If Mayor Tom Potter had a thumbtack and a bulletin board, this stage of the city’s budget process would be exactly like the high school drama department’s spring musical auditions—with hopeful city commissioners counting down the hours until Potter’s budget decisions are posted. Some of the commissioners’ proposals will make the cut, while others will […]
Sam Adams
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Over the Top
Sam Adams and Sho Dozono Wrestle on the Issues
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
Dishonest Objections
“I’d rather invest that money in sidewalks, in safe ways to school, and in paving streets and reducing traffic congestion and improving traffic safety throughout the city,” Mayor Tom Potter said during last week’s city council meeting, following a heated discussion on whether or not to spend $5.5 million to move the retired Sauvie Island […]
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In Other Elections
A City Race Roundup
THE DOZENS of candidates vying for spots on Portland’s city council—as commissioners or the mayor—are doing more than sticking lawn signs all over your neighborhood. In Sam Adams and Sho Dozono’s case, both are furiously raising money in the weeks before they appear—along with 11 others—on the mayoral primary ballot. Since Dozono announced on March […]
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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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Sho Must Go On
Dozono “Re-Launches” Bid for Mayor
IT WAS OBVIOUS what mayoral can-didate Sho Dozono planned to tell the assembled gaggle of reporters. His campaign manager, daughter, wife, and volunteers were all smiles, bustling about Dozono’s downtown campaign office in the minutes before a scheduled Monday morning, March 24, press conference. Dozono had taken the weekend to decide whether or not to […]
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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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Polling Weight
Will Dozono Lose Public Financing?
A POLL CONDUCTED last December—one that Sho Dozono got a peek at before he jumped into the city’s public financing program on January 7—is like a can of Diet Pepsi, attorney Christy Monson (representing the city auditor) argued during an all-day hearing in Tualatin on Monday, March 17. Using the empty soda can as 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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A Trail of Tears
NE Commuters Want a Safer Route to Work
EMPLOYEES AT a NE Columbia music distribution center are demanding safety improvements on the trail they use to walk from the bus stop to their work. Two years ago, CD Baby Human Resources Director Craig Hennecke bought yearly TriMet bus passes for all the company’s 100 employees, in an environmentally friendly effort to discourage them […]
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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 […]