Portland's most controversial church has officially opened its doors. Mars Hill Church, an evangelical anti-gay church with large branches around the country, created a firestorm of debate when it announced its newest outlet would be in Portland's liberal Sunnyside neighborhood ["Welcome to Mars," News, Sep 8]. After delaying its first day, the new Mars Hill held its first service this past Sunday, October 16. The event reportedly drew a small protest, with people standing outside the service shouting, "Pro-choice, pro-queer, homophobes get outta here!" SARAH MIRK

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The city is slated to spend $19,000 on signs and markers explaining how to use downtown sidewalks. Since a controversial rule banning sitting and lying on sidewalks was ruled unconstitutional in 2009, Mayor Sam Adams spearheaded a new sidewalk management plan that designates six to eight feet of downtown sidewalks as a "pedestrian zone." Several blocks in the central city will soon be lined with brass circles marking the pedestrian zone, while especially narrow sidewalks (like those on West Burnside) will be graced with signs explaining the law. SM

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TriMet launched a fancy new route-planning website for riders. The still-rather-beta Regional Trip Planner (rtp.trimet.org) lets users mix biking with transit when mapping out a route, and also lets them set custom options for the flattest, safest, or quickest route. The public transit agency has a history of using open-source technology to keep ahead of other city's transit planning ["I Bus, I Bike, iPhone," News, July 16, 2009], but this website was developed in-house with a grant from Metro. SM