$60,000,000 could build one mile of urban freeway in Portland. Or, it could build the country’s best bikeway network, with over 300 miles of bike lanes and super safe bike boulevards. That’s what I learned this week at the open house for the city’s 2009 Bike and Streetcar Plans, which is getting public comment on […]
Sarah Shay Mirk
Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.
Posted inNews
Nursing a Grudge
Workers Say Southeast Nursing Home Busted Union
Nursing home busts union in heart of liberal Southeast.
Posted inNews
Money Talks
Bank Sit-Downs Could Prevent Foreclosure Scams
How can Oregon prevent 14,000 foreclosures? Sit-downs.
Posted inNeighborhoods
The Floyd’s Coffee Shop “Border War” Saga
An epic tenant-landlord battle erupted last week in the heart of inner Southeast, finally ending five years of tension behind the scenes at the popular, bright yellow coffeeshop Floyd’s. But not before involving a midnight stake out, the police and, yes, a weeks-long secret exodus. It’s a crazy story no matter which side tells it. […]
Posted inBooks
The Death of Textbooks: Free Kindles for Reedies
The big news in nerd world this morning is that Amazon unveiled a brand new kind of Kindle — designed bigger for easier reading of newspapers and textbooks. The Wall Street Journal actually leaked this news on Monday, including an interesting note for Portlanders: Reed College will be part of a six school pilot program […]
Posted inEvents
Bonus Brewhaha This Week!
I know, I know, we just had a Brewhaha. It was awesome. We’re only supposed to host one fun, frank, booze-friendly political debate night a month. But in a special turn of events we’re hosting two Brewhahas BACK TO BACK. There is far too much going on in this town so we’ve formed an axis […]
Posted inNeighborhoods
Beloved Pagoda May Live On! …as a bus stop
Remember when we wrote about the Hollywood neighborhood meeting in January where a Northeast neighbor burst into tears over the plans to destroy the iconic Pagoda restaurant and make way for a bland KeyBank building? Local architect John Perkins vowed he would find a way to save the landmark. Well, last week Perkins completed his […]
Posted inPolitics
Just Noting.
First our economy falls apart and now a survey shows many Americans are blaming the mess not on Bush, not on Alan Greenspan but, ah yes, on the Jews. The Boston Review asked 2,768 adults a simple question: “How much to blame were the Jews for the financial crisis?” The results are insane: “This is […]
Posted inPortland
Sitting and Lying for Kanye West Kicks
Did you see these guys sitting and lying on the street Friday night waiting for shoes? I walked by Compound Friday evening and fell into conversation with 12 guys camping out on the street. They turned out not to be the regular downtown homeless, but guys who had set up camp with a bbq grill, […]
Posted inCity Hall
Who Got Cut From the City?
Mayor Adams’ budget is an impressive political balancing act. It cuts $8 million, it cuts 159 jobs, it squeezes in $2.5 million for soccer and somehow no one is pissed off. At the press conference this morning, Commissioners Fritz, Leonard and Fish all praised the budget for placing public safety and housing as top priorities […]
Posted inGreen
Hoes Descend on City Hall
Giant TV vans full of reporters showed up at City Hall for the release of the mayor’s budget (which we’ll blog about asap) but were surprised to find a crew of young ruffians tearing up historic building’s front lawn. Bringing a little bit of Obama right here to Portland, Loaves and Fishes and the Parks […]
Posted inNews
Good Morning News!
“Sour” Supreme Court Justice Retires: The departure of Justice Souter (a reliably liberal judge who has “turned sour on Washington”) leaves space for an Obama choice! Who will the socialist-communist-community organizer choose? Court watchers say: maybe a woman? Swine Flu on the March! An entire hotel in Hong Kong is quarantined after a traveling Mexican […]