All eyes are on Mayor-elect Sam Adams’ police bureau decision.
Tom Potter
Hall Monitor
Commissioner Randy Leonard releases a draft of his report on the cops. And he doesn’t mince words.
Hall Monitor
Mayor Tom Potter sports a new look, while Commissioner Randy Leonard skips vacation to finish summer homework.
Hall Monitor
City hall’s taking a summer nap—except for Commissioner Nick Fish
Shadow Budget
THE CITY COUNCIL was supposed to vote on Mayor Tom Potter’s proposed budget at their Wednesday morning meeting. But the May 14 meeting may be a showdown, instead. Thanks to a few omissions in Potter’s budget—namely funding for transportation and arts-related projects, and funds to implement a recent council mandate to move the Portland Development […]
Unhappy Campers
OVER THE PAST two weeks, a makeshift homeless encampment has been growing in front of city hall. Kicking off on Friday, April 25, a few men and women who’d been “swept” out from under the Burnside Bridge—where they usually slept—set up camp on the sidewalk, against city hall’s cement balustrade. They gathered there to protest […]
An Unexpected Stop
The launch date for the controversial day laborer site on NE MLK and Everett has been pushed back nearly six weeks to June 16. Romeo Sosa, director of VOZ, the organization in charge of running the center, had said as recently as last week that the original May 6 opening day, which VOZ has been […]
Hall Monitor
What a sore loser. Mayor Tom Potter, upset that his political foe City Commissioner Sam Adams had rounded up three votes to move the old Sauvie Island Bridge to NW Flanders—where it will be the innovation connection for two halves of a bike and pedestrian boulevard—issued a statement on Thursday, April 24. “This bridge will […]
Hall Monitor
Mayoral candidate Sho Dozono landed in hot water during an April 21 KGW-Oregonian televised debate, when opponent Sam Adams pointed out that Dozono “would have the city join the Joint Terrorism Task Force [JTTF].” If you weren’t paying attention when Mayor Tom Potter led the ballsy 2005 effort to yank Portland cops from the anti-terrorism […]
Hall Monitor
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 […]
Hall Monitor
“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 […]
