BAD NEWS for night owls: Late-night bud runs might be out of the question once the City of Portland begins licensing pot establishments.

According to draft rules the city's considering for cannabis regulatory licenses, which were posted online earlier this month, the city might limit operating hours for medical marijuana dispensaries and retail pot shops to between 7 am and 9 pm.

That could hit home for some businesses. While it's not uncommon for Portland dispensaries to close at 7 pm or earlier, some stay open until 10 or 11 pm. The Green Front, a dispensary at NE 68th and Glisan, is open 24 hours a day. Owner Kate Williams says she'd oppose the hour limitations.

"A lot of our business happens between the hours of 7 pm and 2 am," Williams says. "Our patients would not be happy."

City council is scheduled to take up the license rules on September 16. DIRK VANDERHART


MAYOR CHARLIE HALES and Commissioner Steve Novick have a new booster helping make the case that Portland needs more money to fix its streets: the City Club of Portland. Well, a City Club committee, at any rate.

In a report released Wednesday, September 9, a nine-member committee all but demanded that the city stop everything and put its efforts toward funding street maintenance, concluding, "The time to act is now."

The committee's report estimates Portland needs to spend more than $2 billion over the next decade to meet its maintenance and improved safety goals. And the group suggests city officials immediately begin implementing a series of new taxes and fees—ranging from a gas tax, to a flat fee on a household's water and sewer bill, to a payroll tax for people who work in Portland but live outside the city.

The problem? Neither Novick nor Hales seems particularly primed to act after being repeatedly rebuffed by interest groups in last year's quest to establish a street fee. If and when they do take the matter up again, though, count on them citing this new bit of cheerleading. DVH