Soon her fanciful drawing of a small bear peering and waving a paw into the 23rd Avenue pizza shop will grace Escape’s latest T-shirt. It will then join a storied collection of prized shirts made by staff and fans of the 40-year-old pizza shop, Portland’s first pizza-by-the-slice joint.

The new T-shirt design is intentionally backwards to give the viewer the impression that you're looking through the pizzeria's window from the inside of the restaurant. This is Greisser's usual view of the restaurant sign while she works on the inside of the window.

“Phil’s taken the shirt to be made,” Greisser said, referring to Escape owner Phil Geffner. “They should be here in a few weeks.”

When suggested that its arrival could eclipse the opening of Dave’s Hot Chicken opening, Ann said, “Oh yeah, Dave. People can’t wait. I really don’t know much about it.”

Residents of the North Park Lofts saw “some kind of violence and stabbing” from their condo on Northwest Eighth Avenue on June 12. HOA board member Greg Harmon took photos of about a dozen officers and medics wrestling with and attending to a man as blood puddled on the pavement.

There had been no stabbing, but the violence and blood were real. Portland Police Sgt. Kevin Allen gave a full report the next day.

“Officers from Central Precinct were dispatched to a report of a man breaking windows with an axe as he walked along,” Allen wrote.

“When officers approached and arrested him, they noticed his foot was bleeding heavily—described as ‘gushing,’” he continued.

“The suspect was extremely violent, refused to sit down,” he wrote, and spit so forcefully that even a hood designed for this purpose did not fully shield the officers.

“Officers placed a tourniquet on his leg to try to control the heavy bleeding. However, because he was so uncooperative, the bleeding continued.”

The suspect kicked an officer, splashing him with blood and told him “he was trying to infect the officer with a disease,” wrote Allen, who believed the wounds were self inflicted.

An ambulance took the man, identified as Martin J. Huguet, 38, to a hospital for treatment. He was later booked on charges including aggravated assault. He had two prior arrest warrants.

Harmon was extremely grateful for the Allen’s report.

“The simple fact that you took the time to write two long emails to explain what happened and the action the PPB took shows all of us you care,” Harmon replied.

“While the specifics often get skewed by rumors or assumptions, the reality can’t be ignored,” he continued. “The rapid increase in unsavory behavior and random violence this spring in the North Park Blocks between West Burnside and Glisan is well documented and escalating at an alarming rate. It is to the point where we don’t feel safe walking to World Foods for groceries in broad daylight for fear of getting attacked, stabbed or shot.”

“We wish we could do more,” Allen replied. “Everyone deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood.

“That said, we also know that the root of the concerning problems you describe is not simple, and those problems cannot be solved through the criminal justice system alone.

“Thank you for being involved in your community and advocating with city, county and state leadership about your concerns.”

Storm Large’s new show, “Storm Large Makes it Home” just opened at Portland Center Stage at the Armory, where she belts out the musical numbers in her thunderous voice, which she calls her “face cannon.”

Everything is big about Large: the voice, the hands and the feelings.

Fittingly, Large’s 2009 one-woman show, “Crazy Enough,” was one of the biggest hits ever at Portland Center Stage. It was about growing up with a mentally ill mother, which was also the subject of her 2012 memoir of the same name.

Now it’s dad’s turn.

Large drags the audience with her as she sifts through dramatic, traumatic memories, portraying an often frantic quest for his (or anybody’s) love and acceptance. At one point, he abandons her with $20 to fend for herself. If it all feels like a live therapy session, I suppose it is.

Large combines her original songs with emotional storytelling and applies a stand-up’s timing. She leaves it all on stage, including at one point most of her clothes. Backed by her band, she roams barefoot along a simple stage design, reliving some of her worst moments.

Longtime Portlanders will recall her early years singing with Storm and the Balls. Maybe you caught her night cruises on the Portland Spirit. Or rooted for her on the reality TV show, “Rock Star: Supernova.” It was obvious to anyone she was born for the spotlight, with all its risks and rewards. Nowadays, she sings with Pink Martini. She’s mellowed a bit, but not much.

Large is a talented raconteur. She’s at her funniest when she makes jabs at herself, or takes down privileged mean girls or her dad’s girlfriend. Her material can be genuinely vulgar, which she finds hilarious, and therefore we forgive it.

Portland Center Stage’s season ticket holders get the first look at the show, but if her 2009 run is any indication, things could go on for a while. We could all use some of her therapy.

The completion of Darcelle XV Plaza will be celebrated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. on Thursday, June 18. A formal program runs from noon-12:45 p.m.

