Update: The city agreed to pay Adena Long more than $142,000 to step down. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Portland parks director resigns weeks after placed on administrative leave (and hours before City Council's scheduled vote to refer a significant parks levy increase to voters this fall). www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Portland fire chief finalist asks for housing assistance on top of $247K salary & $10K moving stipend. City admin offers unilateral rule change to create special "carve in" for finalist. City blocks release of this info, reverses course after our appeal to DA. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Isaka Shamsud-Din was a dedicated Civil Rights activist and created many of the city’s best loved murals.

Too soon? 🫠

Prosper Portland is in the biz of doling out low-interest loans to ec/dev ventures. Apparently, it also just granted a $45,000 NO-interest loan to its new exec director as a relocation bonus. Prosper says it plans to forgive the debt incrementally... www.oregonlive.com/business/202...

"So far in 2025, copper bandits have already done more than $500,000 worth of damage to streetlights and lighting junction boxes in the Portland metro, using prybars, bolt cutters, torches and sledge hammers to get at the valuable metal inside them." www.oregonlive.com/news/2025/07...

Johnson is just the third chief to be selected outside of Portland Fire & Rescue — and will be only the third woman to lead the bureau. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Latest fallout from Salem's transportation funding package implosion: Oregon has stopped paying Portland to remove homeless camps along major state-owned roadways within the city. However, ODOT's $1 million fence along I-405 will continue as planned. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

👀👀 "In a presentation to the Portland City Council last week, city budget officials showed that between 22% and 27% of the Transportation Bureau’s annual discretionary fund will be used to cover its current debt obligations over the next five years." www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Portland fire chief finalist poses w/ cigar & Portland firefighters union T-shirt in IG post days after city job offer. I ask if he's gotten the job. He responds: “I’m not sure why any post that I have made would indicate anything of that nature." 3 days later, he withdraws.

Google what is “Neom”

Portland's top pick for the city's next fire chief had bounced between at least four jobs in the last four years, currently works as a private contractor in Saudi Arabia & teased his PDX job offer on IG w/ a splashy post — days before abruptly backing out. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Prosper Portland has tapped a high-ranking economic development official from Birmingham, Alabama, to become its new executive director, The Oregonian/OregonLive has learned. www.oregonlive.com/business/202...

👀👀 "As I look at the data that was made public, I’m reminded of my many years as an educator and teacher mentor—I’ve learned that shame and control rarely lead to lasting, positive change," Koyama Lane said. www.wweek.com/news/city/20...

Portland councilors are complaining about their long-winded colleagues. Here’s who talks the most (and least) www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

An inside look at the Catch-22 the federal attorneys and immigration agencies are working to deport people legally seeking asylum in the U.S. Essentially, requiring people to show up to court, dropping the court case and then having immigration officers grab that person for deportation.

A Portland public defender happened to be at the right place just in time to record a video of a Colombian immigrant being detained by ICE in downtown Portland. The man's immigration attorney said he has no criminal history. My story: www.oregonlive.com/pacific-nort...

Thousands have gathered at Portland's Waterfront Park for a No Kings Protest on Saturday, June 14, 2025. Photo by @bethnakamura.bsky.social Read more here: www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

Big news at The Oregonian. And very good news, too. Laura Gunderson named editor of The Oregonian/OregonLive www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

The Oregon State Police tried to hide from the public an internal email that reinforces police critics' worst fears of a shoot-first culture. It's only public today because of @maxbernstein.bsky.social's dogged reporting.

The budget vote all but wrapped up a monthslong process that tested the new 12-person council’s ability to work together. Ending in a tense showdown between weary councilors, whether or not they succeeded at this test is... unclear.

Novick, who routinely drops music, sports & pop culture references from the dais, also had this Beach Boys-tinged comment yesterday: "Brian Wilson just died. I hope that wherever he is he's sending us 'Good Vibrations' over the next hour and a half because God knows we need them."

“I have asked us many times today to move quickly and speak less, and I think for some of our colleagues that did not sink in." Portland City Council, with lots of talk but few major tweaks, nears final passage of mayor’s budget www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Wasn't until this morning that I realized Councilor Mitch Green was riffing on the Big Lebowski last night after Steve Novick lambasted his omnibus proposal as “the Green nihilism amendment.” My write-up of this week's marathon council budget meeting. 👇 www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Today in: "Bespattered with memes"

"Bespattered with memes, emojis and personal digs, the internal exchanges from 8:33 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. offer an extraordinary glimpse into the minute-by-minute musings of Prosper leadership while their agency’s future hung in the balance." www.oregonlive.com/news/2025/06...

👀👀 New fencing to prevent homeless camping at 1 site in Portland will cost $900K via @lmonghughes.bsky.social & @jamiebgoldberg.bsky.social www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

👀👀

Eat your heart out, Harvey Scott.

Wrestling with some pretty big decisions at the moment. Do I make my family take me to Clyde’s Prime Rib for Father‘s Day? Or Old Spaghetti Factory?

My youngest turned 8 on Friday & has been going through a lot of changes.

Update: The head of Prosper Portland will resign, saying he was told to step down from the role or leave the agency altogether. The move comes weeks after he publicly waded into a contentious budget fight over funding for the agency. www.oregonlive.com/news/2025/06...

Developing & will be updated: Prosper Portland leader steps down during fractious budget fight www.oregonlive.com/news/2025/06...

“How does council build trust as a body?” reads a copy of the request for proposal. “What is the role of council? How do councilors work together optimally & how does council fix what could be getting in the way of councilors working together optimally?” www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Portland’s brand-new City Council considers bringing in outside consultant to create ‘government reset plan’ www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

"As part of the agreement, the city acknowledges that Portland’s zoning code, lending practices and urban renewal policies led to 'systemic discrimination' and segregation that harmed Black communities." www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

City of Portland, Prosper Portland to pay $2 million, give land to Black descendants in Albina case www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

Portlanders already facing the largest water & sewer rate hike in more than a decade will soon be on the hook for a processing fee as well. For a typical Portland household, that will amount to $56.74/yr on top of the $1,923.48/yr they are set to pay. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

For those curious about Portland's hourslong budget meeting: Councilors started discussing their 120 budget amendments around 3:30. Since then, they've made decisions on 20 of them. (They legally have to wrap this up by midnight.)

As members of the Portland City Council push cuts to police, ecdev & other services, many are also quietly cutting six-figure checks from their own enlarged office budgets to fund district pet projects. A number are up for reeleciton next year. 👇 www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

My punishment for writing about city council having too many meetings last week: tomorrow’s council meeting is anticipated to run over TWELVE HOURS. Some stage-setting:

Brutal bike crash coming off the Hawthorne Bridge into downtown. Tires hit the new textured yellow lane divider in the rain. Went face-first into the guardrail. Hanging out in the Providence ER with a softball-sized welt. Fingers crossed I don’t have a concussion!

Portland residents to see largest water, sewer rate hike in more than a decade. Bill for avg. household will top $1,900/yr come July. City officials also say that big rate increases forecasted over the next five years will likely climb even higher. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

Big Pink and the Blazers going up for sale in the same week.