Police are hoping to finally issue a handful of arrest warrants next week for the white supremacy group that has been operating out of Southeast Portland for the last six months. David Yamasaki, Bias Crimes Investigator for the Portland Police, hopes to put the entire issue to rest once the warrants are issued. “We believe […]
City
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Who Died and Made Them King?
State Legislature Wraps Up A Laissez-Faire Session
After six bumpy months, one of the oddest and least productive sessions of Oregon’s State Legislature wrapped up last week. Although few significant bills survived and became laws that will govern your life, the session was rife with nail-biting tension–sort of like a low-scoring, but emotionally charged, World Cup soccer game. The session began with […]
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Bring The Noise
City Council Wants You to Shut Up!
Last Wednesday, City Council was scheduled to beef up Portland’s noise ordinance, making it easier for neighbors to complain to police about house parties and shut down rowdy music clubs. Concerned that the changes might silence some of the venues for up-and-coming bands around town, on Monday–two days before the city council’s vote–Mercury Arts Editrix […]
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Vera’s Latest Paint Job
Katz Commandeers City Council To Remove Graffiti
Last Wednesday, with City Council quietly renewing a quarter-million dollar contract for graffiti removal next year, Vera Katz’s plan to beautify the city in her image continues this summer. But the most recent advancement in Katz’s war-on-graffiti took a decidedly backdoor approach. The renewed contract in question is between the city and Janus Youth Programs; […]
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Going Underground
Are Militia Groups Still A Threat in the Northwest?
Six years ago, two neo-Nazi skinheads beat an Ethopian man to death with a baseball bat, in southeast Portland. The violent attack was marked as an inevitable flare-up by the many militia and hate groups around Oregon that had begun to gather strength in the previous few years. In an effort to put a lid […]
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Digging in the Dirt
Dignity Village Homeless Take Root As Farmers
Although it is uncertain where the homeless squatters from Dignity Village will plant themselves after being evicted at the end of this week, they’ve literally taken root elsewhere–as farmers. Since Thanksgiving, 80 or so homeless men and women have peacefully pitched tents on public land underneath the Fremont Bridge. But, a month ago, City Hall […]
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Hide and Seek
NAACP Cries Foul At Cops’ Heavy-Handed Manhunt
Off MLK Blvd in Northeast Portland is a squat, tan building that houses the NAACP. Last Wednesday, a small group of scared and angry parents, grandparents, siblings, and girlfriends filed into the building to talk about the most recent friction between Portland Police and the city’s African American community. Over the past two weeks, police […]
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Drug Courts’ Second Chance
Will Busted Drug Dealers Foot the Bill For Junkies’ Rehab?
Three years ago, Billy, a good-looking and sharply intelligent musician, was busted along the Willamette River for heroin possession. Only several months earlier, Billy had hopped a Greyhound bus to flee San Francisco and his overwhelming habit. Facing a Multnomah County judge, he was given an option: Trade in jail time for rehab, promise to […]
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Lighting the Fuse
Smoldering Aftermath Raises Questions about Local Greens
Just hours before the logging season officially began on June 1, fifty activists picked up where they left off last summer and formed a human blockade across a dirt road leading into a section of Mt. Hood National Forest–the fiercely contested Eagle Creek stand of trees. Meanwhile, five protestors hung suspended in makeshift tree squats. […]
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Welching Christians
The OCA Still Refuses to Pay Court-Ordered Damages
Continuing this summer: The tiresome legal battle with Oregon’s militant Christians-against-homosexuality. The fight began nearly a decade ago, when a spokesperson for the Oregon Citizens’ Alliance (OCA) threw Catherine Stauffer, an OCA-infiltrator, against a wall of a church and dragged her by her hair through the halls of the church. She was awarded $31,000 for […]
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Chutes and Posters
Directions: This game is a simple and delightful way to understand how our fair city will function under Mayor Katz’s new no-postering regime. Unknown bands, artists, and people with lost pets will no longer be able to use our handy poles to cry out to the world. Start at the bottom, roll the dice (not […]
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Law and Disorder
Concern Mounts That Police Oversight Committee Has No Balls
With her shoulders hunched and eyes narrowed, Mayor Vera Katz pounded her gavel. “I can clear this room,” she declared, addressing a murmuring crowd of approximately 80 people who gathered at City Hall last Wednesday afternoon to talk about pending changes to the city’s police oversight committee. Over the past year, a growing number of […]