Since Portland’s Drug Free Zones (DFZ) expired on September 30, drug dealers have taken up residence on the streets of Old Town and Chinatown, say numerous business owners and residents. “In recent weeks, I’m just seeing an enormous number of drug dealers, drug users, people smoking crack in the doorways. I’ve run off crack smokers […]
Amy Jenniges
Posted inNews
Spreading the Word
Evangelicals and Gay Activists Come Together
When the Soulforce Equality Ride bus rolled onto George Fox University’s Newberg campus last Thursday, April 5, 60 Christian students were ready to meet the gay rights activists. The Equality Ride bus was making its seventh stop on a western United States tour (a second bus is traversing the eastern part of the country), stopping […]
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Where There’s Smoke
Is Southeast Portland Club a Magnet for Trouble?
Last Saturday night, March 31, Martin Garza stood outside Mardi Gras, his all-ages club on SE 146th, directing DJs inside, greeting kids as they poured out of their parents’ cars, and fielding cell phone calls in both Spanish and English. Once the doors opened and security guards patted everyone down, teens—some accompanied by their parents, […]
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Complain All the Damn Time
North Portland Bar’s Sign Irks Neighbors
The Florida Room, a bar on North Killingsworth at Haight, boasts a tall, retro-kitsch sign—reminiscent of old motels and drive-ins—visible from at least three blocks away. A white oval with the bar’s name sits atop a 40-foot pole. Below, a flashing yellow arrow points toward the bar. Nestled in the arrow, a three-line marquee advertises […]
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Sit and Spin
Street Kids Speak out Against Proposed Sit-Lie Ordinance
Last Wednesday afternoon, March 14, nearly 100 street kids gathered in Waterfront Park to protest the city’s proposed sit-lie ordinance. Toting signs with slogans like “The Sit-Lie Sat on My Rights,” the kids marched to city hall and plopped down on the building’s front steps. Eventually, Jonny—one of the protest organizers, a 20-year-old guy with […]
Posted inZINES
Welcome to Portland, Bitch!
Feminist Magazine Bitch Pulls Up Bay Area Stakes and Puts Down Roots in Portland
Last year, Andi Zeisler—like so many other twenty- and thirty-something creative types these days—decided to move to Portland. Zeisler, co-founder of the famed feminist quarterly Bitch, figured she’d telecommute, and continue as the editorial director of the nonprofit magazine, while her colleagues stayed in the Bay Area. Fast forward a few months, and Zeisler and […]
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Bill of Rights
Gay Civil Rights Bill Clears Senate Committee
On Monday afternoon in Salem, state senators listened to hours of testimony on a bill—Senate Bill 2 (SB2)—that would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill’s supporters—including Basic Rights Oregon, and businesses like Nike—showed up in force to make the case that gays and lesbians are discriminated against in Oregon on […]
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Setting Aside Differences
Neighborhood Rejects Low-Income Housing
Last year, Portland City Council voted to require the Portland Development Commission (PDC) to set aside 30 percent of its budget for low-income housing projects as a way to keep poor people from being pushed to the ‘burbs. But, now, at least one neighborhood is rejecting the idea out of fear it will turn certain […]
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Gym Fight
Division Neighbors Divided on Gym Proposal
When the Wild Oats grocery store at SE 30th and Division closed over a year ago, neighborhood residents and business owners were worried that the big, block-long retail space would sit vacant for a long time, putting a damper on that stretch of the retail strip. So last fall, when the building’s owner—ADG III LLC, […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Gay Matters
Heather Graham Comes Out; You Should Stay In
Poor, poor Gray Baldwin. She’s an impossibly cute thirty-something New Yorker—played by the adorable Heather Graham—who lives with her charming brother in a fantastic loft, works with the hilarious Carrie (Molly Shannon) at an ad agency, and has a sweet Scottish cabbie/aspiring actor (Alan Cumming) who’s totally in love with her. Her life is so […]
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Shop Lift
NE Alberta Businesses Hit by Burglaries
In late January, Earl Clark’s eponymous barbershop on NE Alberta was broken into. The would-be robbers damaged the door to get in, and tried to bust open the ATM. Fortunately for Clark, the robbers failed. “My thought is they were looking for cash. They didn’t trash up my place or nothing,” Clark says. In the […]