Or stop 1 single Portland Water project. …promised by unethical Water Cmmrs to cost $350 million, a proposed treatment plant is now up to a jaw-dropping $2.6 Billion:

It's not a "betrayal of the working class" to scrutinize construction projects that will cause massive water rate increases (in the case of Bull Run), and raid dedicated climate funds for dubious climate (let alone public) benefit (in the case of Moda).

Reminder that Portland Water still won’t talk about their “unknown” lead 💧service lines underground. STILL ignoring Utility-caused harm to health, esp for Portland’s most vulnerable customers - pregnant/kids/bipoc/low-income.

Yesterday, this campaign to send 25% of climate money to cops submitted over 60k signatures to the city. This story by @taylorgriggs.bsky.social, exclusively covered by the @portlandmercury.com and never once even mentioned by any other outlet, seems like critical context for the public. 1/2

👏💪Elin answered Q’s about lead in🚰 water when our own water utility (PWB) refused. “The [Trump EPA] administration fired me and my EPA colleagues to scare public servants into silence. I’ve fought for safe drinking water before, and I will not be intimidated.” - EB www.wsws.org/en/articles/...

As America marks 250 years, may we recommit to building a diverse democracy, an economy that works for the many and not just the few, and a future where every generation has the opportunity to live a dignified life. Happy 4th of July!

Tfw… emboldened by Trump’s EPA, our own City & state water officials intimidated citizen-advocates too. planetdetroit.org/2026/06/drin... @planetdetroit.org

"The Trump EPA is...intimidat[ing] EPA scientists from doing their jobs to protect Americans." - Elin Warn Betanzo Elin is 1 of the natl experts we reached out to when our own Portland officials refused to answer Q's but did respond by further covering up their crises! www.wcmu.org/local-region...

I’m unsettled by the Mayor’s newsletter today re: Moda. Rather than acknowledge that there are very real concerns about how this process has unfolded, he chose instead to cast critique as short-sighted and opportunistic in an effort to deflect from the impressive lack of rigor to date on his part.

Q: What would @mayor.nyc.gov do?!

Bluesky watching scaffolding together

“Without recordings, we wouldn't know the truth of what happened to Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, Marimar Martinez, George Retes, and so, so many others." cc @councilorkanal.bsky.social

Every day of the Iran War costs enough for 10 of these.

I was hoping that more of my colleagues had the appetite to do the hard work in cutting our managerial bloat to ensure we have ongoing certainty for this lifeline to a remote corner of the city, but I’m grateful for @councilorkanal.bsky.social for offering an alternative path.

A vote for managers over rank-and-file union employees and to endanger North Portland residents 😬

Tell your District councilor tomorrow to vote YES on ‘Green 1’. There’s managerial bloat at Portland Water Bureau even as “There’s not adequate oversight on this [water customer-funded] project!” - @birdallianceoregon.bsky.social @WillametteRiverKeeper Bob Sallinger

Started: "$350M-$500M"..Water Commish Nick Fish Going: "$4.98B"..Chief Financial Officer, Jonas Biery "Total debt service figures would need to be 'gathered and provided.' He did eventually state the total principal and interest on all water related debt was $4.98 billion." wow

X’LENT written testimonies on why Council should vote 👎 on PWBs $525M ask,📈Filtration to $2.6B! 👀 “Blasting Costs: Dynamite blasting is a new cost not fully represented in PWB budget…[PWB] doubted they would get land use permissions so… “they left it off the original permit and out of the budget.”

Still time to oppose soaring🚰 bills (mostly) due to PWB poor decisions + delays of their own making. Sign the petition: engage.friends.org/tap?utm_sour... Friends of Oregon

THIS! "- announce plan to lower h2o rates in PDX" And... - sign a bill requiring water utilities (esp Portland!) to replace all lead pipes/"pigtails" that deliver drinking water within the next decade - Order Independent Audit of PWB; new Filtration costs, wrong site, etc - free POU 🚰filters

How it’s going 1.5 years later:

We were promised "rigorous independent analysis and oversight" of the Bull Run Filtration Project. We didn't get it. It's now the most expensive municipal project in Portland's history whose cost went from $500M to $2.6B (and counting). We cannot afford this. It needs an independent audit. Now.

