icymi (since PWB omits this)… Lead is cumulative in the body. “Nobody should be drinking lead in their water for this long,” said Elin Betanzo, an engineer

It started at $350 Million...PWB is raising our 🚰water bills AGAIN with no end in sight. now $2.58 Billion❗ A ridiculous amount from PWB missteps (they won't tell us about) A ridiculous location (rural, prime agricultural, and forested land, NOT industrial). www.oregonlive.com/environment/...

Seems like it might be time for a City Council oversight hearing on oversight

This. Started: 2017: $350 - $500 million (maximum) is how PWB Cmmr Nick Fish sold filtration to Portland Utility Board (PUB)/Council 2024: $2.13 Billion “This is just a shell game by the Water Bureau.” - the late Bob Sallinger, PUB & @birdallianceoregon.bsky.social ceo Going: 2026: $2.58 BILLION

“I helped uncover the Flint water crisis, and we had more than enough data there to prove that the water wasn’t safe, but the authorities still dismissed us.” - Elin Betanzo, drinking water expert, Safe Water Engineering, LLC, former member of the EPA's National Drinking Water Advisory Council 👀:

5 Oregon Republicans - 2 running for governor - skipped more than a third of votes during the month-long legislative session. They include votes on bills to offer more protections for immigrants, respond to Trump policies, @shaanthx.bsky.social and I found: oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/03/16/r...

👀 “Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, a socialist who promised to raise ‘progressive revenue,’ drew sustained applause from a roomful of business executives ..by acknowledging that Seattle’s tax code puts the city at a competitive disadvantage.” www.seattletimes.com/business/loc...

NEW 6:30a 3/14/26: ~6 PDX blocks impacted~ EPA states💧main breaks cause contaminated🚰 water. PWB calls this “discolored events”. But a NEW $2.58B rural water treatment plant is “sexier” (PWB) than maintaining City infrastructure or distributing free water filters amid (preventable) main breaks.

Here's the ballot title crafted by the City Attorney to describe the Portland Police Association's latest ballot measure effort. It's hard to decide what the worst part of this initiative is, but the ANSWER to their QUESTION is: No.

This might be the greatest split-screen ever broadcast. They’ll play this in museums in future. (🎥 LCI 🇫🇷)

Wild that Councilor Morillo -- the most effective legislator in year 1 -- lost co-chair of the climate committee (which was dissolved), & is not on the housing or transportation committees which are her strongest subject matter areas. Pretty unserious for others on council to allow this to happen.

“Trump, Look Them in the Eyes” — front page of tomorrow’s Tehran Times with photos of Iranian children killed by US bombing of elementary school

The federal government is lying as it continues to weaken the First Amendment. We must name this to face it. It's not immigration enforcement - it's authoritarian repression.

City Council strategic planning is today 3/7/26 Speaking of “shiny new things”… A regulatory requirement, inactivating cryptosporidium could have cost just $105M. or $350M (shiny new filtration plant) But Mayor Wheeler’s Commrs kept greenlighting PWB’s even shinier project. Now @ $2.58B!

“You do that by making him look good.” Begs an essential question: As current-Councilor prez/former-water commish Nick Fish’s Sr policy advisor until 2018, why did Clr Dunphy stop there? ie NOT DO GOOD during boss’s own #Flintwatercrises?!

The trash that occupies the White House (and any legislator failing to act to stop him) is bombing children in Iran. This is intolerable. The time for mass mobilization is now. Join an org, get into the streets, contact your reps. No war on Iran.

Donald is now killing kids to distract from his raping them.

Operation Epic Distraction anntelnaes.substack.com/p/operation-...

Flashback: In 2020, Multco Health officer Dr. Jennifer Vines refused to take action on PWBs lead crises, when she met with us and invited international lead expert, Dr. Bruce Lanphear. Vines’ alma mater is Brown U. www.brown.edu/news/2026-01...

For months, protesters and residents near the local ICE facility have been repeatedly subjected to a chemical haze from tear gas used by federal agents. The Portland City Council has tried to intervene by passing a detention center fee ordinance in December 2025.

Dear Public Works Committee Members (Effective Feb/Mar 2026): •Chair: Olivia Clark (District 4) •VChair: Loretta Smith (District 1) •Sameer Kanal (District 2) •Tiffany Koyama Lane (District 3) •Mitch Green (District 4) Deep dive needed:

Being able to drive as ourselves and use the correct bathroom are essential to basic everyday life — they aren't privileges afforded to only people who aren't transgender. We're suing the state of Kansas.

No journalist is required to take the framing of those in power at face value. And if they feel they have to, it is not a truly free press. Maybe the question is more whether people *should* have a right to legal eviction process, if they are forced into specific places under threat of imprisonment.

