CAMPING on private property is no longer a no-go in Portland.
In an abrupt-but-unsurprising move, City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly announced earlier this week sheâll ensure the city no longer prioritizes complaints about people living in RVs, campers, and tiny homes (on wheels) near houses, businesses, and churches. Eudaly, who oversees the cityâs code enforcement bureau, also announced sheâll work on âcode language to permanently allow tiny homes.â Mayor Ted Wheeler is supportive.
âHousing is a basic need and human right,â Eudaly said in an official statement on the move, first reported by Willamette Week. âWe have failed to keep up with demand for affordable housing for decades.â
The policy change comes shortly after Portland City Council extended the cityâs housing state of emergency for 18 months. Eudalyâs office says the Bureau of Development Services will overlook violations of its âillegal residential occupancyâ code for the duration of that emergency, so long as RVs, campers, and tiny homes (no tents!) are limited to three per business or place of worship, and one per single-family home or duplex. DIRK VANDERHART
THE PORTLAND THORNS are good at soccer.
The squad captured its second National Womenâs Soccer League title in five years on Sunday, thanks to midfielder Lindsey Horanâs goal against the North Carolina Courage in the championship game in Orlando. The Thorns now have 40 percent of all NWSL championships in the five-year-old league.Â
Not only are the Thorns good, but theyâre a big deal. A day before the win, the New York Times published a story arguing the teamâdue to popularity, profitability, and winningâmay be âthe most successful professional womenâs sports team in the world.â They draw nearly 18,000 fans per home game, the NY Times points out, which is more than 15 NBA teams and 13 NHL teams. DOUG BROWN
RUSSELL COURTIER confessed to detectivesâand later on a jailhouse phone callâthat he ran down Larnell Bruce, a 19-year-old Black man, in August 2016. Courtierâs also an unabashed member of the European Kindred (EK), a white supremacist gang.
Courtierâs attorney wants both of those facts out the February trial aiming to prove the man murdered Bruce in a hate crime.
Defense lawyer Kevin Sali argues a Gresham detective improperly pushed his client to talk after Courtier first said he wanted a lawyer. Sali also claims thereâs no evidence Courtierâa documented member of EK since at least 2003, who has an EK tattoo, and wore an EK hat the night he killed Bruceââbore any animus toward any particular racial group.â
Prosecutors will respond by November 3 and a judge will rule on November 29 on whether the facts are admissible. DB