CITY COMMISSIONER—and mayoral candidate—Sam Adams spent the first warm, sunny day of the year going door to door, asking for votes. “Ballots go out in three weeks and the election is May 20,” says Adams, chatting with a man holding a garage sale on N Rosa Parks Way last Saturday, April 12. “I’d be honored […]
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Hall Monitor
Erik Sten: 1991-2008
“Tenacious.” “Dedicated.” “A bulldog.” Those were the words floating around city hall last week, as people passed out tissues and remembered their dearly departed colleague, City Commissioner Erik Sten. “I met him when he was first a staffer in [Commissioner] Gretchen [Kafoury]’s office, and his hair was down to his shoulders and he looked like […]
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In the Shadows
Gangbusters
“I watched my uncle’s knee get blown off.” Rob Ingram was describing an incident from his West Fresno childhood over a bowl of chicken gumbo at the A.J. Java café, on the corner of N Rosa Parks Way and Albina last Friday morning, March 28. Ingram, who has been the director of the mayor’s Office […]
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Hall Monitor
Hindsight
In February, City Commissioner Sam Adams’ ambitious plan to patch up Portland’s streets got him into an arm-wrestling match with a lobbyist and Mayor Tom Potter, temporarily sinking the proposal. But Adams’ aim to fix the roads is making a comeback—and he’s got a two-prong attack. For starters, he’s asking for $7 million in one-time […]
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Hall Monitor
Payday
February 28 was Phil Busse‘s lucky day. That’s the day that the John Branam campaign for city council cut him a check for $15,000, for Busse’s work as campaign manager. (March 6 and March 14 were also good days for Busse, the Mercury‘s former managing editor. He picked up another $1,000 on each, and says […]
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Bridge to Disaster
A Proposed New 12-Lane Bridge over the Columbia River Will Cost $4.2 Billion, Increase Traffic, and Do Little to Alleviate Climate Change. What the Hell Are We Thinking?
A man driving a gray Toyota pickup truck seems frantic; veering in and out of lanes trying to pass other traffic on the Interstate Bridge. His furtive moves don’t do him much good—moments later, as we crest the green steel bridge headed south into Portland, we’re greeted with flickering brake lights. Traffic slows to a […]
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Ready, Set, Run!
City Candidate Field Settles Down
The primary election is a little over two months away, and we finally have a sense of everyone who will be in the race. Tuesday evening, March 11, was the filing deadline for those wanting to be on the May 20 ballot. Candidates have until Friday afternoon, March 14, to withdraw from the race, and […]
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Hall Monitor
“I just believe in fairness, and fair is fair. It is exceedingly unfair to change the rules for an election during the election.” That was City Commissioner Randy Leonard during a January 9 city council meeting, when the council was discussing a special election to replace outgoing Commissioner Erik Sten. At issue? Whether to craft […]
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Dead in the Water
City’s WiFi Cloud Headed toward Evaporation
Remember that WiFi cloud that was supposed to blanket Portland by the end of 2008? Most residents of Portland are familiar with the story. In the summer of 2006, the city partnered with Silicon Valley start-up MetroFi and launched a free wireless internet service. The WiFi network was supposed to cover 95 percent of the […]
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Hall Monitor
Budget Bust
You know that feeling when you reach for your wallet, go for that $20 you’re sure is in there, and discover that you’ve only got a fiver after—oh, right, you forgot—going out the night before? That’s pretty much how the city council’s feeling lately. The commissioners have split into teams to dig through bureaus’ budget […]
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Here We Poll Again
After two weeks of devoting this space to Sho Dozono’s $27,295 poll problem, I’d hoped to turn my attention to what the current city council has been up to. Not a whole lot, it turns out. Commissioner Sam Adams is bringing a resolution to the council on Wednesday, February 27, buying his staff more time […]
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Polemic Poll
by Amy J. Ruiz
Mayoral candidate Sho Dozono tried to clear the air last week after a December poll about the mayor’s race had raised a stink. As of last Thursday, February 14, the Dozono campaign hadn’t reported the poll as a campaign contribution. Dozono’s campaign manager, Amie Abbott, released a statement late on Friday afternoon: “Sho determined that […]