Nick Fish breaks the news IT WAS A WHOPPING 90 minutes into Portland City Council’s first hearing on Mayor Charlie Hales’ proposed budget Tuesday before the ailing elephant in the room finally died. Taking pains to applaud Hales for his “extraordinarily collaborative” approach, Commissioner Nick Fish nonetheless announced he wouldn’t back the most controversial element […]
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Posted inNews
Want To Know What Your Biz Would Pay Under Charlie Hales’ Tax Hike? There’s A Calculator!
Back in 2014, when officials were trying to ease public angst over a controversial “street fee,” the Portland Bureau of Transportation set up an online calculator to help businesses figure out just what they’d be charged under one of several proposals. It didn’t seem to help much, and Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick […]
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Portland’s Auditor is Vowing To Slash Services Because of Mayor Charlie Hales’ Budget
Portland Auditor Mary Hull Caballero. Not please with the mayor’s budget. City of Portland It’s gotten lots of attention, but a proposed business tax hike isn’t the only thing rankling folks in the historic $510 million general fund budget proposal Mayor Charlie Hales unveiled last week. Incensed over funding in that proposal, City Auditor Mary […]
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Truckers Are Lashing Out At an Attempt to Make Them Pay For City Streets
Commissioner Steve Novick is hustling to prove he’s serious about making heavy trucks pay for Portland roads. And trucking companies showed yesterday they’re serious about pushing back. As Novick’s plan to reap $2.5 million from trucking outfits that operate within city limits came before Portland City Council for the first time, council chambers swelled with […]
Posted inArtsy
You Should Support XRAY.FM
Something I noticed: Every time I get into a Car2Go lately, the radio dial is inevitably set to 107.1 FM. Not only is this a heartening sign, it saves me the trouble of changing the station. I used to be an OPB devotee. I still listen to KMHD and KBOO a decent amount. But more […]
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Next Year’s City Budget—Coming Out Monday—Will Include a $25.6 Million Surplus
Mayor Charlie Hales is getting ready to release his fourth and final proposed city budget on Monday—and he’s suddenly got millions more in the general fund to play with. In an updated forecast released by the City Budget Office this afternoon, economist Josh Harwood reports that Portland should expect roughly $25.6 million for next year’s […]
Posted inGirls Only!
Harriet Tubman Is Set To Replace A White Slaver On The $20 Bill
Toodles, Andy. Route66 / Shutterstock Yep, that’s right. The New York Times has the exciting news: The Treasury Department will announce on Wednesday afternoon that Harriet Tubman, an African-American who ferried thousands of slaves to freedom, will replace the slaveholding Andrew Jackson on the center of a new $20 note, according to a Treasury official, […]
Posted inHousing
A City Club Committee Says Portland Should Explore Rent Control—And A Lot of Other Strategies
Last week, Portland housing activists shut down a Multnomah County Commission meeting with demands that no-cause evictions be banned immediately, and rent hikes cease. This week, a committee from one of the city’s premier civic organizations is largely agreeing. In a report released Wednesday, an 11-member research committee for the City Club of Portland recommends […]
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$15 Now Campaigners Are Hanging Up Their Ballot Effort
“$15 Now” has become “$14.75 in 2022.” A legislative short session that focused, partly, on pre-empting looming ballot measures officially claimed its latest victim today, when campaigners with the group 15 Now Oregon announced they’re suspending a ballot initiative that would have put a $15 statewide minimum wage on the November ballot. Advocates in the […]
Posted inPolitics
Donald Trump’s Butler Gave a Tour of the Candidate’s Florida Mansion and UGH.
According to Trump’s butler, Anthony Senecal, red caps mean “don’t fucking talk to me.” Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com I don’t know what I was hoping to find when I saw The New York Times received a butler-guided tour of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. A MTV Cribs-style visit that revealed the racist […]
Posted inTransportation
The Oil Lobby Has Lost Its First Challenge to a Portland Gas Tax
Francois Vigneault The first attempts to siphon City Hall’s proposed gas tax have come up dry. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Karin Immergut this morning took up a challenge from state fuel lobbyists seeking to alter the language voters will see on the ballot. Then she swatted most of that challenge aside. Oregon Fuels Association President […]
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Bullseye Glass’ Sales Were $19.8 Million Last Year. Pollution Controls Would Have Cost A Tiny Fraction of That.
Southeast Portland’s Bullseye Glass had sales of $19.8 million last year according to a Nebraska data firm. Pollution controls on the furnaces state regulators believe have been spewing carcinogens would have cost a fraction of that. That nearly $20 million sales figure, obtained by the company Infogroup, is interesting given estimates by two pollution-control experts […]