In the 1980s, the Portland City Attorney’s office shared three opinions with Portland city officials. It shared far more than that, of course, but the Multnomah County District Attorney has specifically ordered that you should be able to see these ones, along with a city attorney’s memo from 1990. They’re the subject of a recent […]
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Posted inSports
The Golden State Warriors and Logic Prevail, Trail Blazers Lose
On the way to the Moda center last night, amongst all the fans jaywalking to the arena, and the ones guzzling beers before the game at Dr. Jacks, the ratio of blue and gold to red and black was most definitely skewed in the Golden State Warrior’s favor. Normally I glare in their direction and […]
Posted inNews
Why Is A Firm That JUST Helped Screw Up the Morrison Bridge Being Trusted to Fix It?
Steve Morgan WHEN A BRAND-NEW, multimillion-dollar deck began breaking dramatically apart on the Morrison Bridge in 2012, there were plenty of places to focus blame. In a lawsuit that went to trial earlier this year, Multnomah County, the bridge’s owner, made scathing claims against the Washington State-based construction outfit that installed the deck, and the […]
Posted inNews
Drive Like A Jerk, Get A Ticket—An Excellent New Concept
Crazy stupid high-speed pass on SE 34th Ave – extended version from T.Lavender on Vimeo. See that video? It was making the rounds earlier this summer because of an incident at the one-minute mark. You’ll see a driver in a Kia Soul speed past the cyclist who was filming (and had his child with him), […]
Posted inNews
Two Months In Jail for the Homeless Woman Who Just Tried to Kill Portland’s Camping Ban
FRANÇOIS VIGNEAULT Multnomah County Circuit Judge Stephen Bushong looked down and scratched at the back of his neck, like you do when you don’t like your options. The judge had just heard, this morning, from attorneys in the case of Alexandra Barrett, the homeless woman whose many arrests and citations for camping-related offenses last year […]
Posted inNews
It’s Everybody’s Fault the Morrison Bridge is Broken, But a Jury Gave Multnomah County Second-Most Credit
Adam Wickham I was abroad on Friday, so am late in reporting that a jury has confirmed what we already knew: Everybody involved in the disastrous attempt to put a new deck on the Morrison Bridge screwed up. The county, a contractor that re-fit the bridge with a new plastic deck, the companies that supplied […]
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Read the Emails the People Who Made the Morrison Bridge’s Awful Deck Want to Keep from a Jury
Adam Wickham The people who sold Multnomah County the new, now-damaged deck plaguing the Morrison Bridge have a few things they’d rather not have to explain in open court. More than a few things, actually. ZellComp, the North Carolina company that designed and marketed the plastic deck breaking apart on the Morrison today, lays out […]
Posted inNews
ACLU Sues Two Years After Gresham Transit Officer Forcibly Seizes, Searches Cop Watcher’s Phone
More than two years after a Gresham transit officer grabbed hold of a police accountability advocate filming the aftermath of a man’s arrest in downtown Portland—seizing her phone against her will and searching it for video—the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon has filed a complaint in federal court accusing that cop and three others […]
Posted inNews
The Disastrous Morrison Bridge Project Set Multnomah County Back More Than $6 Million
Photo by Adam Wickham If you’ve read this week’s cover story on the messed up Morrison Bridge (and you absolutely should if you haven’t), you know there’s… a lot going on. In part: It turns out the people who designed and manufactured the bridge’s new deck were privately very concerned the stuff they were selling […]
Posted inNews
Judge Rules Portland’s Camping Ban is Legal, But Says “We Must Do Better Than That”
ILLUSTRATION BY FRANÇOIS VIGNEAULT A Multnomah County judge ruled this morning Portland’s camping ban is perfectly legal, stymieing the latest attempt to rein in a controversial strategy for dealing with homelessness via the courts. In a 19-page opinion, Multnomah Circuit Judge Stephen Bushong found that the law passes constitutional muster. It doesn’t, as public defenders […]
Posted inNews
New and Spectacular Cracking on the Morrison Bridge Prompts a Rushed Closure
illustration by Jason Fischer The Morrison Bridge’s new deck is worse-off than ever. Multnomah County, which owns the Morrison, closed down the north-most lane of the bridge at noon today after inspections revealed deep deterioration and cracking to the polymer surface taxpayers spent more than $10 million on just a few years ago. Temporary closures […]
Posted inNews
County Prosecutors Say Portland’s Camping Ban Is Legit
ILLUSTRATION BY FRANÇOIS VIGNEAULT Multnomah County prosecutors are parrying the latest attempt to dismantle Portland’s camping ban, insisting the law doesn’t infringe on the right’s of the city’s homeless, or criminalize people for their homelessness. In a legal memo filed yesterday [pdf], the district attorney’s office says claims the ban constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment” […]