for leading on this.
I was disgusted by today’s episode of @nytimes.com’s Daily podcast. I haven’t listened to it in months because it is regularly very, very bad these days. But I did today and it was worse than I could’ve imagined. Check out this exchange between host Rachel Abrams, and WH reporter Jonathan Swan:
Stumptown Fil’s annual furcast featuring some very special guests 🤭
@trailblazers.bsky.social #StumptownFil #WeatherBeaver
3.5% reduction in total calls traditionally responded to by police. 19% reduction in police response on non-emergency welfare checks and dispatches coded as “unwanted persons” calls.
The mission of Portland Street Response is to provide an unarmed, compassionate 911 response to assist people experiencing a crisis.
They respond to 911 calls that would have previously been dispatched to armed police officers or otherwise received no response.
People believe all kinds of bullshit conspiracies but the actual conspiracy to cook the planet for profit is somehow not getting as much traction as some weird shit about cyanide in fruit or seed oils or whatever.
After this blew up the timeline last month, and Preston posted SF's report on Social Housing I dug into see if they've hit on a formula to build affordable housing at scale.
No, they haven't. But if you let go of the ideological hobby horses, you can get a lot closer.
It's the first weekday of congestion pricing — and I caught a recidivist reckless cop who COVERS his plate to avoid speed cameras (though he still gets plenty of tickets). Is he paying his tolls, too? What do you think? #CriminalMischief
Three Oregon lawmakers want to stop utility companies from raising rates on customers while those companies are still resolving years-long lawsuits over wildfire culpability and costs.
11 street roots workers guild members smile for a group photo in the Street Roots vendor office. Behind them is a gallery wall filled with street roots ephemera and art. Above them are white glove lights.
And that’s a union folks! Today, SRWG members voted in an NLRB election to formalize our union! Thank YOU to every single person who has shown support whether it be through kind words, signing our petition or continuing to uplift our work. We look forward to what’s next and we’ll keep you updated!
Jimmy Carter, a visionary on ending fossil fuels, put solar panels on the White House. Big Oil-backed Ronald Reagan ousted Carter in 1980 and ripped them out
Tonight, as Carter lies in in state in the Capitol, a climate-fueled wildfire is destroying Reagan's former hometown of Pacific Palisades
We don't even need to look that far back. Even prior to their coordination during the 2020 #BLM protests, there was evidence Portland Police were communicating and coordinating w/ the far right.
Katie Shepherd broke that story when she was at Willamette Week.