The event will include speakers, a live choir, snacks and refreshments.

The project began in 2023 with design work by Portland State University’s Center for Public Interest Design and NNA Landscape Architecture. Construction was by Portland Parks & Recreation and the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

The block was previously known as O’Bryant Square, and included an underground parking garage.

Baggu fans stormed opening day of the bag company’s first Portland shop, 2305 NW 23rd Ave.

A chicken pick-up window and Portland-themed mural are nearly complete at Dave’s Hot Chicken which is taking over the Santa Fe Taqueria space, 839 NW 23rd Ave.

Rivermark Credit Union will close its downtown branch, 12O SW Taylor St., on June 30.

Playdate PDX, 1434 NW 17th Ave., closed May 31.

Republica restaurant has reopened at 100 NW 10th Ave.

Azul Kitchen and Bar, 115 NW First Ave., will open this summer.

Bar Noto, inside of Studio Noto, has applied for a limited onsite liquor license, 1932 NW Lovejoy St.

By Fred Leeson

By acting in near-secrecy, planners charged with restoring the Abraham Lincoln statue in the South Parks have created an unexpected ruckus by deciding—several months ago—that Lincoln should be displaced from the original plinth and set at ground level.

The Portland Office of Arts and Culture and the Regional Arts & Culture Council made their decision last Dec. 18 and never announced it publicly. It also appears that the decision was made without any opportunity for public testimony of the fate of the historic statue.

“The plan is to place the statue on the ground, sited in front of its pedestal, and to its left as you face the pedestal from the north,” according to minutes of the Dec. 18 meeting. The minutes also assert that the statue, toppled by protesters in 2020, is supposed to be reinstalled this spring.

The proposed change for the statue’s future only became apparent recently when a preservation advocate made a request for public records. In general, objections to lowering Lincoln to the ground stem from the apparent effort to minimize his importance as a historical figure and a belief that sincere “preservation” requires the work to be restored to its original status.

“The toppling of Lincoln in October 2020 was an initial act of disrespect and lawlessness, and the permanent removal of Lincoln from his plinth is also a transparent act of disrespect,” says William J. Hawkins III, a leading Portland preservation expert who closely follows conditions surrounding Portland’s public artworks. He said the new plan was never mentioned in meetings with the planners in the intervening months. “We now see that they knew this plan would be met with rightful objections,” he added.

Letters are being sent to Mayor Keith Wilson and to Portland city councilors raising objections to the process. The Portland Historic Landmarks Commission on June 1 said it had not been notified of the plan and called for an explanation. The landmarks commission has no jurisdiction over the statue because it was toppled before the South Parks Blocks was admitted to the National Register of Historic Places. However, the statue, if returned to its original placement, could be added to the National Register district as a contributing element.

Ironically, a proposal from a landscape architecture firm consulting on placement of the statue said it believed that the decision was “informed by an extensive community engagement process that has already occurred.” Where and when that engagement process occurred is an interesting question, and likely will be probed by the landmarks commission.

Wherever Lincoln ultimately lands, he is to be joined by a sign “contextualizing information on Lincoln’s legacy and impact on Oregon,” according to minutes of the Dec. 18 meeting of the Regional Arts & Culture Council. While the council stated its belief that placing Lincoln at ground level would make him more accessible to viewers, the council apparently did not address the greater potential of intentional or accidental damage at ground level.

You can join NW Examiner contributing author Fred Leeson's Building on History email list by writing “add me” to faroverpar463@gmail.com.

The policy prioritizes a service-first approach, offering alternatives before any citations or arrests are made. Citations may be issued if a camper refuses to accept a shelter space, but citations alone don’t mean much.

Central Precinct bike cop Eli Arnold explained how the system works to some neighbors in Couch Park last week:

“There are people who have been cited eight or nine times for it. All they have to do to get out of it is say, ‘All right, I’ll go to a shelter.’ They just have to say they’ll go.”

Those who refuse to even express such intent can still skirt penalties, Arnold said.

“The way it’s written—so specific—someone can show up within 30 days and say, “Oh, I went to a shelter a couple of weeks ago, one time,’ and they drop it.”

Arnold is again running for a District 4 council seat in November after narrowly missing the threshold two years ago to be elected to one of the three seats representing Portland’s westside.

The Pearl District Culinary Farmers Market is off to a good start, drawing about 2,000 visitors to its first day on June 7.

“It exceeded every expectation,” said Bruce Studer, president of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association. “This is more than a market; it’s a reflection of the energy, creativity and community spirit that make the Pearl District special.”

