The Atlantic has slapped together a Bitcoin Collapse Calculator that shows you, in real time, how much value Bitcoin has lost since it hit its high on April 10th. Hilariously, they even show how much the Winklevoss twins (who just yesterday were referred to in the New York Times as “Bitcoin moguls”) have lost. At […]
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Posted inNews
The City Club STILL Likes Fluoride
The City Club of Portland has been trying to get fluoride into the city’s drinking water for almost 60 years. So the central conclusion of a report the club sent to media outlets Wednesday—with strict instructions it wasn’t to be reported on until this morning—comes as no surprise: the City Club still wants our water […]
Posted inSex
Press Release of the Day: Fake Study Says PDX is #17 City For Sugar Daddies
Alison was too disgusted to write about this so she passed it off to me (hint: “Who’s your daddy?” is not a good subject if you want Alison to open an e-mail). A dating website that specializes in rich men kinda buying sex from young women studied its own membership and found Portland to be […]
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Glimmer of Good Budget News? City Deficit May Shrink to $21.5 Million
In an early disclosure practically unheard of during past administrations, Mayor Charlie Hales this morning has tipped his budget cards a bit—revealing that Portland’s presumed $25 million budget deficit may actually drop to $21.5 million. Hales’ office sent out a statement describing the mayor as “cautiously pleased” about the update, which also suggests the city […]
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There Goes Summer: Fleet Week Partially Canceled
The federal sequester—much balleyhooed prior to its deadline but as-yet relatively benign—has just become all-too real. Portland news outlets that apparently subscribe to a naval mailing list we missed are reporting Portland’s Fleet Week, that annual bastion of maritime pomp, will be partly crippled this summer. The reason: the sequester-strapped US Navy doesn’t have the […]
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Portland’s Public Defenders Get Meager Pay. This Bill Would Help.
Multnomah County public defenders play an important role, ensuring the poorest among us receive a competent defense. It’s an often-thankless job, with demanding hours and, frequently, difficult clients. And relative to their counterparts in the prosecutor’s office, the city’s public defenders are paid peanuts. The divide has widened in recent decades to a point where […]
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Neighborhood Group that Fought Division Street Development Asking for Help with Legal Bills
Dirk VanderHart The neighborhood group that’s been fighting a large parking-free apartment building on southeast Division was left with a bad taste in its mouth last week, when council made clear the project won’t be subject to new parking minimums. It’s also left holding the bag on a rather large legal bill. So Richmond Neighbors […]
Posted inDrunk
Hales Gives Old Town District the Go, for Now
The weekly street closures that have drawn compliments and worry in Old Town’s new “entertainment district” will continue on, despite the formal ending of the pilot project last weekend, the Mercury has learned. Mayor Charlie Hales—who on Saturday spent several hours surveying the weekend cacophony that clusters around Old Town’s bars and nightclubs—has instructed police […]
Posted inBikes
Here’s a Look Inside the Bike Share Sales Pitch
Were I an eccentric millionaire itching to throw money at bizarre flights of fancy, I’d seriously consider dropping $3.75 million or so on Portland’s currently cash-poor bike share project. Not only would a logo of my choosing (probably a miniature pastoral scene with me, smoking and obscured, Waldo-like, by a distant haystack) be spangled throughout […]
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Saturday Mail Delivery Is Not Dead Yet
Those of you who want the Postal Service to die a quick death might be disappointed after all. Seems the government does not approve of their plan to kill Saturday service: The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, said in a legal opinion that the post office did not have the authority […]
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Bankers Attack Credit Unions Over New Program
For years, banks have had it in for credit unions. And this year’s round of legislative fisticuffs is no exception. Oregon bankers, big and small, local and not, are behind three Oregon House bills targeting the state’s credit unions. Of these, HB 2486 is the most extreme. The idea behind the bill backed by the […]
Posted inNews
The Streetcar Has Funding Issues. Big Ones.
Turns out the Portland Streetcar — plagued by lower-than-expected revenues — is looking at something like a $1 million annual funding hole in coming years. That news cropped up today in a city council work session, as commissioners questioned PBOT officials about the department’s budget. “It looks like it’s a problem on the horizon,” Commissioner […]