The filing deadline for the May 19 primary election is in just a few weeks. As our team plans primary coverage, we want to hear from you. What do you want to know from candidates to cast an informed vote? buff.ly/P8zZnoH

UPDATE on fiscal mismanagement : Portland Water Bureau now wants $2.58 Billion❗️ …not even 2 years after their $2.13B ask for Portland🚰 rate increases “for inflationary” costs.

Tonight is a full boycott of the State of the Union. If there’s one thing Trump can’t stand, it’s low ratings 😉 MoveOn and MeidasTouch announced they’ll host a “People’s State of the Union” rally at 8:30 p.m. ET near the Capitol on the National Mall.

Portland politics taught me you don't have to settle for Dan Ryans and Rene Gonzalez, you can get Angelita Morillos and Mitch Greens.

Portland Water is on one of their PR campaigns rn on insta, FB 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏽‍♂️ Their PR blitzes typically mean PWB is looking for public buy-in… …and about to ask Council for even. more.💰🤑. for this monster #Filtration #PWB #NotFederallyRequired

👀 “after decades of [drinking water] pollution and years of bureaucratic time-wasting, OHA* still cannot say whether the drinking water…is safe or not.” *Oregon Health Authority is Portland Water Bureau’s regulator

PWB Comms are disingenuous. Full stop. Play games🙄 Question: when is a public hearing on your jaw-dropping $2.58B💧project? And, why isn't fixing lead in your press release? Response 🤦: "I am not familiar with any reference to Flint in our WIFIA application but will look more into this on Monday."

The Multnomah County District Attorney has decided that there will be no Grand Jury in the Portland Police Bureau shooting death of Erik Sherrer on February 5, 2026. bsky.app/profile/marc...

Xlent. at least ai got this one right. 2/19 UPDATE: $2.58 Billion‼️

“Cost of Bull Run filtration goes [ridiculously] way up.” But…. Why is PWB still omitting their LEAD problem? asking Bureau leaders for “nearly 1 million water customers”. 🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗

1/2🤔 In 2017, federal regulators weren’t talking about fixing “potential cryptosporidium. “The [EPA] manager, Marie Jennings, was concerned that the Portland Water Bureau isn’t doing enough to minimize the amount of lead at taps in Portland.”

After all, how informative is this?

It started at $350 Million...PWB is raising our 🚰water bills AGAIN with no end in sight. now $2.58 Billion❗ A ridiculous amount from PWB missteps (they won't tell us about) A ridiculous location (rural, prime agricultural, and forested land, NOT industrial). www.oregonlive.com/environment/...

DYK, PWB Comms Dir. is a P4P Dan Lavey protégée Result? “Oregonians [and Portlanders]— the ones who will foot the bill for this project — will suffer the consequences” “RISING water bills, fewer local farms/nurseries, and a damaged ecosystem” - @1000oregon.bsky.social www.opb.org/article/2026...

In a city choking on through traffic and political hesitation, Berliners didn’t wait for permission. They picked up paintbrushes, planters, and petitions, and started reclaiming their streets. What began as frustration has grown into action that is rewriting the rules of who gets to shape the city.

We…”the ones who will foot the bill for this project — will suffer the consequences: “Rising water bills, fewer local farms and nurseries, and a damaged ecosystem,” - @1000oregon.bsky.social @aprilehrlich.bsky.social, you missed important context (see 🧵) www.opb.org/article/2026...

The family’s water was undrinkable: It corroded taps. It withered plants. Their ice maker expelled clumps of salt. But why was this happening? For two years, Oklahoma delayed basic tests that could help them find out. With @readfrontier.bsky.social

We just entered the 3rd government shutdown of Trump‘s second term, which has only been a year. THIRD GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, y’all.

Oregon did NOT even bother to apply for funding to replace toxic lead* pipes. *remaining “unknowns” hidden underground in PWB’s system.🤦🏻

Oregon did NOT even bother to apply for funding to replace toxic lead* pipes. *remaining “unknowns” hidden underground in PWB’s system.🤦🏻

Timely thread

News of the pallet of cash comes two days after the City Council voted to open an investigation into $21 million previously found through an audit. The release of public records and oversight hearings are expected later this month and in early March.

NEW: "Since July 2016, the city of Flint's water system has met state and federal standards for lead in drinking water for 15 consecutive monitoring periods." Portland? 5 consecutive periods. i.e. "worse than Flint"!😖 Use Red line (EPA's "action level") as point of reference :

Last week, communities across the country gathered with a simple demand for the oil and gas industry: You make a mess, you should clean it up. This push comes in support of laws that would require polluters to help pay for the costs of climate change.

If City Council does not have an accurate an reliable accounting of funds to make decisions for what services we save and cut, we cannot do our jobs. Council must exercise our oversight powers to prevent this from happening again, and I will strongly support Councilor Green’s oversight resolution.