Courtney Vaughn

Employees at the city of Portland just formed Oregon’s second-largest independent labor union in the state.  Professional employees of the city voted Tuesday, June 6, to unionize as the City of Portland Professional Workers (CPPW).  A recent election saw 306 of 385 eligible employees vote in favor of the effort, representing 54% of all eligible […]

Portland won’t be implementing gunshot detection technology anytime soon.  Mayor Ted Wheeler announced Friday, June 2, that he and Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell decided not to move forward with the technology, which would have seen acoustic sensors placed on utility poles in targeted areas of the city. The city will instead rely on a […]

A proposed ordinance that would effectively ban daytime camping in Portland drew five hours of public testimony, but no vote Wednesday, May 31. After a first reading, the Portland City Council is expected to vote on the ordinance Wednesday, June 7. Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office introduced the camping ban proposal, which would prohibit sleeping or […]

The Portland City Council approved a class-action settlement over disability access Wednesday, May 31. While city leaders championed the lawsuit and settlement, some say the agreement will actually do little to bring the city into compliance with federal laws. The settlement was approved the same day the council considered a new daytime camping ban ordinance. Both […]

Amid recent efforts to more aggressively stifle street camping in Portland and put a visible dent in the region’s homeless crisis, city leaders are scrutinizing their primary government partner.  The Portland City Council lambasted Multnomah County’s Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS) Wednesday, May 24, calling for a six-month evaluation of the city’s partnership agreement […]

An ordinance restricting daytime homeless camping in public right-of-ways is expected to be introduced by Mayor Ted Wheeler at the May 31 Portland City Council meeting.  Wheeler’s ordinance would ban camping on public sidewalks, parks, docks, and within 250 feet of construction sites, schools, daycares, existing shelters, high crash corridors, and environmental overlay zones.  The […]

The Safe Rest Village model has been lauded as an alternative to street camping and congregate shelters, but its success is difficult to pinpoint, in part because of data collection methods.

In an effort to encourage new housing construction and provide modest financial relief to Portlanders, the Portland City Council approved a $7.1 billion budget Wednesday, May 17 that calls for lower water and sewer rate hikes, and no increases to charges for housing developers. Citing an exodus of residents and businesses from Portland in recent […]

A fire destroyed an 113-year-old downtown Portland apartment building and caused a temporary shutdown of I-405 Tuesday, May 16. When Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) crews responded to the May Apartments at Southwest Taylor and 14th Avenue shortly after 10:30 am, flames were pouring out windows. Firefighters reported residents were trapped on multiple fire escapes […]