Illustration by Jess Smart Smiley Ahead of a deadline at 5 tonight to put a street fee advisory vote on next week’s council agenda, Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick have just sent word they’re pausing their revenue-raising efforts for several months while Governor John Kitzhaber and legislative leaders work on some kind of […]
Denis C. Theriault
Denis C. Theriault is the Portland Mercury's News Editor. He writes stories about City Hall and the Portland Police Bureau, focusing on issues like homelessness, police oversight, insider politics, and civil liberties. Before arriving in Portland, Denis wrote and edited for the San Jose Mercury News, covering the California Legislature and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as the city of San Jose—a real-live million-person town.
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Police Review Board Strongly Urged “Termination” for Four Portland Cops, All of Whom Resigned, According to Latest Reports
illustration by neil perry A police bureau advisory panel charged with reviewing officer misconduct strongly recommended four Portland cops lose their jobs over accusations including dishonesty, dodging parking tickets, and a positive test for steroids, according to a new batch of public released late Thursday. The 59-page document (pdf)—which chronicles discipline cases that closed between […]
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: A Massacre Seen from Space, Pot Bills Everywhere, and the Fading Dream of the Marlboro Man
The Oregon Legislature is getting ready to spend the next several months talking about marijuana. A lot. NO SERIOUSLY. A LOT. And so, no surprises then that marijuana advocacy group NORML has seen fit to start an Oregon chapter, fronted by one of the louder figures in last year’s legalization push: radio host Russ Belville. […]
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Let’s Pencil Something In
Hales, Novick Hope to Jam a Street Fee Advisory Vote onto the May Ballot
Hales, Novick hope to jam a street fee advisory vote onto the May ballot.
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
The Power of Protesting
Hosting a panel with the mayor and the police union boss marked a coup for Don’t Shoot Portland.
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Nick Fish Balks at Allowing Short-Term Rentals in Apartments and Condos; the Expansion Still Passes
illustration by ryan alexander-tanner After months of haggling—and after weeks of handwringing over lax enforcement and apparently profligate lawbreaking—the Portland City Council this morning has finally agreed to allow short-term rentals in thousands of the city’s apartments and condominiums. The decision means tenants in multifamily buildings across the city can legally seek permits and list […]
Posted inPortland
Scenes from the Portland Counter-Protest that Drove Off the Westboro Baptist Church
Portland’s propensity for the cute and strange and clever is usually cloyingly annoying. But then, sometimes, it’s absolute pure genius. Take Saturday night, when a couple of hundred people showed up outside the Moda Center to shame the anti-gay trolls from the Westboro Baptist Church—who’d decided to try picketing the Portland Trail Blazers for their […]
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LIVE BLOG: The Mayor, the Police Union, the Community Gather to Talk About Police Reform
photographs by denis c. theriault Daryl Turner, left, says hello to Mayor Charlie Hales before this morning’s forum at NE Portland’s Bethel AME Church. As promised—after Don’t Shoot Portland protesters held a series of brief sitdowns with Mayor Charlie Hales last month on the subject of police accountability in Portland—organizers and Hales this morning are […]
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Steve Novick Wants to Know Why the Oregonian Editorial Board “Hates the People of East Portland”
Anyone even passingly familiar with Portland City Hall knows just how closely Commissioner Steve Novick follows the work of what could reasonably be seen as the region’s leading organ when it comes to shaping the opinions of the masses, the Oregonian‘s editorial board. [Insert throat-clearing, “ahem”-style coughing sound here.] That’s maybe doubly true now that […]
Posted inNewsblast!
Good Morning, News: Street Fees, Massacres, Hostages, and Bill Cosby’s Rape Joke.
Maybe you’ve grown fatigued by the ever-changing debate over how and whether Portland should raise millions in new revenue for road fixes and safety projects. Too bad! Catch up with our context-rich live blog of last night’s street fee hearing. We learned that the cost of a special election in May could reach $300,000 and […]
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LIVE BLOG! The Street Fee! The Kobayashi Maru Edition!
No-win scenarios don’t have to be no-win scenarios. Assuming you have the wits to change the rules binding that scenario before you lose. In the beloved Star Trek universe, that’s how Captain James T. Kirk escaped the famed Kobayashi Maru test back when he was a feckless cadet. And now, in the somewhat less-beloved universe […]
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Amanda Fritz Sounds Cautionary Notes Over New Street Fee Advisory Vote
ILLUSTRATION BY FRANCOIS VIGNEAULT The immediate political upheaval triggered by Commissioner Amanda Fritz’s Monday dismissal of Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick’s latest stab at a street fee plan seemed to have settled down last night. That’s when Hales’ office announced it was ditching the residential half of the package, for now, in favor […]