Sales obviously exceeded the expectations of some vendors, some of whom ran out of merchandise halfway through the 10 a.m.-2 p.m. time slot.

“Vendors loved it,” Studer said.

The market continues every Sunday through Sept. 27.

The June 14 market features a demonstration by Andina chef Andrew Dunleavy.

“We wanted to create a place where people can discover something new, connect with the people behind their food,” said Kimiko Matsuda, executive producer of the market.

The city’s online survey regarding funding for Moda Center upgrades is a push poll, designed to influence views under the guise of an opinion poll.

Take the survey and see for yourself. Readers first read this piece of boosterism:

“Every year, the Moda Center attracts 1.5 million visitors to 150 events and generates $600 million for the local economy. It also supports thousands of jobs.”

Participants are then asked to rank the importance of benefits of the project:

• Make Portland a top destination for sports, concerts and events.

• Stimulate the economy by providing living-wage jobs and support local businesses.

• Protect the city’s assets by updating structural, technology and operating systems.

• Keep the Trail Blazers in Portland.

• Leverage committed public dollars from the state of Oregon toward the project.

• Seek additional private dollars toward the project.

• Community benefits, like good jobs, public transportation, affordable access, neighborhood development, public spaces and the right to unionize.

• Provide an anchor for the future redevelopment of the lower Albina neighborhood.

• (Nowhere is there a place to rank the negative effects of the deal.)

You get the drift. Fortunately, Blazer fans and tech professionals Edan Krolewicz and Jonathan Pulvers are presenting another side at ripcitynotripoff.com.

Take the survey, join a city-sponsored pop-up tour from 3-4:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 14 at Waterfront Park by the Salmon Springs Fountain, and read materials on the “Rip City, Not Rip Off” website.

Then let your city councilors know what you think. Their plan to vote on a $120 million city contribution to the project is set for Aug. 12.

By 1:15 p.m. on a recent Sunday, Raymond Wade had made about $100 from people passing by his orange upright piano, parked on this day on the corner of Northwest 12th and Couch. His shift has only begun, and there were still throngs of people having a big brunch at the nearby Screen Door. If his luck continues, they might stroll past afterwards and feel like dropping a dollar in his bucket.

When he’s done making street music for the day, Ray puts the piano on his longboard and rolls it back to his Pearl apartment. His kids’ names, Nathaniel and Savanah, are painted on the front. The faded tattoos on his hands and arms hint at a hard life. Another favorite corner is Northwest 11th Avenue near Portland Center Stage. When he lived downtown, he often played near the Safeway on Southwest Jefferson Street.

Self-taught, he plays by ear following along to a perched iPhone that’s set to YouTube. He favors light classical music and says he won’t play any “hard rock or violent stuff” even if people request it. On this day, I heard Debussy’s “Claire de Lune” and the “How to Train Your Dragon” theme song.

With a cheek-to-cheek smile Ken Unkeles tells us, modestly, that he prefers to think small. One might argue with that. After all, how many people do you know who would take the time, effort and considerable money to transform 62,000 square feet of nearly abandoned Northwest Portland industrial space into studio space for 75 artists — and in the process update the purpose and name of Northwest Marine Ironworks to Northwest Marine Art Works?

Besides making machinery for the timber industry, the ironworks company made parts for some iconic Northwest projects such as Portland’s Steel Bridge and the Bonneville Dam.

The company made parts for some colossal international marvels too, such as the Aswan Dam in Egypt. And Northwest Marine Ironworks also played a part in building the infamous Exxon Valdez oil tanker. That was the 987-foot long ship which ran aground in 1989, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

By the time Unkeles bought the buildings in the early 1990s, the heyday of Northwest Marine Ironworks was long over and the hodgepodge of buildings was almost entirely empty.

In 2014, Unkeles got a seemingly crazy idea. He decided to turn 14 of his 15 buildings into studio space for artists. He’d pulled off similar renovations before, though on a smaller scale, with about a dozen other Portland buildings.

Unkeles also thought it might be interesting to document the process.

Enter David Poulshock, a longtime Portland avant-garde filmmaker who’d been renting space from Unkeles in a different building. Unkeles reached out.

Unkeles recalls he had something simple in mind, maybe a nice little 10-minute video about transforming his old building. “In my mind, I saw that fast frame thing, a time lapse where you see walls go up. That’s all I was thinking about.”

Clearly the businessman had never worked with an independent filmmaker before. Unkeles thought about the physical work involved in the renovation project. Poulshock, however, was already thinking on an entirely different wavelength. The film he had in mind had little to do with walls coming down and going up, but rather with space, place, art, time, life and transformation.

