Former State Representative Kevin Mannix wants Oregon to vote for a ballot initiative in November that would send crack dealers, identity thieves, and felony property criminals to jail for at least three years on a first conviction—without the option of drug treatment. Mannix has built his reputation on being “tough on crime”: He was the […]
Matt Davis
Matt Davis was news editor of the Mercury from 2009 to May 2010.
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Asleep On The Street
Approximately 1,400 People Sleep on Portland’s Streets—and for a Night, Reporter Matt Davis Was One of Them.
“THE ABSOLUTE WORST that can happen is we’ll both be stabbed to death.” We were having a strategy meeting over a plate of spicy beef at the Republic Café in Chinatown, and Patrick Nolen wasn’t exactly soothing my fears. It was the Thursday night before I would spend the worst night of the year sleeping […]
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Not Social Workers
At the Multnomah County Courthouse, the fourth floor elevator door opened to a scene one doesn’t witness every day: A man with a lolling jaw and the vacant stare of heavy meds walked past a group of three sharp-suited district attorneys in frantic discussion, I think, about one of their divorces. Next to them an […]
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Reviewing the Review
Leonard Pushes Mayor on Cop Review Report
City Commissioner Randy Leonard is throwing stones at Mayor Tom Potter over the credibility of an independent consultant’s report released last month, which said the community doesn’t trust the city’s Independent Police Review (IPR). The report, by Arizona-based consultant Eileen Luna-Firebaugh, came back to the mayor’s office on January 24 and will be presented to […]
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The House That Wasn’t There
Scientologists Move into SE Neighborhood?
Residents of the Richmond neighborhood in Southeast Portland were relieved in 2006 when a group of well-dressed, clean-cut young people started showing up on weekends to remodel a run-down old house on the corner of SE 48th and Clinton. The single family residential home had been getting nuisance complaints from the city for five years—twice […]
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Sitting Targets
Sit-Lie Ordinance Takes Aim at Street Kids
Portland’s controversial sit-lie ordinance appears to be targeting a distinct group of homeless youth (or “street kids”), according to the latest enforcement statistics from the mayor’s Street Access for Everyone (SAFE) committee. It’s true that the ordinance has overwhelmingly been used to target people without a fixed address: 62 people were issued verbal sit-lie warnings […]
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In the Shadows
Remembering Z-Man
[In the Shadows is a new biweekly column in which Mercury crime and cop reporter Matt Davis explores Portland’s underbelly.—eds.] Last Thursday afternoon, January 31, Nathan Wilson stood outside the Williams Market Barber Shop on the corner of N Williams and Fremont, gold teeth gleaming, talking on a cell phone in the rain. Opposite the […]
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The Battle for Old Town
Neighbors Scrap for Homeless Center Cash
Arguments among Old Town neighbors about the planned new homeless center have taken a pragmatic shift—from whether to build it and where, to how everyone can get what they want out of the development. Neighbors have been scrapping over the center since City Commissioner Erik Sten essentially offered them a deal on January 9: The […]
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Arresting Development
Cops Scold “Pseudo-Police Action”
The manager and owner of a private security firm in SE Portland is still running his business with the blessing of the state, despite having been warned repeatedly by police for over a year for allegedly taking “pseudo police action”— including making “arrests” and bargaining with “suspects” over “drug charges,” according to new documents obtained […]
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Your Lazy Ass (and how to get off It)
Idealist.org Wants to Transform Your Life!
[Congratulations to Idealist.org, who successfully bid for and won the “Receive a Glowing Feature in the Mercury” in our charity auction—and guess what? We couldn’t be happier, because this is a great organization that really deserves your attention. Read on!—Eds.] If I know you, Mercury reader, then chances are your life has been a selfish […]
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The Blame Game
Public Doesn’t Trust IPR; Will Blackmer Take the Fall?
The city auditor needs to make changes to stop widespread public mistrust of the Independent Police Review (IPR) process, according to an independent consultant’s report released last week. “There is widespread community dissatisfaction with the Independent Police Review system,” says the 186-page report, written by Arizona-based consultant Eileen Luna-Firebaugh. “There is a lack of trust […]
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Not on My Block
Old Town Wants Homeless Center Elsewhere
Old Town neighbors have turned on Erik Sten’s proposal to give the district $400 million in urban renewal money if they’ll agree to move forward with a day-access center for the homeless on “Block 25,” between 3rd and 4th at Flanders and Glisan in Northwest Portland. The neighbors—who seemed amenable to Sten’s idea immediately following […]