Hometown heroes Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, the Jicks) and China Forbes (Pink Martini) helped raised almost $6K for the local nonprofit Save the Giants when they played a private benefit in SE Portland on June 4. Check out this footage of Malkmus at the event, performing a cover of the Beatles’ “Blackbird” followed by a cover […]
Green
Posted inNews
Protest Fun: Greenpeace Activists are Dangling from the St. Johns Bridge to Imprison That Shell Oil Ship
.@Greenpeace climbing ninjas hanging from st johns bridge near cathedral park in #pdx impeding Fennica #ShellNo pic.twitter.com/TFwknCNH4I— Backbone Campaign (@backboneprog) July 29, 2015 It goes without saying that a boon of living in a river/port city is that you and your friends can dangle from a bridge in a spectacular attempt to trap an oil […]
Posted inNews
Environmental Advocates Seize on Zoning Change in Bid to Squash Propane Terminal
Portland planners have crafted an elegant-seeming solution to an environmental zoning puzzle that threatened to stall construction of a ballyhooed, $500 million propane-export terminal on the Columbia River—a hiccup first reported by the Mercury in October. According to documents released last week, planners suggest narrowly amending the city’s environmental rules to let Canadian firm Pembina […]
Posted inMusic
Ecotrust Announces Lineup for Sundown Concerts
Ecotrust has announced the lineup for their summer event series, Sundown, which is a sort of street-fair/concert to celebrate and raise awareness for green living. These are always great events, free outdoor concerts that take place at the peak of Portland summer. For four Wednesdays in July, the lot next to the Ecotrust building will […]
Posted inFashion
Dispatch from Vancouver BC’s Eco Fashion Week
Greetings from lovely Vancouver, British Columbia! I’m here for the city’s Eco Fashion Week, founded six seasons ago by Myriam Laroche with the goal of “informing and inspiring the fashion-conscious, and sustainable-minded, alike, in a way that harmonizes beauty and the environment. After all, innovation in fashion—the future of chic—is inextricably linked to innovation in, […]
Posted inFashion
H&M’s Recycling Program Will Roll Out in Portland in February
Mega-chain clothing store H&M got some good environmental buzz going last week when it announced a new recycling initiative that will roll out in all of the 48 markets it operates in, including Portland. Beginning in February, you’ll be able to take your unwanted clothing—any brand or condition—into an H&M and offload it for recycling […]
Posted inGreen
State Says Most Coal Worries: “Not Our Jurisdiction.” Activists Say: “Bullshit.”
Last night, the state Department of Environmental Quality held a standing-room-only information meeting (“We want to clarify that it’s NOT a hearing,” the state noted) on the proposed permit for a controversial coal export terminal on the Columbia River near the small eastern town of Boardman. Greeted by an authentic-looking Santa (real beard!) handing out […]
Posted inBuild Out
Speaking of Parking in NW, Major Con-Way Development Would Add 1,200 Residents to Area
Con-way Development Plan Massing Diagram Major changes are on the horizon for the north end of Portland’s NW district. Freight company Con-way owns nine square blocks between NW 19th and 22nd, Pettygrove and Upshur, which right now are a collection of warehouses and parking lots. But not for long! Con-way is working with developers and […]
Posted inCity Hall
West Hayden Island Hearing “Practically a Caricature of Self-serving Moneyed Interests Pitted Against Community Members Fighting Only for Values and Their Homes”
Last night, Portland’s Planning and Sustainability Commission took up the matter of West Hayden Island—and Mayor Sam Adams’ near-deadline-busting plan to annex the gorgeous and rare natural refuge and hand over nearly half of it to the Port of Portland for a deepwater shipping terminal that’s years away and that the region may not even […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council Says Yes to Citywide Plastic Bag Ban
Denis C. Theriault Tara Gallagher of Surfrider Foundation attacked by “plastic bag monsters.” After more than a year of Portland’s partial ban on plastic bags—applying only to retailers making more than $2 million a year—the Portland City Council this afternoon unanimously decided to extend the ban citywide. Starting next October 1, every single Portland restaurant, […]
Posted inGreen
In the Future, You Have to Pay for Parking.
Let’s review the situation: Portland is in the midst of a no-parking building boom. In the past 18 months, the city has okayed permits for 32 multi-unit residential buildings with zero parking, ranging from projects with ten apartments to one with 130. Neighbors of the big new buildings—like the ecoFLATS apartments on North Williams, the […]
Posted inCity Hall
Banning the Bag, Round Two
Mayor Sam Adams hates plastic bags. Last October, Adams finally got the Portland City Council to vote plastic bags out of grocery stores and general merchandise stores by approving a citywide plastic bag ban—the result of a four-year-long push. Now, Adams is rallying to take the ban a step further. At a city council meeting […]