A SURVEY FROM METRO reveals the majority of Portlanders support smart growth for the city in theory, but in practice many are not keen about density coming to their neighborhoods. Fifty-one percent of the county's residents think that new development should take place within the city limits and already urbanized areas. But 23 percent said they didn't want to see growth in their neighborhoods, and 13 percent said that the region as a whole shouldn't grow at all. The Metro Council fell on the side of the keep-it-dense voters, deciding two weeks ago not to expand the urban growth boundary—for the first time in 30 years. SARAH MIRK.

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What is City Commissioner Nick Fish putting in the water in his office? His chief of staff, Sam Chase, quit on Friday, September 25, following the departure of Senior Policy Advisor Carmen Rubio a week earlier (to take a job running Portland's Latino Network). This all arrives on the heels of Senior Policy Director Hannah Kuhn's resignation on September 1. Fish tells the Mercury he doesn't know what's in the water. "It's not bottled," he says. "It's that filtered stuff." Is Fish just a crazy boss who's impossible to work for? "I think I'm one of the easiest people to work with in the building," he says. "You should do a survey. But I think I'm a pushover as a commissioner." Fish said he was "blessed" to have worked with all his departing aides, and announced Chase's replacement on Monday, September 28. It's Betsy Ames, from the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. MATT DAVIS