It was a bad week for the city’s police watchdogs. In a move that shocked even the most jaded activists, on Tuesday, the police bureau awarded medals of valor to Jeff Bell and Christopher Davis, the officers who last year fatally shot Jose Santos Victor Mejia Poot. A mentally ill, 29-year-old Mexican national, Poot gained […]
City
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No Vacancy!
Multnomah Sheriff Continues Catch-and-Release Policy
Fate was smiling on Robert Reese. Arrested for four counts of burglary, one count criminal mischief, and an assorted handful of other crimes, Reese was escorted to Multnomah County jail in downtown Portland two weekends ago. He expected to settle in for a long stay. But when he arrived, the booking agent at the jail’s […]
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A Spending Spree
Portland Parks Delegate Excess Money
“You’re next on the list, for what it’s worth,” promised Darlene Carlson, staff liaison for City Commissioner Jim Francesconi, at last Thursday’s meeting of the Buckman Neighborhood Association. With Francesconi’s office in charge of Portland’s Parks & Recreation bureau (PPR), Carlson has been busy since ballot measure 26-34 passed two weeks ago. That initiative will […]
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Title 14 Makes Good Neighbors
Residents Try To Kick Homeless Out of Buckman Neigborhood
The organizers for a dispute resolution meeting in East Portland last Wednesday didn’t realize how many people cared about a simmering debate between a local church and its up-and-coming neighborhood. For the past few months, St. Francis Parish along SE 11th has been accused of attracting drug dealers and petty thieves. Six days a week, […]
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By the Skin of Their Heads
Berbati’s Avoids Skirmish Between Skinheads
Several different websites and a persistent rumor mill denote Portland and Denver as the home bases for the SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice–(SHARPs), who, naturally, hate racism, have a rabid distaste for neo-Nazis, and don’t mind violently tussling to prove their point. The direct evidence about the prevalence of the SHARPs is, at best, foggy. But […]
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Cover Yourself!
Court of Appeals Kicks Hole in Free-Speech Laws
It’s not a statistic that the Chamber of Commerce likes to announce–allegedly Portland has the highest number of strip joints per capita in North America. But it is a factoid that even the most prudish can take pride in: the prevalence of strip clubs is due to an extremely liberal free-speech clause in the Oregon […]
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Mud Slinging, Inc.
All Is Fair in Love, War, and Elections
Will Erik Sten have to sleep in the bed he shit in? Two weeks before Election Day, an anonymous letter was sent to the Portland Tribune reporting that city council candidate Randy Leonard may have mishandled vacation time and a shoulder-injury report while working at the fire bureau. The letter intoned that Leonard had overstated […]
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Your Back-To-Basics Election Guide
It’s Not Animal Traps, But It’s Still Important
Gone from this year’s election are highly explosive anti-gay rhetoric and narrowly defined but surprisingly divisive issues, like cruelty-free animal traps. Instead, we’re going back to basics. A perennial tug of war between the Republicans and Democrats for control of the state capitol; a debate in the governor’s race over to tax or not to […]
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The Pollster Paradox
How Polling Is Helping Minorities
Foolishly, my grandparents named their first dog “Dewey.” They had picked up the puppy the evening of the 1948 elections. All of the papers and pollsters had confidently predicted that Thomas Dewey would thump Harry S. Truman in the presidential election. Famously, dozens of newspaper publishers pre-printed six-inch headlines declaring, “Dewey Wins!” It was as […]
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Ballot Measures We’d Like To See
Submitted by the Mercury Committee
While we’re sure the ballot measures on this year’s ticket hold some sort of importance for the future of Oregon, let’s face it: They’re B-O-R-I-N-G! Not a single one was even interesting enough to be made into a bumper sticker! As armchair politicians, the Mercury has been known for offering clever wisdom on current events. […]
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Bike Me, Boss!
A Long Running Labor Dispute Grows Uglier
A long-simmering dispute between bike messengers and their bosses boiled over last week, when eight of nine bike couriers from Transerv went on strike. Culminating months of labor disputes–including what messengers call a sabotaged IWW union election in August–downtown Portland businesses saw packages rerouted Thursday and Friday as bike messengers refused to deliver. The messengers […]
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Food for Thought
Measure 27 vs. Feds?
Once again, Oregon voters may be gearing up for a battle against the federal government. Over the past year, Attorney General John Ashcroft has worked to suppress the 1996 ballot measure that decriminalizes assisted suicide in the state. And now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that they oppose pending ballot measure 27, […]