Geraldi’s Café Renaissance 334 NE 28th Ave 503-236-8165 Despite the somewhat annoying name, Geraldi’s Café Renaissance (once part of the now-dissolved Geraldi’s empire) is a high point among Portland’s middle-of-the-road Italian restaurants. Represented elsewhere by La Buca and Pastini Pastaria, this type of inexpensive, efficiently classy, pasta-and-panini joint is perfect for an intimate dinner without […]
Anna Bond
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Hate Attack!
Residents Speak Out Against the Rise in Hate Crimes
Last month, four white males, allegedly drunk and stoned, crossed the bridge from Vancouver into NE Portland. According to police reports, they leveled a sawed-off shotgun from their car at what they believed were black-owned homes and cars, and began blasting out windows. They also pointed their gun directly at one African American man. After […]
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Leo’s Exposed!!
Downtown Diner Does You Right
Leo’s 837 SW 11th 228-1866 Leo’s Non-Smoking Coffee Shop is the Ultimate Downtown Lunch Secret. Located on 11th and Taylor, in the Medical Dental Building, Leo’s opened in 1929, when its no-tobacco promise was still unheard of–but important for doctors and patients lunching there. Leo’s still attracts its lunch crowd primarily from the building, and […]
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Vote YES On Measure 28
Or We’re Soooooo Screwed!
The Voter’s Pamphlet includes eight arguments in opposition to temporary tax increase initiative Measure 28; these range widely in tone, from the Republican Party’s usual “no more big government,” to the all-caps-and-underlines exclamations by the arch-conservative Constitution Party. The measure’s opponents all make essentially the same argument: state legislators spend our money unwisely and immorally, […]
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More Addicts than Ever!
Budget Cuts Screw Over the Poor, Crazy and Drugged
Last week delivered devastating news for drug users and the mentally ill around the state. It was a double-pronged stab at the state budget when legislators slashed $112 million from the state budget. Chief among their cuts was the Oregon Health Plan, which had all addiction-recovery and mental health benefits gouged from its services. That […]
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A Live Wire!
Power Struggle for Power Company Nears Conclusion
It may seem like a utopian dream, especially in this 21st Century business world of bankrupt corporations and swindling corporate officers. But Portland could soon be home to a public utility operated without profit motive and with no CEOs to bonus. It is the type of power-to-the-people municipality that would make Vladimir Lenin smile. But […]
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Nobody in this Band is a Dick
Cocaine Unicorn Gets in Fights, Rocks Your Ass
Cocaine Unicorn Thurs Dec 19 Berbati’s What kind of music does a band with a name like Cocaine Unicorn make? Sped-up Balrog-metal? Attention-deficit prog rock? Sex-addicted house? “‘Rock music in primary colors,’ is how a friend of mine described us,” says Paul Burkhart, singer and songwriter for the Portland rockers. And, while the members of […]
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Inside the Drunk Tank
Anna Bond Goes Undercover at the Hooper Detox Center to See How the Other (Drunk) Half Lives.
“Linda, are you dead?” A detox worker at the Hooper Center’s sobering station performs his hourly check on the forty-ish methadone user in the women’s holding area. He rouses Linda, who is sleeping sprawled on the cell’s concrete floor. “Leave me alone,” she rasps back. Linda has been here almost eight hours, since about noon. […]
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Pinko’s Return
Local Socialists Aim to Gain Momentum
The cars outside North Portland’s Liberty Hall on Sunday, where Oregon’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America held a meeting and panel discussion, were plastered with telling bumper stickers. “Get corporations off welfare” and “Just say no to war with Iraq” were among the sentiments gracing the compact sedans, in whose backseats several hand-painted […]
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Bike Me, Boss!
A Long Running Labor Dispute Grows Uglier
A long-simmering dispute between bike messengers and their bosses boiled over last week, when eight of nine bike couriers from Transerv went on strike. Culminating months of labor disputes–including what messengers call a sabotaged IWW union election in August–downtown Portland businesses saw packages rerouted Thursday and Friday as bike messengers refused to deliver. The messengers […]
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Dog Gone!
Local Resident Says Police Recklessly Shot His Dogs
Police spokesman Brian Schmautz claims that officers usually use pepper-spray to defend themselves against aggressive dogs. But on October 1, two officers pulled out their guns and shot two Rottweilers in southeast Portland. The incident has stunned nearby residents, especially the dogs’ owner, Gerry (last name withheld.) He and his dogs were simply minding their […]
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No News Is Good News
Police Mind Ps & Qs at Critical Mass
About 80 police and 1500 bicyclists prepared for last Friday’s Critical Mass as if readying for the big Friday night football game. With both hot-headed rhetoric and promises not to yield to the other, each side geared up to square off. At the previous Critical Mass one month earlier, the bicycle ride dissolved into chaos […]