Time was, the Portland Business Alliance was called the Association for Portland Progress. It’s a good thing they changed their name; otherwise, judging by the group’s reaction to a plan that would drag the city kicking and screaming into the 21st century, the cognitive dissonance coming from the PBA’s headquarters would have flattened downtown’s skyscrapers. […]
Scott Moore
Posted inNews
Green Streets
Pot Petitions to Hit Portland
For the past two weeks, petition sheets have been quietly circulating around Portland by volunteers hoping to convince registered voters to support a plan that will decriminalize less than an ounce of marijuana. If passed, the ballot measure, headed up by initiative activist Parker Bell, would exempt Portlanders over the age of 21 from criminal […]
Posted inMovies & TV
The Games (Crazy) Men Play
Sleuth‘s Verbal Sadomasochism
More often than is acceptable, a film’s death is delivered with the words “Adapted from the play by….” In the hands of most directors, stories don’t make the jump from theater to cinema without coming off like nails on a chalkboard. It’s not that it can’t be done well, but the differing needs of actors […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
Our New Angel
Just five months ago, Dr. Robert Pamplin Jr. (owner of the Portland Tribune, KPAM, Ross Island Sand & Gravel, etc., etc.) announced he was done screwing around with the city—and was no longer going to consider giving a portion of Ross Island over to public ownership, because the process had dragged on for so long. […]
Posted inNews
Failure to Yield
Portland’s Most Dangerous Intersections for Bikes—And What Can Be Done About Them
Bicycle safety isn’t exactly a new topic of discussion in Portland—after all, various magazines and organizations have voted Portland the best biking city in America. Much of these kudos are at least in part due to the safety measures the city has enacted, but with the tragic deaths of two cyclists in as many weeks, […]
Posted inNews
“I Am Irrelevant”
The Fallout from Potter’s Walkout
Last Thursday, October 25, Mayor Tom Potter finally managed to do what weeks of meetings and behind-the-scenes negotiations failed to: He brought both sides of the Interstate/Chávez street rename debate together—in stunned silence as he stormed out of a council hearing. “I am irrelevant,” Potter said as he left, angry that the other three men […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
Another Fine Mess
For weeks, the imbroglio over changing the name of Interstate Avenue has played out in the neighborhoods of North Portland, in the blogosphere, and, more recently, in private discussions among city commissioners. This week, though, it’s blowing up all over the walls of city council chambers. This Thursday, October 25, Commissioners Sam Adams and Randy […]
Posted inNews
Another Ghost Bike
Collision Claims Second Biker in Two Weeks
With two cyclists dying in less than two weeks, in nearly identical ways, bike activists are turning the tragedies into a call to action. Tracey Sparling died on October 11 when she was run over by a cement mixer making a right turn, crushing her under its massive wheels. While the bike community was still […]
Posted inNews
Gone with Wind
City Starts from Scratch on Green Energy
Having dragged on for more than two years, the effort by the City of Portland to get all of its municipal electricity via wind power is officially dead—for now. In 2005, Jeff Cogen (who was then City Commissioner Dan Saltzman’s chief of staff, and is now a county commissioner) led talks with PPM Energy that […]
Posted inNews
Hall Monitor
Death and Taxes
The day after bicyclist Tracey Sparling died while riding through downtown (see story this page), I found myself sitting in Commissioner Sam Adams’ office, listening to Adams and the transportation staff give a spiel about raising taxes to pay for street safety and maintenance. It was, as one person in the meeting said, “unfortunate.” That […]
Posted inNews
Start Seeing Bikes
After Cyclist’s Death, Activists and City Aim for Safety
As the sun set over the Alexis Greek Restaurant at 2nd and W Burnside on Friday evening, October 12, hundreds of cyclists gathered across the street, at the foot of the Burnside Bridge, and waited. At 6:30 pm, ride organizer Carl Larson commandeered an orange PDX Pedicab, and stood on it to address the crowd, […]
Posted inNews
Duck and Cover
City Responds to an Unnatural Disaster
In the 1950s, terror “drills” involved students climbing under their school desks, clinging to the security of cheap metal and varnished particle board to keep them safe from a nuclear attack. But times have changed—now, terror drills require years of planning and participation by cities, states, the federal government, non-governmental organizations, and hospitals. But are […]