The filmmaker with lightning-white hair remembers his first conversation with Unkeles: “The plan was we’re going to document the construction and whatever, trials and tribulations. We’re going to document the artist moving in and then there’s going to be some kind of celebration and we’d shoot that. And then Tim moved in and everything changed.”

Tim would be Tim Stapleton. The late Portland painter unexpectedly became ‘the film’s heart and soul. Stapleton had already been diagnosed with ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, when Poulshock met him. Stapleton died in 2020 before the film was finished.

Inspired by Stapleton, Poulshock’s documentary film tells a profoundly human story — about an artist’s desire to create until the end of his life. The film chronicles Stapleton’s increasing physical limitations over time and his unwavering will to paint, even when he lay in bed, able only to instruct his assistant via Facetime on how he wanted her to apply paint to canvas.

Stapleton’s life and death and Poulshock’s philosophical mind — or as Poulshock likes to say “my jazzed out mind” — and six different cameras combine to tell a story about the meaning of life and art. The NW Examiner recently viewed a rough cut of the film, which was still being edited.

Poulshock asks the existential questions, “So the film’s question became, why make art? Why make this film? Why make anything if we’re all just going to die? … And the meditation on the meaning of art is sort of a meditation on the meaning of life and how to live and art is a way that we bring meaning to life, which is also how we bring meaning to space, which is what a place is.”

Poulshock pauses our conversation for a moment, then looks me straight in the eyes, and asks me a question, “Is that just way too esoteric?”

So yes, the film is esoteric and existential, but it’s also offbeat, even wacky at times. There are scenes in which jazz musicians set up shop in the still largely-empty Northwest Marine Ironworks and improvise on drums, keyboards and horns. It’s jarring, discordant and captivating. In one scene, Poulshock himself rides across the screen on a skateboard.

Unkeles hasn’t yet seen the film. Does he think the final cut will be what he originally expected? “No. God no.” Another one of those broad smiles crosses his face, then he quickly lets us know that he decided early on to just get out of Poulshock’s way.

The trailer (above) gives you an idea of Poulshock’s vision. One reviewer called the film a “disruptive meditation.” Another called it a “fever dream.”

More than a decade after Unkeles and Poulshock first discussed making a short video, the almost 2-hour long film — the final cut is still a work in progress — premieres in Portland this Friday, June 12 at Tomorrow Theatre, 3530 SE Division St.

Friday’s film is sold out, but a second screening has been scheduled for Friday, July 31 at Northwest Marine Art Works. Tickets are available here.

• Learn more about David Poulshock and his work

• The NW Examiner report on the recent Northwest Marine Art Works open studios

Today I am announcing that I am running for Multnomah County chair.

I really didn’t want to run for this office. Having stood for election before, I know firsthand how broken our electoral system is. The race for money, institutional endorsements and power too often prevents us from forging the consensus necessary to actually get things done.

But I care very much about getting things done. And I care very much about the people of our county and the work of county government — mental health and addiction, homeless services, public safety.

Six months ago, I publicly posted a comprehensive plan to turn Multnomah County around — you can see it here — the product of a year spent with experts, community leaders, business owners, and people using and delivering county services. It does what no one else has done this century: provides an actual roadmap for making Multnomah County work for the people it is meant to serve. Not generic talking points, but specific, achievable and measurable goals, with money and accountability tied to outcomes.

I have said repeatedly that if another candidate showed a genuine understanding of what the county needs — and a real commitment to a viable plan, whether mine or their own — I would support them. Instead, I’ve seen the opposite.

The two sitting commissioners running for chair seem more interested in being elected than doing the job. Neither has offered so much as a basic outline of how things would actually change if they got elected. Their campaigns have largely consisted of criticism of the status quo without a plan for replacing it.

My tipping point came Friday with the adoption of the FY 2027 budget, after the board debated piecemeal amendments until 1 a.m. without coalescing around common principles or anything resembling a comprehensive agenda.

When presented with a budget that embodies everything wrong with county government — spending disconnected from outcomes, accountability disconnected from performance, decisions disconnected from any larger strategy — one candidate voted for it, one voted against it. But neither confronted the lack of a plan that allowed it. They voted based on what they individually achieved out of the last minute negotiations, playing the same game, by the same rules.

A budget without a plan is just spending. And without a plan, the people of our county once again lost.

I know Multnomah County can do far better—while spending less. The people who depend on county government deserve leaders willing to do more than manage decline.

