Coming in a paltry 65 days after the “legal” deadline, President Obama unveiled a budget proposal this morning sure to rankle everyone. As expected, the document contains sharp cuts to Social Security and Medicare, a bid to woo Republicans. They’re not having it, though, since the proposal also further taxes wealthy individuals. Democrats, meanwhile, don’t […]
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
Minimum Effect
Portland’s Incoming Parking Requirements Won’t Solve Its Problems
No one’s pursuing the real solution to Portland’s parking woes.
Posted inNews
There Goes Summer: Fleet Week Partially Canceled
The federal sequester—much balleyhooed prior to its deadline but as-yet relatively benign—has just become all-too real. Portland news outlets that apparently subscribe to a naval mailing list we missed are reporting Portland’s Fleet Week, that annual bastion of maritime pomp, will be partly crippled this summer. The reason: the sequester-strapped US Navy doesn’t have the […]
Posted inNews
Portland’s Public Defenders Get Meager Pay. This Bill Would Help.
Multnomah County public defenders play an important role, ensuring the poorest among us receive a competent defense. It’s an often-thankless job, with demanding hours and, frequently, difficult clients. And relative to their counterparts in the prosecutor’s office, the city’s public defenders are paid peanuts. The divide has widened in recent decades to a point where […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
Everyone’s talking North Korea this morning. Again. We’ll spare you the details except for to say: maybe don’t plan any trips to the Korean peninsula. Just to get the most-depressing thing you’ll hear today out of the way, a 4-year-old in New Jersey shot a 6-year-old in the head. What? In much better news, US […]
Posted inNews
Neighborhood Group that Fought Division Street Development Asking for Help with Legal Bills
Dirk VanderHart The neighborhood group that’s been fighting a large parking-free apartment building on southeast Division was left with a bad taste in its mouth last week, when council made clear the project won’t be subject to new parking minimums. It’s also left holding the bag on a rather large legal bill. So Richmond Neighbors […]
Posted inDrunk
Hales Gives Old Town District the Go, for Now
The weekly street closures that have drawn compliments and worry in Old Town’s new “entertainment district” will continue on, despite the formal ending of the pilot project last weekend, the Mercury has learned. Mayor Charlie Hales—who on Saturday spent several hours surveying the weekend cacophony that clusters around Old Town’s bars and nightclubs—has instructed police […]
Posted inNews
Council Will Talk Apartment Parking this Afternoon. Temper Your Expectations.
Dirk VanderHart The 37th Street Apartments, stalled since February When city council considers whether to require parking at Portland apartment developments later today, expect emotion from both sides of the fractious debate. Expect testimony from dozens of speakers, and expect policies to move forward that would hamper future projects with no on-site parking. Don’t expect […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning, News!
You liked Kony 2012, right? You’re gonna love Kony $5,000,000! With Ugandan troops suspending their search for reprehensible and elusive warlord Joseph Kony on Wednesday, the US has put a $5 million bounty on the man’s head. While that means potential riches for the more intrepid of you, it’s also driving worries Uganda’s prone to […]
Posted inNews
Old Town’s “Entertainment District” Had an Unwelcome Surprise for 315 Car Owners
In this week’s Mercury, I led a story about Old Town’s nascent “entertainment zone” with a stirring and original metaphor: tow trucks as wolves! But I was unable to get a hard number, before deadline, on just how many cars were towed from the district. I now have that number: 315. That’s 315 bewildered and […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Surprise! Hales to Fund SE 136th Avenue Sidewalk
As we’d long suspected he would, Mayor Charlie Hales this morning gathered in Southeast Portland with a host of local dignitaries to announce the city will have the money to fund a sidewalk on SE 136th, after all. The project had been a hot topic—and among the few sources of political strife in the mayor’s […]
Posted inNews
Safety Dance
Old Town’s “Entertainment District” Might Have Cut Down Crime—But It’s Not Creating Fun
Old Town’s new “entertainment zone” is safer than before—but eerier.