Inside Red Flag—a new bar on NE 28th, a busy strip dotted with lounges, restaurants, and boutiques—patrons flip through selections on the jukebox and play Scrabble with the bartender. Outside, however, neighbors say sidewalk seating that’s open late has a noisy impact on nearby residents. “The restaurants aren’t the problem,” explains Kerns Neighborhood Association (KNA) […]
Amy J. Ruiz
Posted inNews
A Thorny Issue
Is a Private Donation Fast Tracking Park Fix?
Neighbors around North Portland’s Peninsula Park Rose Garden are concerned that a large private donation—$50,000 from the Neil Kelly Company and Rejuvenation—has the city’s parks department fast tracking a project to replace some of the old garden’s brick stairs with ramps. The Piedmont Neighborhood Association (PNA) first heard details of the project on July 25—though […]
Posted inNews
Poster Un-Ban
Is City’s Sign Ordinance Unconstitutional?
Rick Seifert, a resident in SW Portland’s Hillsdale neighborhood, keeps a long pipe in his car, as part of his effort to keep the neighborhood clean. When he sees “signs placed illegally on utility poles” in his part of town—signs advertising things like junk removal or job websites—he removes them; if they’re high up on […]
Posted inNews
A Street By Any Other Name
Portland Boulevard Recently Changed to Rosa Parks Way. Interstate Might Change to César E. Chávez Boulevard. But are these Noble Gestures Violating Public Process?
Early on Sunday morning, July 15, an Oregon Department of Transportation crew pulled over on I-5 near Exit 304, and swapped out the giant Portland Boulevard exit sign with a new one—Rosa Parks Way. It was the boldest manifestation yet of city council’s vote last fall to rename Portland Boulevard for the civil rights movement […]
Posted inNews
Big Homes, Small Lots
SW Neighbors Fight New Development Trend
Little has changed on quiet SW 47th since Agnes Kovacs and her family moved in over a decade ago—until two years ago, when developers started snapping up properties in the neighborhood, demolishing old houses, splitting lots, and putting up new, larger, more expensive homes on smaller chunks of land. On Kovacs’ block—between homes that have […]
Posted inNews
Everyone’s a Critic
Conservatives Blast Airport Art
Jake Knee commutes weekly via plane, and passes through a terminal at Portland International Airport that’s part art gallery. The Art in the Schools exhibit showcases Oregon college and university student pieces on a six-month rotation, managed by the Regional Arts and Culture Council. That’s all fine by Knee—except for one piece that he recently […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Premium Cinema
Michael Moore Goes After Health Care with Sicko
Health care. No wait, stay with me! I know, just hearing the phrase “health care”—tossed out ad infinitum by politicians and pundits—is enough to give you the chills, a fever, and nausea. Sure, you suspect there’s an important debate to be had over health care, but anything involving HMOs gives you a bout of narcolepsy. […]
Posted inNews
No-Cause and Effect
Landlord Allegedly Evicts Entire SE Building
In the cozy, carpeted meeting room of the Sunnyside Centenary United Methodist Church last Friday night, June 22, neighborhood residents Sarina Dorie and Courtney Garrison gathered around a long table to peruse stacks of fliers. Dorie and Garrison, both tenants of the same apartment complex a few blocks from the church, picked up info on […]
Posted inNews
Look Out! It’s the Mercury‘s Summer DANGER Guide!
There’s no getting around it—summer makes people stupid. And stupid people quickly become dead people. Do you want to be both stupid AND dead? We didn’t think so. That’s why you’re going to be SMART, and read the Mercury‘s Summer Danger Guide: the city’s only complete compilation of EVERYTHING that will cause or contribute to […]
Posted inNews
Bus Stopped
TriMet Operators Plotting to Bar Teenage Lesbians?
The investigation into allegations that a TriMet operator kicked two teenage lesbians off a bus and called them “disgusting sickos”—the girls were kissing on the Number 12 bus on June 8—is slated to wrap up this week [“Gays off the Bus,” News, June 14]. Meanwhile, folks on an unofficial email list are already gearing up […]
Posted inQueer
The Official “Keep Portland Queer!” Guide to Pride!
The Mercury’s Guide to Pride 2007
Posted inDestination Fun
Destination Fun
Pride 2007 Kicks Off!
The Pride Parade may be over a week away—on June 17, to be exact—but there are plenty of opportunities to get your gay on starting this weekend: Portland’s Pride Festival officially kicks off on Saturday night, June 9, and it’s a nonstop party all week long, whether you’re an L, a G, a B-T-Q, an […]