Have you seen your water bill lately? It’s unnecessarily $$$. Sign on here: engage.friends.org/tap

May 13, ordinance 2026-134 recap 2017/started: New 🚰Treatment=either $105M or $350M (costliest) 2026/going: $2.58 billion and rising (and water customers will pay)😖

5/13 Council mtg: Xlent testimony opposing PWB/Public Work's planned Bull Run *massive* industrial 🚰plant: www.portland.gov/council/docu... note: *Water Cm Nick Fish sold filtration on $350M "up to $500M" *Former CA (+ BES Dir) Jordan could have called bs 9 yrs ago but Nick Fish was his boss!

Let's reframe this: Bureau Directors/staff have been stiff-arming rural community and omitting important information for PDX customers for 8 years. . . precisely so that they can defend "more delays" cost more money.

Dear @councilordunphy.bsky.social, we beg to differ: your old boss, Water Cmmr Nick Fish, was not a "cheerleader for sustainable water rates". His hollow promise: THE most expensive treatment option on THE most expensive (ie wrong) site would cost "$350M and up to $500M" katu.com/news/local/p...

The Sargent at Arms blocks Representative Justin Pearson from Memphis from entering a committee meeting about redrawing the map specifically for the district he represents.

Developers hoping to build the 40,000-acre Box Elder data center campus in Utah say they need to build a natural gas power plant capable of producing double the electricity the entire state consumes in a year, increasing annual greenhouse gas pollution 50%: www.newsfromthestates.com/article/mass...

“It was a catastrophic failure by govt for the Flint ppl…most disturbingly, their complaints were dismissed.” “One of the biggest lessons…is for govt leaders to listen to constituents; in Flint that didn’t happen.” In Portland, we too were dismissed, blamed+bullied. www.mlive.com/news/flint/2...

Exactly, @counciloravalos.bsky.social !

Why is it that a man who tells jokes is held to a higher standard than a man who lies, cheats, steals, extorts, kills, rapes, abuses children, and causes a violent insurrection?

Fascism.

I voted no today on an ordinance that authorizes $525 million in water bonds. This issuance is part of a broader debt management strategy to finance the water filtration plant. I’d like to share my reason for that no vote.

Thank you for looking at this! The deception around this project is disturbing.

Our water rates are rising out of control and Councilor Green is trying to find a way to keep them down 👇

Environmental advocates delivered a letter to Mayor Keith Wilson's office, rejecting the process and results of the city's investigation into Zenith Energy.

👍NYC: “..before they become main breaks!” Preventive maintenance = ratepayer $ 👎PDX: “Main break season!” i.e. Deferred maintenance = $$$$$$ @councilorgreen.bsky.social @councilorclark.bsky.social @councilorkanal.bsky.social @councilorclark.bsky.social @council loretta smith

“…overspending by city bureaus”

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/...

Bless JD Vance for being such an unlikable asshole that his endorsement single-handedly got the fascist deposed in Hungary.

And another PWB shameless PR blitz begins…! Ironically, PWB’s (covered up) lead crises have risked/impacted public health for decades.

…but Portland Water Bureau somehow can afford ever-ballooning treatment plant costs?

“Oregonians and Oregon businesses — 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 www.instagram.com/p/DWm8J_gGEW...

Jokes aside, councilors haven’t been brought into these discussions until recently and the information we’ve received is vague. If they want public dollars, there needs to be empirical evidence that this will provide massive public benefits. Public dollars are not a slush fund for billionaires.

The OG Portland frog Seth Todd, about as threatening as a feather, is ordered by Multnomah County DA to stay away from Portland ICE facility protests bc police say he ignored their order to move from the street in front of the building to let cars through... www.oregonlive.com/crime/2026/0...

🙏🏼 @councilorgreen.bsky.social, for calling bs on PMC/aka PBA PMC’s “cya” statement is like GOP’s response to Obamacare:

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