MAYOR CHARLIE HALES has found outright victories sometimes hard to come by during his four years at the helm. Time and again, high-profile policy proposals—a “street fee,” a raise on business taxes, a new stance on homeless camping, a demolition tax—have been beaten back by his colleagues’ concerns, or the public’s ire, or both. This […]
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Oregon’s Proposed Corporate Tax Hike Is Polling Very Well—But Will That Last?
Oregonians love the idea of taxing big corporations. At least for now. Less than two months from election day, polling [PDF] released this afternoon by Portland firm DHM Research suggests that 60 percent of Oregonians favor Measure 97, which would raise $3 billion a year by hiking taxes on big corporations. Just 30 percent of […]
Posted inHousing
East Portland Tenants Are Shaming Their Rent-Hiking Landlord In Front of His Neighbors
Portland Tenants United East Portland tenants desperately trying to fight a looming 45 percent rent increase took a novel tack earlier this week: Shaming their landlord in his own neighborhood. Members of the Ash Street Tenants Association and supportive renters’ rights advocates spent Tuesday peppering Raleigh Hills homes and telephone poles with flyers taking to […]
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A New City “Surcharge” On Exorbitant CEO Pay Could Raise Up To $3.5 Million
Companies operating in Portland that pay their CEOs exorbitant sums will get slapped on the wrist next year, if Commissioner Steve Novick has his way. For months, Novick’s been mulling a “surtax” on any publicly traded companies operating within city limits who pay their CEOs at least 100 times the median salary of other employees. […]
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The Proposed Homeless Shelter at Terminal 1 Is Now Part of a Lawsuit
The fight over Terminal 1 has a new home: The courts. As promised, local attorney John DiLorenzo filed a fresh pleading today in an ongoing legal dispute over how the city spends sewer funds. He says Portland’s on the verge of violating it’s own rules at Terminal 1, the plot of land at 2400 NW […]
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Costco and Affordable Housing Were Among Offers to Buy Terminal 1
Leave it to Costco to try to sneak away with a bargain. Earlier this month, the Washington-based retailer wanted to plop one of its enormous members-only outlets at Terminal 1, the controversial, Pearl District-adjacent property that might become a homeless shelter in coming months. And of a handful of offers the Portland Bureau of Environmental […]
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Confused About the Proposed Corporate Tax Hike Everyone’s Talking About? Check Out This Report.
Measure 97 is confusing. But the monster tax measure that’ll be on your November ballot, which the Merc hasn’t taken a position on no matter what you’ve heard, is also spurring vital conversations in a state with chronically underfunded public services. You should educate yourself. For a solid rundown, check out the 34-page draft report […]
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Old Town Karaoke Mainstay the Boiler Room is Being Pushed Out By New San Francisco Property Owners
Old Town’s about to be bereft of nightly karaoke for the first time in nearly 15 years. The Boiler Room, one of the neighborhood’s most stalwart enterprises—and hands-down among the city’s best karaoke spots—is going to shut its doors September 20, almost exactly 15 years after it opened its doors, the bar announced on Facebook […]
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Affordable Housing Boosters Are Raking in Money From All Over, New Filings Show
As a November vote on a 20-year, $258.4 million affordable housing bond approaches, its backers have had an air of calm. Their first round of campaign finance filings shows why. The bond campaign, Yes for Affordable Homes, has swept up nearly $170,000, the new filings show. It’s got more than $107,000 on hand, in a […]
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After A Fraught Hearing, Terminal 1 Might Be Portland’s Largest Homeless Shelter Within Months
The warehouse at Terminal 1, 2400 NW Front, might be a 400-person shelter by this fall. City of Portland For all the remarkable things about the debate over Northwest Portland’s Terminal 1, the most striking may be how it’s scrambled the long-drawn battle lines we’re used to when it comes to Portland’s homeless. It’s partly […]
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Don’t Believe the Anti-Measure 97 Site. The Mercury Hasn’t Made an Endorsement
We’ve still got a loooong way to go in the fight over Measure 97, which is shaping up to be a bloody-nosed, torn-shirt slap fest. The $3 billion corporate tax increase (for companies with statewide sales over $25 million) has big corporations forming up against Oregon labor, and should easily be the spendiest statewide item […]
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Gov. Kate Brown Breaks Silence on A Proposed Corporate Tax: She’s For It!
Gov. Kate Brown After months of conspicuously guarding her opinion, Gov. Kate Brown this morning came out in favor of what’s likely to be Oregon’s most contentious state-wide issue in November: The proposal to ramp up taxes on large companies in the state. What should soon be known as Measure 97, but is currently called […]