THE PORTLAND Development Commission (PDC) will vote as soon as Wednesday, June 25, whether to purchase land at NW 4th and Burnside that's been home to homeless rest area Right 2 Dream Too for nearly three years. The PDC, the city's urban renewal agency, would pay $1.2 million for the highly visible Old Town land—the same amount it was appraised for last year. Sale documents also make clear the PDC wouldn't be bumping R2DToo anytime soon. The agreement calls for delaying the sale for up to 30 more months to negotiate a move. The PDC has offered to pay the site's current owners an additional $300,000, or $10,000 a month, to make that pencil out. City officials would use that window to decide what to eventually do with the land. DENIS C. THERIAULT
ATTORNEYS for the US Department of Justice, the city, and the Portland Police Association have devised an end-run around a judge's request for annual updates on a wide-ranging package of police reforms, according to court documents. The arrangement could potentially lift the last major obstacle for a deal expected to have been approved months ago. That is, if US District Court Judge Michael Simon decides next month he can live with what's been proposed. Instead of convening lawyers for all the parties in Simon's courtroom once a year, the city, feds, and police union would rather send the reform deal's still-unhired independent monitor in their place. Simon, who may yet balk at the proposal, has asked the city and union to lay out their thoughts about a potential appeal if he does. DCT
AFTER MONTHS of fractious doublespeak and complaints between Oregon marijuana activists, one pot legalization campaign has called it quits. Paul Stanford, chief petitioner behind the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH), announced on his internet talk show on Friday, June 20, he was pulling the plug on two petitions for legalization. Stanford said the campaign didn't have enough signatures to make the November ballot, and lamented that another legalization campaign, run by establishment-backed New Approach Oregon, had attracted "multimillionaire funders." Since May, CRRH has grappled with formal elections complaints filed by New Approach supporters, and faced mutiny within its own ranks after some canvassers unionized and called a strike, complaining of late paychecks and demanding better working conditions ["Toking with the Enemy," News, June 18]. You'll still probably be able to vote on marijuana legalization in November. DIRK VANDERHART
