ON MONDAY MORNING, Resolutions Northwest, a mediation group contracted by the city, hosted a meeting with local business owners to draft a Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) over the proposed day laborer site on NE Martin Luther King Jr. and Everett Street. Many of the business owners directly adjacent to the site, however, expressed anger and […]
Tom Potter
Posted inNews
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 […]
Posted inNews
Mixed Reviews
Cop Review Report Divides City Leadership
ARIZONA CONSULTANT Eileen Luna-Firebaugh finally presented her critical report on the city’s Independent Police Review (IPR) to council last Wednesday, March 19—but it appears to have done little to bridge the divide between critics and proponents of the way police oversight is conducted in Portland. The IPR currently dismisses 68 percent of the roughly 700 […]
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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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Twice as Bad
Is Cop Review Doubling Police Accountability Payouts?
NEW FINANCIAL ANALYSIS of police accountability settlements paid out by the city from 1993 to 2005 shows the creation of the Independent Police Review (IPR) may have, in fact, led to a 197 percent rise in cop-related payouts. City Auditor Gary Blackmer, who ran the IPR until the mayor moved to seize control of it […]
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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 […]
Posted inNews
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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Hall Monitor
Back to School
“Where’s my coffee?” Mayor Tom Potter asks his Chief of Staff Austin Raglione on Tuesday morning, January 15. It’s been ages since a staffer left to fetch him a double short latte. Usually, Potter can get his caffeine fix in the mayor’s office break room, or hop over to one of several coffee shops within […]
Posted inNew Column!
New Column!
Hello, I’m Mayor Tom Potter And I Do Hereby Proclaim…
Hello, I’m Mayor Tom Potter And I Do Hereby Proclaim…