So I’ve decided to do what I hoped I would not have to do: run for Multnomah County chair. I already have a roadmap for change that can be implemented starting Day One.

Now that I am running, I call on every candidate in this race to create and share a detailed Multnomah plan — with goals, timelines, budgets and accountability measures — so we can debate what we would each actually do, and voters can then make informed decisions about how to move our county forward.

The beauty of ranked-choice voting is that candidates don’t have to run against each other. We can run for something. I am running for a Multnomah County that delivers effective homelessness and mental health services, restores public trust, measures success honestly, and is accountable for results.

I am entering this election to change Multnomah County — not merely change the name on the door of the chair’s office.

From 2017-2025, Sharon Meieran served as a Multnomah County commissioner representing District 1, which includes downtown and Northwest Portland.

“She is a stand-up comedian, every line was fast and funny,” said Jackie Lowthian. “She joked about being gay, about retirement homes, and she accused people of cheating at Bingo.”

One thing Ms. Waters has learned as a performer, she says, is “to be a person, not just a personality. Leading with kindness and curiosity have helped me greatly these past 38 years.”

Ms. Waters ran into with former teachers and a counselor from Parkrose High School at the event.

“It was a great surprise,” she said of the encounter. “Although I see former Parkrose staff and alumni often around Portland.”

“Entertaining seniors is inspiring and enlightening,” she continued. “They have a different appreciation of the art of drag. I enjoy their curiosity about the whys and hows.”

On June 17, Poison Waters returns to the Watermark to speak in a continuing learning series. She’ll share more stories about her life journey, coming out and becoming Poison Waters.

It took years for the Sunshine Division to find a place to serve folks closer to downtown Portland. They finally have. The building at 2121 NW Front Ave. covers about 20,000 square feet — almost half an acre under one roof — and officially opens on Tuesday, June 9, at 9 a.m.

It will be open 5 days a week. Visit the Sunshine Division’s website for hours.

The Sunshine Division serves families, seniors, students, those on the Oregon Health Plan and anyone in the Portland metropolitan area who can’t afford to buy enough food for themselves or their families.

The new building combines Sunshine Division’s former North Thompson Street pantry with a warehouse in Wilsonville. Currently, the Sunshine Division is helping roughly 85,000 households. Executive Director Kyle Camberg expects that number to reach 100,000 in the next year. Rising gas and grocery prices, and the high cost of health care and housing are eating away at people’s wages. Some clients have also lost some of their SNAP benefits.

Camberg says the new pantry “was designed with the clients in mind.”

It is right by TriMet’s number 16 bus line. And there is parking and a loading dock and other must-have amenities that the Sunshine Division never had at its North Portland location.

That disjointed structure, nearly 100 years old, was originally built as a machine shop. The Sunshine Division took the place over in the 1970s. Through some unconventional makeshift efforts and workarounds over the years, the social service agency ably turned the building into a food pantry for shopping and food boxes.

The North Thompson building, however, never really fit the bill. Staff and volunteers had to jerry-rig doors to make the place work for clients in need.

However, about two years ago, the Sunshine Division closed the North Thompson pantry because of safety concerns for staff and volunteers. One time, a man broke through a glass door, threatening staff. (Disclosure: I volunteered there for several years before it closed down.)

Even before those incidents, the staff had been looking for a new building. It is not easy to locate a social service agency that needs a massive amount of storage space, with loading docks for quick deliveries, racking for food storage and floor-to-ceiling cold storage.

Also essential: the new Northwest pantry needed to be on a bus line and offer parking for clients with cars. The new location on Northwest Front Avenue checked all the boxes.

The shopping should be quick and easy. Most clients will be in and out in 15-20 minutes, meaning people will be able to go about their day without creating a traffic bottleneck in the neighborhood.

Staff and volunteers should also find their jobs more efficient. There is space for client check-in, and it will be easy for staff and volunteers to serve clients, whether quickly restocking shelves or helping with recipes and meal plans.

Sunshine Division Development Director Dana Kinney told the NW Examiner that she surveyed clients to find out what they wanted and needed in the new pantry. There will now also be more cultural and religious food options when possible.

The Northwest pantry is opening just in time for summer. Camberg says food pantries see a spike in need during the summer months when school is out. Free meals for students end when school is out.

The new warehouse and pantry is entirely funded by private donations and receives no federal or state money. Camberg says the building cost $11.75 million to purchase, and although they reached 83% of their fundraising goal, they are still looking for contributions to cover their remaining costs.

