Dirk VanderHart It’s the one night a year Portland openly allows sidewalk camping, and the city’s homeless are on top of it. For the third year running, homeless rights advocates have pitched dozens of tents along SW Fourth, a bit of judo that exploits the city’s practice of letting parade-goers stake out a spot the […]
Dirk VanderHart
I'm a news reporter for the Mercury. I've spent a lot of the last decade in journalism — covering tragedy and chicanery in the hills of southwest Missouri, politics in Washington, D.C., and other matters elsewhere.
I've been in Portland three years, love it and want to help make it better. Let's keep it amicable!
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
Well damn it. Turns out President Obama’s National Security Agency is every bit as terrible as President Bush’s. Wednesday we found out the NSA has been sifting through Verizon wireless records. Today: the revelation it’s been sending out stealthy feelers all over the web, too. According to the Guardian, a program known as Prism collects […]
Posted inBikes
Alta Bike Share is Suing its Insurer Over Hurricane Sandy Losses
www.citibikenyc.com By the time Hurricane Sandy’s massive arms swiped at New York City in October, Portland-based Alta Bicycle Share had already seen difficulty in the Big Apple. Software bugs had delayed the company’s roll out of the massive Citi Bike system from summer 2012 to the following March, inspiring, as it will in New York, […]
Posted inIce and/or Fire
Ain’t Going Out Like That: Ice Cream Edition
Portland is all set to get its own, brief Ben & Jerry’s flavor and, as best I can tell, the voting public is intent on screwing it up. Or maybe the ambiguous, confusing voting process—filled with bizarre false equivalencies, disgusting innuendo and arbitrary metrics—is doing the damage? I don’t actually understand how this is being […]
Posted inNews
Drug Impact Areas, Jeopardized by the Budget, Have Resulted in More than 500 Exclusions a Year
In this week’s stellar issue of the Mercury, I examined whether Portland’s Drug Impact Area’s will be doomed by city budget cuts. City Council opted not to continue funding a deputy district attorney dedicated to the program in this year’s budget. The county, which has been willing to backfill some of the city’s cuts, is […]
Posted inNews
Nope, the City’s Embarrassing $2.3 Million Payout Can’t be Explained by Color Blindness
It should be easy to tell fatal shotgun rounds from the “less-lethal” (though still incredibly painful) beanbag rounds cops use to incapacitate arrestees. The “live” round shells are bright red. The beanbags’ shells are described as a “milky white.” But as Portland City Council this morning OKd a hefty settlement to a young man mistakenly […]
Posted inBikes
Put the Fun Between Your Legs
Our Top Pedalpalooza Bike Rides
Here’s our top Pedalpalooza picks!
Posted inBikes
Biking’s Beautiful Tomorrow
An Eerily Accurate Guide to How You’ll Ride in Coming Years
It’s our eerily accurate guide to how you’ll ride your bike in the coming years.
Posted inBikes
Protecting the Crown
Why Portland Might Not Be America’s Bicycle Mecca for Long
Cities around the country want Portland’s bike reputation. Here’s how we defeat them.
Posted inBikes
Are These Portland’s 16 Must-Have Bike Projects?
Bicycle Transportation Alliance Is this the future of NE Broadway? Sure Portland’s revered nationally as a bike paradise, but a lot of local advocates take a dim view of our progress in recent years. There’s a common notion momentum here has slowed, and that other cities are rapidly advancing on us. Maybe that’s understandable. It’s […]
Posted inBikes
Are We Getting Better at Protecting our Bicycles?
Dirk VanderHart I miss this bike, and realize I should have used a better lock. More than 300 less fewer Portlanders had their bikes stolen last year than in 2011, the Portland Police Bureau is reporting. While that’s not going to get me back the glorious maroon Peugeot stolen from my front porch a couple […]