Nearly twenty years after his hot dog vending dreams were stifled by city policies, Councilor Mitch Green wants to lift restrictions on street vending in Portland. It's a divisive idea.

Today on @opb.org's The Evergreen: Portland might not be known as a hip hop city on par w NYC or LA, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a hotbed for sonic experimentation & incredible local talent for decades. A history of Portland hip hop, in collab w J Jackson, OPB, KMHD & Albina Music Trust:

As Portland City Council leaders make assurances to (finally) put an end to traffic deaths, one of the city’s main tools to crack down on traffic fatalities is offline.

Despite this news, this evening's city council meeting was just put on pause after anti-ICE protesters interrupted.

Portland City Council sock puppets when?

Portland Mayor Wilson has reversed a policy allowing people to retrieve their RVs for free within 30 days. Some celebrate the move, saying it's the push needed to get homeless people into shelter, others say it's going make things worse for people already living in desperate situations.

The city elections office has suggested increasing candidate fees by anywhere between $25 and $1,600:

"On Saturday, community leaders announced that some people have returned to the area for the first time in about 40 years, ever since their families were displaced through the process of eminent domain."

It appears Trump was referencing videos of Portland from 2020 last week when he said "it's like living in hell." (FWIW, it still wasn't hell in 2020, but it makes the comments a little less head-scratchy).

Earlier this year, we saw the SF mayor miss his deadline to address unsheltered homelessness in 6 months. In Denver, the mayor made a goal in 2023 to unsheltered homelessness by 2027. Early report shows it appears to be... working?

There are still a lot of unknowns about drug deflection programs after Oregon's failed efforts around decriminalization. OPB put together some helpful charts to see where things stand.

The reveal: youtube.com/shorts/DLjo3...

More dispatches from East Portland:

Queen Amelia.

It's a familiar script. Visible homelessness rises amid a housing crisis. A business-backed group organizes to encourage harsher enforcement. But this time, it's not in one of the country's biggest cities, but in a town of 17,000.

Lately I've been asking Portland City Councilors what their "walkout song" would be that played when they enter council chambers (hard-hitting journalism!). We have a video of their responses going up soon, but before it's spoiled: Tell me which song goes to which councilor (playlist in link).

Bike. Two generators. Chair. Table. Bike, wheelchair. Walker. Crutches, cooler, baby stroller. These are a few of the items taken during recent sweeps of homeless encampments in Portland, according to the city’s latest data.

Proposed changes to Multnomah County's universal preschool initiative, Preschool For All, are causing sharp divides. Supporters of the program call it life-changing. Critics say it won't meet its goals without updates.

Updated to include city of Portland's brief response to AG Bondi: “Please take this letter as the City’s response that the City of Portland complies with applicable federal and state laws, and the City of Portland will continue to follow such laws."

Did the Peacock councilors violate public mtg law? Maybe. This gets to a bigger question around need clarity from the state ethics commission (and the state lege) on the confines of this law.

A group of Portland-area business lobbyists, advisors and leaders want to overhaul several recently-adopted — and regularly criticized — taxes, including Preschool for All, the Supportive Housing Services tax & Portland Clean Energy Fund.

Today in the continued irony of City Hall: "A Portland City Council meeting about how to change council meetings to address the problem of meetings being cut short because they run too long, was cut short after running over time Thursday."

OHSU officials say it’s one of the largest single donations given to a college in the country.

Tom Dundon, owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, is reportedly leading the ownership group that will keep the team in Portland.

Councilors accused Mayor Wilson of spinning stories for good press while neglecting gaps in his ambitious plan. “Your plan… sometimes there’s some good storytelling, but there also has to be some tough truths at the end of that,” said Councilor Zimmerman.

Ironicly, the Portland city council’s agenda item on returning to weekly mtgs — since biweekly mtgs have gone too long, forcing votes/discussions to be cut short — was cut from the end of yesterday’s mtg because… the council mtg went too long.

OPB *star interns* caught in the wild.

It's no armed bachelors, but okay.

Worth following this police patrol vs bike/ped safety debate in NW coming from City Hall (and followed closely by @bikeportland.org):

Learning that Sesame Street's urban design was inspired by Jane Jacobs' “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” explain so much about how I see the world.

“Fred Meyer closing... it’s the latest data point telling us that we don’t matter out here. It’s hard news. But it doesn’t have to be the end of our story," sez East Portland born/raised @stephrouth.bsky.social.

A great behind-the-scenes look at how a group of organized councilors made those strategic budget moves earlier this year. Also, RIP Yamhill Pub.

I spent the last few weeks hanging around the Gateway Shopping Center, talking to small biz owners, neighbors & historians about what it means for the community to lose a bustling economic hub -- and how they want City Hall to (finally) show up for East Portland.

The U.S. Department of Justice promises more litigation is coming. Top attorneys for Oregon and Washington say their sanctuary laws are on sound legal footing.

Starting Friday, Portland’s transportation bureau will extend parking meter hours from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Central Eastside, adding three hours of enforcement.

Reed College students and alumni are reeling from the recent news that campus security helped federal investigators find an alumnus last week, leading to his arrest at gunpoint.

The ACLU of Oregon helped Wilson inform this decision. Updated this story to add their perspective, along with some city councilors':

Another approach: Shortly after Wilson's news dropped today, Seattle announced it's suing Trump over his anti-DEI orders.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson has ordered city bureaus to change the wording for city programs that benefit minority groups to comply with President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI directives. The move marks the city’s most significant policy shift in response to Trump’s second term agenda.

Happy 25th bday to @portlandmercury.com! Honored to be included in this roundup of esteemed news eds over the yrs (I promise my time there was less grim than it appears). h/t to Otter Friday (the real ones remember), the muddy days of Occupy Portland & wacky election liveblogs for bringing joy.

Portlanders are beginning to sour on Mayor Keith Wilson’s homelessness plan that propelled him into office. On Monday night, Wilson was met with boos, scoffs, and thumbs down gestures from a crowd of people unhappy with his pitch to open a new shelter in the Pearl District neighborhood.

Across the country, elected officials have faced arrest, funding cuts and other penalties for opposing Trump policies since his return to the White House. Portland’s leaders are still weighing how best to respond: vocally fight back or try to stay off of Trump’s radar with a more quiet resistance.

President Donald Trump wants cities to force treatment on people with severe mental illness or addiction who are living outside -- to “restore public order.” It’s hard to immediately know what kind of impact the sweeping order will have on Oregonians. But people have thoughts:

Some *phenomenal* data journalism by Rebecca Ellis here:

A little summer breaking news: Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek delays ODOT layoffs and has called a special session for Aug. 29 to figure out the state's transportation budget hole.

“There is a baby in the car,” Khanbabazadeh said. “Is it hard to wait for three minutes?”

Wasn't able to attend council IRL last night, but Jeremiah generously captured what went down during the recess:

For decades, immigration authorities have been required by policy to avoid making arrests near churches, hospitals, courthouses and schools, except in urgent situations involving threats such as terrorism or pursuit of a dangerous felon. That policy was rescinded this year.

Immigration officers arrested a 38-yr-old Iranian man outside his child’s preschool in Beaverton. The man is married to a US citizen, had applied to receive a green card. He doesn’t appear to have a criminal record. The incident marks the 1st confirmed case of an immigration arrest at an OR school.

The way this anecdote has warped like game of telephone in City Hall over the past month...