The Sunshine Division says it needs more food for its new pantry and is asking the public to hold food drives or to make cash donations. They could also use more volunteers for the new facility. For information, visit the Sunshine Division online.

The market operates by appointment, and community members can schedule a visit https://sunshinedivision.org/appointments/

The Eastside Sunshine Division pantry at 12436 SE Stark St. remains open.

The bicycle parking alcoves at Asa Flats + Lofts, 1200 NW Marshall St., were finally enclosed on May 30 after years of inertia involving the city of Portland and the building’s Chicago-based management company.

The alcoves have been long-known to attract squatters, garbage and drug activity, but the city ordered earlier fencing removed because it blocked 14 bike parking stalls, leading to fines and substantial permitting costs that STYL Residential found “too cost prohibitive” last December.

“For reasons that I don’t understand (likely to do with profitability),” wrote Tracy Nistler of Portland Permitting and Development, “the Asa seems to not want to act in any way to fix the problems on their perimeter. So frustrating for the entire neighborhood.”

“In light of the homeless crisis and its impact on ground-floor retail,” Pearl District Neighborhood Association Shelter Oversight Committee Chair Linda Witt wrote in April 2024, “it seemed a bit tone-deaf for the city to single-mindedly punish businesses that took initiatives (and spent their own money) to successfully reduce the impact of the lingering homeless crisis on their residential tenants and their retail businesses.”

There is a principle deeper than politics at work in Portland’s public safety crisis: A city owes its people the reasonable assurance that when they call 911, someone will come.

Right now, Portland isn’t meeting that obligation.

The situation, plainly stated

Portland fields roughly 800 sworn officers to serve a city of more than 650,000 residents, or about 1.2 per 1,000 residents, the lowest staffing level in roughly 35 years, despite the city adding 175,000 residents during that time. That places us 47th out of the 50 largest U.S. cities, far below the national average of 2.4 per 1,000 residents.

The consequences aren’t abstract: Average response times for high-priority 911 calls have more than doubled since 2019, reaching 20 minutes citywide and even longer in outer neighborhoods. Homicides remain more than twice their pre-2020 levels.

And now, facing a $160 million budget gap, the city proposes to cut $21.7 million more from the Police Bureau, including 34 of 40 unarmed civilian support specialists who handle lower-priority calls that sworn officers never reach. As Police Chief Bob Day warned plainly, you don’t solve a staffing crisis by cutting staff.

The money is already there

Here is where the situation crosses from difficult into indefensible.

When Portland voters approved the Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund in 2018, its proponents told them the measure would “bring in $30 million every single year to clean-energy projects.” Today the fund pulls in roughly $200 million annually, nearly seven times what voters were promised, and has accumulated a surplus of approximately $920 million, hundreds of millions of it unallocated. Portlanders didn’t vote for a slush fund. They voted for a climate program. What they got was both, and no one asked them which other city priorities should benefit.

This fund has already been quietly redirected to the transportation bureau, city employees and the general fund. The mayor has suggested tapping it for MODA Center renovations. A May 2026 poll found 64% of Portland voters support using the surplus for core services like police, fire and parks.

The money isn’t missing. The rules are.

What the initiative would do

The Enhanced Community Safety Initiative would establish a city policy of 2.0 officers per 1,000 residents. While still below the national average, this would stabilize emergency response and restore community policing capacity. It would fund this by dedicating 25% of existing PCEF revenue, or roughly $50 million annually, to hiring and training police officers. The remaining 75% remains available for climate work. No new taxes. No either/or.

It also pairs funding with real accountability: benchmarks for response times, crime trends and public confidence. This is a proposal with measurable outcomes, not a blank check.

Who bears cost of inaction?

Lengthy emergency-response times are not merely performance metrics. They have real-world consequences for residents, businesses and neighborhoods. The human cost of under-policing falls hardest on the people with the least ability to insulate themselves from crime—those who can’t afford to move to safer zip codes, hire private security or absorb a burglary without financial devastation.

Outer Portland neighborhoods already endure the longest response times. They are disproportionately home to working-class families and communities of color. If a fund created in the name of climate equity is generating almost seven times the revenue voters were told, resulting in a huge surplus while public safety is being cut, something has gone wrong—not just financially but morally.

There’s also a quieter loss worth naming. The freedom to walk your neighborhood at night, to run a small business without daily property crime or to let your kids use the park. These are everyday liberties that have eroded so gradually that many Portlanders have simply stopped expecting them. Safe streets are the infrastructure of ordinary life. When that infrastructure crumbles, it’s not felt equally.

