If Mayor Tom Potter had a thumbtack and a bulletin board, this stage of the city’s budget process would be exactly like the high school drama department’s spring musical auditions—with hopeful city commissioners counting down the hours until Potter’s budget decisions are posted. Some of the commissioners’ proposals will make the cut, while others will […]
Amy J. Ruiz
Posted inNews
Over the Top
Sam Adams and Sho Dozono Wrestle on the Issues
CITY COMMISSIONER—and mayoral candidate—Sam Adams spent the first warm, sunny day of the year going door to door, asking for votes. “Ballots go out in three weeks and the election is May 20,” says Adams, chatting with a man holding a garage sale on N Rosa Parks Way last Saturday, April 12. “I’d be honored […]
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What’s the Dif?
Democratic Senate Candidates Go Head to Head
IT WAS A BIG WEEK in one of the most contested political battles in Oregon. (No, not the Democratic presidential nominee race, which brought Hillary Clinton to town.) Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley and political activist Steve Novick are vying for the chance to take on incumbent Senator Gordon Smith—a vulnerable Republican with a multi-million-dollar […]
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Hall Monitor
Dishonest Objections
“I’d rather invest that money in sidewalks, in safe ways to school, and in paving streets and reducing traffic congestion and improving traffic safety throughout the city,” Mayor Tom Potter said during last week’s city council meeting, following a heated discussion on whether or not to spend $5.5 million to move the retired Sauvie Island […]
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Hall Monitor
Erik Sten: 1991-2008
“Tenacious.” “Dedicated.” “A bulldog.” Those were the words floating around city hall last week, as people passed out tissues and remembered their dearly departed colleague, City Commissioner Erik Sten. “I met him when he was first a staffer in [Commissioner] Gretchen [Kafoury]’s office, and his hair was down to his shoulders and he looked like […]
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Greek Tragedy?
OLCC Moves to Yank Greek Cusina’s Liquor License
THE DOWNTOWN DELI & Greek Cusina might be just another deli soon, if the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) successfully yanks the club’s liquor license. Citing “a history of serious and persistent problems… including public drunkenness, fights, altercations, harassment, and public urination,” the OLCC announced a proposed cancellation of the club’s license on March 26. […]
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Selling Obama Door to Door
Obama Supporters Kick Off Oregon Campaign
IN A RAINBOW of rain gear, hundreds of Barack Obama supporters crammed into a vacant Wild Oats grocery store on SE Division Saturday morning, March 29, to get ready to pound the pavement for their favored presidential candidate. US Representative Earl Blumenauer—in a T-shirt instead of his trademark bowtie—riled up the crowd, there for the […]
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In Other Elections
A City Race Roundup
THE DOZENS of candidates vying for spots on Portland’s city council—as commissioners or the mayor—are doing more than sticking lawn signs all over your neighborhood. In Sam Adams and Sho Dozono’s case, both are furiously raising money in the weeks before they appear—along with 11 others—on the mayoral primary ballot. Since Dozono announced on March […]
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Sho Must Go On
Dozono “Re-Launches” Bid for Mayor
IT WAS OBVIOUS what mayoral can-didate Sho Dozono planned to tell the assembled gaggle of reporters. His campaign manager, daughter, wife, and volunteers were all smiles, bustling about Dozono’s downtown campaign office in the minutes before a scheduled Monday morning, March 24, press conference. Dozono had taken the weekend to decide whether or not to […]
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Garren up for a Fight
Ed Garren Scraps for Votes
ED GARREN may be, at most, the current third place candidate in his bid to replace outgoing City Commissioner Erik Sten. Sten’s publicly financed Chief of Staff Jim Middaugh and labor attorney Nick Fish, who beat Sam Adams in the 2004 primary, are the frontrunners. But despite the odds, Garren—a newcomer to Portland and a […]
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Hall Monitor
Hindsight
In February, City Commissioner Sam Adams’ ambitious plan to patch up Portland’s streets got him into an arm-wrestling match with a lobbyist and Mayor Tom Potter, temporarily sinking the proposal. But Adams’ aim to fix the roads is making a comeback—and he’s got a two-prong attack. For starters, he’s asking for $7 million in one-time […]
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The Pleasure of Voyeurism
Checking Out Beast
I can’t help but stare. Naomi Pomeroy is deftly balancing braised pork cheeks atop spinach-stuffed chickpea crêpes. I’m not being rude just because I’m anxious to eat (though the smooth, earthy mushroom soup we’d had earlier—er, the “wild mushroom velouté”—did bode extremely well for what was to come in the six-course prix fixe meal). I’m […]