PUT ON SOMETHING FANCY, Portland, because you're about to be wined and dined.

What looked, for weeks, like a dull one-candidate race for Portland mayor grew vastly more interesting Wednesday, November 25, when Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey announced he plans to run against Oregon Treasurer Ted Wheeler in next May's primary.

Expect Bailey—formerly a well-regarded state representative—to try tacking to the left of Wheeler (both men are flogging the word "progressive" for all it's worth). He accuses the treasurer of taking simplistic and obvious stances on issues like homelessness and inequality, and has shown he's willing to make an issue of the wealth Wheeler was born into.

The important thing: Portland will get a thorough airing of its many issues in the run-up to May, and you'll have two credible candidates (metaphorically) rubbing your feet. DIRK VANDERHART

MAYOR CHARLIE HALES spent part of Black Friday out at Hazelnut Grove, the homeless camp he's allowed to flourish near the intersection of North Greeley and Interstate.

It was Hales' first tour of the encampment, and he apparently liked what he saw.

"I'm impressed by how it's working," Hales said in a video posted online by camp supporter Vahid Brown. "Our job in city hall is to try to help everybody where they are.... It's much more healthy for everyone, and for the rest of the city, to have people living in organized communities where people are looking out for each other."

Hales' office has repeatedly said it plans to move the growing tent camp to another property. There's no sign where that might be, just yet. DVH

  • ronitphoto.com

HUNDREDS OF PROTESTERS clogged Portland roads—and caused a stir in the Lloyd Center Mall—for a November 27 "Black Lives Matter Friday" protest aimed at turning attention away from post-Thanksgiving buying sprees and toward racial injustice.

Bearing banners and signs, chanting demonstrators met in Northeast Portland's Holladay Park, before marching toward downtown. There were several semi-tense moments during the march, as police in riot gear repeatedly sought to stop protesters from crossing the Broadway Bridge.

In the end, though, the action was peaceful, and culminated with shoppers staring, agog, at the hundreds of noisy protesters streaming through the Lloyd Center's lower levels and up to the food court. DVH