Question of democratic legitimacy

Supporters and opponents disagree about how PCEF revenues should be used, what staffing levels Portland needs and how public safety should be funded.

What should be less controversial is the value of allowing those disagreements to be resolved through democratic processes. Oregon’s initiative system exists so citizens can place major policy questions before voters. If supporters gather enough signatures, Portland residents will have the opportunity to decide this issue directly.

The PCEF is already being redirected—to PBOT and other general fund services—incrementally, without voter authorization. Putting a structured, accountable reallocation on the November ballot isn’t a threat to the fund’s mission. It’s how democratic legitimacy gets restored rather than further eroded.

Need not be certain to sign

Portlanders want safe neighborhoods, environmental progress, accountable government and emergency responders who actually arrive. The challenge isn’t choosing which of those values matters. It’s deciding how to balance them when resources are limited and priorities compete.

That’s what this initiative debate is about, and that debate belongs to voters, not to the City Council alone.

The campaign needs 41,000 signatures by July 2. That window is closing fast. Sign now and help collect signatures from your neighbors.

If you’re not sure, signing the petition doesn’t commit you to a yes vote. It commits you to the principle that this question is worth a public debate, and that Portlanders, not City Hall, should have the final word.

Whatever one’s position on the initiative itself, the underlying questions about public safety, fiscal priorities and democratic accountability are significant enough to warrant serious public discussion.

If this makes sense to you, sign the petition at https://www.saferportland.com.

Actor Liam Neeson narrates the 45-minute film, which features Wild Salmon Center director Guido Rahr angling in the wild. It includes powerful footage of a mama bear hunting salmon in a creek, then shaking off her fur and feeding her cubs. There is awe-inspiring underwater photography and aerial shots of an American bald eagle soaring over pristine rivers.

Previously located in the Pearl’s EcoTrust building, The Wild Salmon Center is an international conservation group with offices in industrial Northwest Portland. Their environmental work extends to many different rivers across the Pacific Rim.

Former Gov. John Kitzhaber introduced the film at a recent premiere. Gov. Tina Kotek and Salmon Center supporter Jane Bebe both showed up to support healthy rivers and salmon. In the lobby, a fisherman gave fly tying demonstrations while coastal artist Duncan Berry made fish rubbings using the gyotake method, a Japanese folk art. 137 species, including humans, depend on salmon.

The film is currently showing at OMSI.

We are now posting the latest edition of the newspaper on our home page. See the paper as print edition readers have been doing for 40 years. Also, you can click on any ad and go directly to the business’s website.

View June newspaper

I have never pretended to cover state or even city news comprehensively. But my hyperlocal gaze keeps catching flashes of the bigger picture.

I have had a front-row seat as Portland’s harm-reduction absolutists are being exposed in a way that could tip the Oregon governor’s race. Republican nominee Christine Drazan has been working with a cohort of residents mobilized around the drug paraphernalia handouts that went on at Northwest 19th and Burnside streets for several years. Their concerns did not even command the agendas of the two affected neighborhood associations, yet the whole state may be paying attention to this saga by November.

An unabashedly anarchist group called Portland Peoples Outreach Project had been handing out syringes, pipes, hygiene products and snacks near the McDonald’s on West Burnside for about a decade, drawing throngs of drug users who in turn attracted drug dealers. People shooting up in plain view, sprawled out bodies blocking the sidewalk and frequent mental health episodes—all amid campsites and piles of garbage—were only half of the story.

Drug dealers who found the lawless pocket ideal for their purposes acted to see that their marketplace was not disrupted, which neighbors were doing by protesting and drawing news coverage.

Turf warfare involves intimidating citizens so they do not call the police or interfere with illegal activities.

A Stadiumhood Neighbors woman was threatened by groups of masked hoodlums taunting her with chilling reminders that they knew where she lived.

Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez saw a KPTV news clip last year and went on air, declaring that his entire staff was outraged upon seeing video of threats and intimidation against neighbors of this hot spot.

“That particular piece—that upset me,” Vasquez said. “No person should be harassed or threatened in any manner.”

Viewers of any political affiliation would have found the scene upsetting, but state Sen. Lisa Reynolds had another concern: Limiting these no-rules needle handouts would put a crimp on anyone engaged in “harm reduction,” an approach addressing the secondary health consequences of used needles.

This practice has wide acceptance in the medical profession and among local social agencies, but studies they rely upon assume qualified providers endeavoring to move addicts toward treatment. PPOP, which moved its 19th Avenue distribution spot to the Pearl District this year, takes no measures to promote recovery. Its core tenet is that everyone has the right to decide what they put into their own bodies without outside judgment. Needless to say, PPOP does no outreach to the neighborhood residents that it impacts.

