New “satellite” urban renewal plan? Not exactly legal.
Amy J. Ruiz
Posted inBlogs
Explosions in the Parking Lot
As Patrick said, today’s been a completely normal day at the Mercury. Matt Staab, chemistry teacher at Cleveland High School, brought his “Explosives ‘Kit’” to show us a few DIY (and a few don’t try ’em at home) fire balls and bangs and volcanic diet coke tricks. These are elemental salts, on fire, producing a […]
Posted inElection 2008
City Council Candidate Charles Lewis Does About Face on Day Laborer Center
During our endorsement interview this spring—and at several candidate forums—city council candidate Charles Lewis made it clear there was one issue where he held a different view from his challengers: He opposed the city’s creation of a day laborer center. Back then, Lewis cited concerns about “where the funds would come from,” as well as […]
Posted inPolitics
City Council Outlines Position on Columbia River Crossing—Before the Public Hearing
Last week, the five members of the city council signed onto a letter outlining their thoughts on the massive Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project—a letter meant to guide tomorrow night’s CRC task force when it takes a vote to recommend a “locally preferred option” for the project. The problem is, the council isn’t holding a […]
Posted inPolitics
PolitiCorps Kickoff
School’s out for the summer, but PolitiCorps—a national political leadership training program, or “political bootcamp,” based here in Portland—is now in session. I’m on the campus of the Catlin Gabel School, just over the West Hills, where 24 college-aged future political leaders are listening to the Bus Project’s Emily Kintzer, as she gives an overview […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
Comedian George Carlin died. Hillary Clinton puts on a forced smile and gets ready to join Barack Obama on the campaign trail this Friday. The Supreme Court won’t be hearing an appeal by two environmental groups, who’d hoped to challenge the Department of Homeland Security over the environmental laws they’ve waived to build a fence […]
Posted inPolitics
Political Rumor of the Week
True or false: New City Commissioner Nick Fish plans to join a camp out on city hall’s steps this Saturday night—a continuation of last month’s long protest against the sit-lie and camping ordinances. False! Chalk that rumor up to a “lame attempt at humor” on Fish’s part, he says. On Wednesday, when Fish presented Sisters […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Black Sheep Bakery’s New Cafe
If you’ve ever visited the Mercury’s NE Portland office, you’ve discovered that we’re in a food black hole. We’re between KATU’s offices and the Jantzen Building’s medical offices. In a four block radius, we’ve got a convenience store, a coffee shop, and two smoky dives that grill up burgers—and not much else. Until last week. […]
Posted inPolitics
Brewhaha!
Remember that event we used to have every month with the Bus Project? I think it was called Debate Club. Well. It’s been reborn! Meet Brewhaha, our new, shinier, funner, faster-paced, variety-show style monthly forum on the weighty topics of our day. This month, we’re kicking global warming‘s ass, with an hour-long program that’ll cram […]
Posted inPortland
Fly Through Downtown
If you can ignore the terrible and repetitive soundtrack (I suggest hitting mute), this is a slick video—fly through Portland’s forthcoming shiny new transit mall: Who put the video together? I don’t know, but the site is registered to Adjustech, LCC.
Posted inPolitics
City Hall Tattoos
Today at city hall, I found a stack of these on the front desk in Commissioner Sam Adams’ office: It’s a temporary tattoo. Advertising the city’s one-stop phone number. Um… why? And who would slap this on their body? Note that mine’s on my fridge. And what happens when I need some city info, but […]
Posted inPortland
Carfree Dreams
I spent the last week in Minnesota, and was a prisoner of our rental car. The Twin Cities—with the exception of a few tightly planned neighborhoods, most of them in Minneapolis—were built for cars. We put more than 400 miles on the rental in just six days, simply by bouncing around to see family. It […]