Reader, wherever you are, look out the window. What greenery do you see? If you see rows of streetside shrubbery, shady tree canopies and lush public gardens, congratulations: you can…
The city that works?
Portland’s current slogan is “The City That Works.” When it was adopted in 1995, then-Mayor Vera Katz explained that the new slogan “lets the citizens know that the city cares…
A shot in the dark
Mayor Ted Wheeler recently voiced his support in moving forward with a pilot program to implement a gunshot-detection technology called ShotSpotter with the intent to reduce gun violence in Portland….
Crime crunch
The past few years have seen a precipitous rise in crime across Portland. The Portland Police Bureau’s online reporting shows a rise in reported criminal activity from July 2021 to…
Open Letter to the Student Fee Committee
Letters to the Editor are unpaid guest submissions from our readers. The opinions, attitudes and beliefs expressed by the writer(s) are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily…
Cars or people?
With the installation of the Blumenauer Bicycle Bridge, I have to ask if perhaps some of Portland’s more pressing issues could have been addressed with the tax money spent on…
Rent stabilization isn’t living up to its name
Earlier this month, Oregon announced that the allowable rent price increase for 2023 will be capped at 14.6%—the largest increase since SB 608 passed in 2019 and a huge leap…
The US’s attitude towards sex work needs to change
It is a well known fact that Portland has the most strip clubs per capita of any city in the United States. The city tends to lean into this part…
Burnin’ down the house
2020 was an eventful year, with the new COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide uprising for Black lives and police abolition after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. In…
Cashing in on the magic
A renaissance for psychedelic drugs seems to be on the horizon, and we are ahead of the curve here in Oregon as voters approved the legalization of psychedelic psilocybin mushrooms…
Betsy Johnson is Independent in name only
It’s that time again. Nov. 8, 2022 is election day and we have already been beaten down by the onslaught of political ads for several months now. With our current…