In a response to the City’s massive budget shortfall, Mayor Vera Katz has proposed seven percent budget cuts across the board for General Fund-supported programs. But apparently not all organizations are being treated equally: In a reversal of Robin Hood logic, Katz’s budget plan will take from at least one small arts organization and give […]
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McGruff Takes Bite Out of Own Ass
“Cover-Up” Stresses Out Portland’s Criminal Justice System
Last week, a Multnomah County Grand Jury indicted two Portland police officers for a bruising off-duty assault downtown. In late January, allegedly the two officers were mocking a man and followed him out of a nightclub, jumped him from behind, and slammed his head into a plate glass window. But what was most shocking about […]
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Darth Vader and Taco Bell
May Day Declares Itself Pro-Tomato Pickers
The Darth Vader standing in the Fred Meyer parking lot was stock still, except for his left arm mechanically waving an American flag. A few feet away, several hundred activists slowly shuffled west along Burnside. Even though the stoic Darth Vader didn’t carry a sign like most of his co-May Day marchers, activists instantly understood […]
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Vote and Vote Often
May’s Primaries May Have Lasting Effects
Without the marquee of presidential elections, bi-annual elections tend to draw paltry crowds–something at the rate of 40 percent of voters usually weigh in for these off-year elections. Worse yet, primary elections lack the same gravity as full-fledged elections. But the results from several of the current political races and ballot measures may have deep […]
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Endorsements… And Suggestions
* Governor: Jim Hill has guts. * U.S. Senator: Bill Bradbury * Superintendent of Public Instruction: Susan Castillo * Multnomah County Sheriff: Vera Pool because the job is about managing the corrections system and Pool has the right experience. * Metro Council President: David Bragdon * Metro Councilor: Rod Park will protect the urban growth […]
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As Sick as Your Secrets
Two Groups Focus on Taking the Shame Out of Rape
Last year, there were 305 rapes reported to the police in Portland. This year, there have already been 76–a four-percent increase over the number reported at this time last year. Recently, several Portland groups have decided to take rape awareness into their own hands. “Originally, the Bad Date Line started as a phone tree between […]
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Turn That Racket Down!
Noise Ordinance Used To Shut Club Up
When City Hall beefed up the Noise Ordinance last summer, they pooh-poohed concerns that the new restrictions would be used to shut down music clubs around Portland. But last Wednesday night, those fears turned into reality when a mildly-amplified set by visiting artists Of Montreal was cut short by police enforcing a noise complaint–oddly enough, […]
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Don’t Like Military Spending?
Give Your Tax Dollars to Someone Else!
On Friday, as the rest of the world scrambled to put the finishing touches on their taxes, approximately 50 people gathered in Pioneer Square to tell the world why they won’t be paying taxes this year. “We cannot justify paying taxes when 50 percent of the budget goes towards paying for war,” said Elizabeth Atley, […]
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Fallen Activist
Protester Dies after Falling from Treesit
In a SADDENING turn of events, a 22-year-old protester died after she fell from one of the remaining treesits at Eagle Creek. Only one week earlier, pressured by Sen. Ron Wyden and five years of protests by activists, the U.S. Forest Service cancelled the sale of timber from Eagle Creek. Located in the solemn foothills […]
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The Environmental Hit List
Activists Put Up Their Dukes as Summer Approaches
Like bears emerging from hibernation, spring means that environmentalists once again come out in full force. Although many environmentalists wrangle over policies year-round, the most dramatic and graphic battles over our state’s wild spaces and resources are often bookended between Memorial and Labor Day. Two summers ago, Portland was transfixed for eleven days as an […]
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Holding the Line
Is Relief On The Way For North Interstate Business Owners?
North Interstate Avenue is clogged with machines, orange construction cones, and the occasional pile of rubble. It’s not the most inviting strip of commercial property in Portland. Cars stop and start as construction workers direct traffic, and potential shoppers struggle to find entryways into parking lots. Last spring, with a burst of fanfare and a […]
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Supremely Disappointing
Supreme Court Begins Season With Damning Opinions
Usually the Supreme Court Justices wait until the cherry blossoms have finished blooming in D.C. before releasing their annual decisions. But over the past month, the Court has handed out several major decisions from cases they heard last fall and winter. For civil rights activists, these decisions indicate a legal course for America’s minorities more […]