CUB has elected not to roar in the fight to control Portland’s public utilities Since January, the Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon—better known as CUB—has been scrutinizing the rates and finances of the Portland Water Bureau and Bureau of Environmental Services. That’s a good thing. The advocacy group has long been seen as an independent, […]
Election 2014
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Saltzman Rally for “Equal Pay Day” Will Include Call for Minimum Wage Hike
Dirk VanderHart Commissioner Dan Saltzman—whose shoo-in bid for re-election next month has been slightly complicated by a challenger calling for a $15 an hour minimum wage—is planning a rally tomorrow where he’ll call on lawmakers to lift a state pre-emption on local minimum wage hikes and raise several other issues related to pay gaps endured […]
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While We’re Just Beginning to Talk About the Minimum Wage, Check Out Seattle
If you’ve read this week’s cover story on Portland’s nascent minimum wage debate, you know there are a lot of uncertainties surrounding the $15 wage activists are pushing. And you also know Seattle’s wading through many of those questions as it takes concrete steps toward raising its own minimum wage (probably to $15). That’s both […]
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The State’s Best-Funded Pot Legalization Effort Might Finally Start Collecting Signatures
The clock is ticking on Oregon’s best-funded shot at pot legalization, but supporters have new reason for hope. With a little more than three months left to collect nearly 90,000 valid signatures—and with the State Legislature punting earlier this month—organizers behind the political action committee New Approach Oregon have yet to even begin, stymied so […]
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And Just Like That, Portland’s Finally Talking About the Minimum Wage
Dirk VanderHart It’s surprising what can bloom in this city with even the slightest provocation. For months and months, protestors around the country took to the streets to complain of low wages at the nation’s fast food chains. Portland was mum. In Seattle, the hubbub swelled and stretched, to the point the city spurned an […]
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Saltzman Gets Another Re-Election Foe—Who’s Campaigning on a $15 Minimum Wage
A day before the city’s filing deadline, Nick Caleb—an attorney, professor, and increasingly visible activist helping lead a push for a public water trust in Portland—has decided to throw in as a Portland City Council candidate. But despite his deep interest in the city’s water politics, he’s not running against Nick Fish, the city’s sewer […]
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City Club Committee Says Vote ‘No’ on a New Water District in May. But Change is Needed.
Dirk VanderHart The question of whether the city’s water, sewer and stormwater utilities are mistreated is endlessly complex—far more nuanced than the talking points you’re likely to hear as a vote on the management of the utilities draws closer. Those will include the city’s bad decision to build a Water House with utility money, and […]
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A Week Before the Filing Deadline, Dan Saltzman Finally Scores a Challenger
With less than a week to go before the filing deadline, it was looking like City Commissioner Dan Saltzman was going to walk into a historic fifth term without even a cursory vote come this May. Sitting on a decent-but-not-formidable war chest provided by developers and big businesses, the dean of the Portland City Council […]
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County’s Biggest Union Backs Francesconi Over Kafoury
Deborah Kafoury’s had a good run with endorsements this year in her bid to replace Jeff Cogen as Multnomah County’s elected chair—winning support from community groups and the region’s law enforcement firmament last month, as well as a stunning array of current and former elected officials. But the former county commissioner’s main rival in the […]
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It’s Official: Meet the “Stop the Bull Run Takeover” Campaign
We reported this week Mayor Charlie Hales has been gearing up for a fight this May, when Portlanders will decide who controls the city’s water and sewer services. Now that effort has a name. “The campaign is the Stop Bull Run Takeover PAC (political action committee),” Hales said this afternoon. The mayor confirmed he’s been […]
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Business Alliance: Upcoming Water District Measure “Irreparably Flawed””
Earlier this week, we reported the Portland Business Alliance wouldn’t take a position on the upcoming vote over who controls Portland’s water and sewer services. The measure that will go before voters in May has problems, the PBA’s Bernie Bottomly said on Tuesday, but so does the status quo. Well, the business alliance just sent […]
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It’s Looking Likely the Water District Will Make the May Ballot
For the second May running, it looks like Portland’s on its way to a controversy-laden vote over the city’s water system. Portland election officials expect to know by the end of the week—possibly tomorrow— whether an initiative to snatch the city’s water, sewer and environmental services bureaus away from city hall will make the ballot. […]