There may be a division of opinion as to whether harm reduction has its place, but reckless operations such as PPOP are not something a mainstream politician would be expected to defend.

However, District 17 state Sen. Lisa Reynolds put off Stadiumhood Neighbors and their hyper-local partners, Friends of Couch Park, for three years as the situation stewed. The only elected official willing to take them seriously was Drazan, the senator from Canby who is again running for governor.

Reynolds could have known Drazan was interested in the statewide implications of a story pitting caretaking neighbors against drug dealers terrorizing them. But Reynolds controlled the path proposed legislation had to travel, and she saw a threat to harm reduction practices anywhere as a threat to harm reduction practices everywhere.

“It would have done away with harm reduction,” she said.

Never mind that the bill would only have applied to mobile distribution sites and then only near schools.

Asked to explain her dire prediction, she told the Examiner, “If you draw a 2,000-foot radius around every school and preschool, I suspect there’d be very few corners left in Portland where harm reduction supplies could be distributed from a mobile service.”

Neighbors and Sen. Drazan were willing to reduce the radius to 1,000 feet, but Reynolds’ feet were planted. She killed the bill in her committee without exploring such modifications.

Was the end of harm reduction an exaggeration?

“That’s fair, but it certainly would have eliminated mobile distribution of harm reduction supplies,” she told the Examiner after re-election to her senate seat last month. “So that’s a valid point.”

The senator may be more conciliatory now, and she is advocating for a Multnomah County licensing system for mobile harm reduction suppliers. But she and her party may be asked again and again why they took the side of illegal drug consumption and its enablers against the good neighbors when it mattered.

Farmers markets are hubs, said PDNA president Bruce Studer, where people can connect with each other.

The new market will debut this Sunday on NW 13th Avenue, between Everett and Glisan, where Mediterranean Exploration Company, Andina and Jenken restaurants are clustered. Hours are 10-2 and the market will run every Sunday through September.

What sets this market apart from others?

“It’s a different experience—it’s more of a culinary and lifestyle market,” said Kimiko Matsuda, the connector who pulled the market to life.

The parts include farmers, hot food vendors and live music.

A mobile stage with full audio and visual features will be a centerpiece. Pro tips from local chefs will be shared from the stage, and kitchen demos can be viewed from an overhead camera.

Portland soul singer and songwriter Tahirah Memory will perform Sunday, June 7, at about noon.

Sisters Coffee will brew coffee and sell fresh pastries.

Tents and shaded areas will tame the summer sun.

A special license allows samples of beer, cider and wine as well as bottle purchase to go. The Pearl District’s new Spin the Bottle vinyl and wine shop will play a part, as well as the Willamette Valley Wine Association.

The Joinery will be there with cutting boards, and a local chef knife purveyor has committed to at least two of the markets.

There will be some newcomers, such as a Lake Oswego bakery that makes a killer sourdough bread, Matsuda said.

Matsuda and Studer made the rounds of all the farmers markets recruiting chefs and makers from across the city’s diverse food culture.

“We’re talking to vendors, we’re getting referrals to chefs. We’re in deep conversation. Bruce and I have been to PSU, Beaverton, Portland Bazaar, Vancouver, Montavilla and Hillsdale farmers markets.”

Because Sundays are typically a day of rest for farmers and service industry workers, asking them to add a day took powers of persuasion.

Cafe manager Jenae Kaldunksi said being a part of city life and the Pearl’s rebound is key. When asked to be involved she said, “Absolutely. Let’s go.”

The Re-Ignite the Pearl Town Hall at the Armory in April lit a fire.

“If there’s any way we can be a part of the community and come together over hospitality and help chefs and restaurants at the same time—yes,” Kaldunski said.

“We also want to bring people into the neighborhood from other parts of town,” said Matsuda, a fashion, food and culture promoter who bills herself as a community engagement strategist.

Andina, Sesame Collective, Papi Chulo’s and Pamana, the Filipino restaurant inside the Hoxton Hotel, will be part of the market. Pal’s, the Haydn Island restaurant that also runs Suttle Lake Lodge, is also onboard.

“It’s an ecosystem,” Matsuda said. “We’re lifting each other up.”

She gives high praise to the work of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association for moving quickly to make this happen.

“This is the most action-oriented group I’ve ever worked with,” she said.

The market will be open every Sunday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., through September on Northwest 13th Avenue between Everett and Glisan streets.