KATHLEEN MARIE

ODOT says its Rose Quarter Improvement Project, which will add new shoulder lanes to either side of a 1.7 mile stretch of I-5 that’s known for clogging up car traffic, should help improve congestion, reduce carbon emissions from car engines idling in traffic, and make that highway portion safer for both commuters and first responders. But those who oppose or are skeptical of the project—a broad club that includes Portland Transportation Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, Metro Regional Government, Portland Public Schools, and many others—say the project wouldn’t do much to improve traffic in the long term, and could have a devastating effect on its surrounding neighborhoods, both from an environmental and societal perspective. They have also cast doubt on the methodology ODOT used to predict lowered carbon emissions and reduced traffic.

All those points are explored in “Highway Boondoggles 5,” the latest roundup of dubious American freeway construction projects compiled by the U.S. Public Research Interest Group (U.S. PIRG). From the report:

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A new report by Disability Rights Oregon (DRO) reviews every instance—over the course of one year—where officers with the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) were called to one of six local hospitals to address what hospital staff call an “unwanted” person. In police terms, these are people who appear to be violating Oregon’s criminal trespass law by not leaving the hospital after being asked to leave.

The majority of the 142 cases inspected by DRO involved people who were seeking health care or who had just been discharged from care at the hospital. Most of those arrested after being discharged identified as homeless. Thirty percent of all reports included someone who was seeking mental health care and 74 percent of the cases involved someone who wasn’t posing any kind of physical threat.

The vast majority of these incidents (94 percent) ended in a person’s arrest.

getty images / AmberLaneRoberts

The Bowman-Cryers are being represented by Jennifer Pizer, the senior counsel at LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Lambda Legal. Pizer told the Mercury that the Supreme Court’s decision to send the case back to the Oregon Court of Appeals is “frustrating, because this means more delay” before the Bowman-Cryers can find closure. However, she believes the Oregon court system will again side with her clients.

“We think the law is clear, and has been clear for a long time, that religious beliefs do not excuse discrimination by a business,” Pizer said.