A month or two ago I saw someone post on Instagram asking for leads on buying a cheap used car. Being the insufferable person I am, I slid into their DMs and suggested they think about an e-bike instead. And guess what! They just told me they did! To me this is a big win
The Safeway on 18th in Eugene is not only my favorite place in town, but it’s on my list of best places in the world. You never know what will happen there, but it’s always awesome. It’s pure chaos distilled. This is not a joke
So physically I’m fine but after experiencing the French healthcare system I am honestly emotionally destroyed. When the doctor sent me away without a bill I almost started crying (he looked at me like I was a little crazy). Idk about this whole “USA” thing you guys
Was waiting at Walgreens and a woman ran in breathlessly demanding the pharmacist give her something for her “altitude sickness” bc she’s from AZ and isn’t used to the elevation here. Argued with confused pharmacist until he just gave up and suggested Airborne
Many of the key people responsible for making important decisions about TriMet don’t actually ride the system. At least, they didn’t last year. Thanks to one dogged transit advocate willing to fight TriMet over public records law, we now have the data.
Being part of the famous
@CoachBalto
#bikebus
today was so amazing! I couldn’t believe how many kids were waiting at each stop to join the group. This is truly a joyous thing happening in Portland right now.
Eight people in their “late teens and early 20s” all overdosed yesterday morning in the proximity of a playground in the North Park Blocks.
All evidence points to them having believed they were consuming cocaine. It was not cocaine.
The next time you want to talk shit about TriMet, consider this: I just saw two MAX operators blowing kisses to each other as their trains went in opposite directions
One of my most nuclear takes is that gyms should not exist. If people had to exercise outside they would be radicalized against car culture. If you must lift weights, join a construction crew and contribute to the greater good of society
Construction workers building the new Benson HS have a message for Portland Public Schools during the teachers' strike:
"We aren’t gonna build this thing if [PPS] doesn't meet their demands."
@hausofcherri
@LukeMones
literally it's like "kids your dad may die today, also we have a new baby and we're getting a divorce" and then they just sit down at breakfast and eat pancakes for like two hours
Today is my one year anniversary of living in Portland, aka the best city in the world. I am almost disgustingly obsessed with this place and the people who live here and I will continue to be for as long as I live!
Stumbled upon a MAX vs streetcar crash at NE 7th and Holladay just now. I hear two people have been transported with minor injuries. Looks like the area will be blocked off for a while.
If u had told me a year ago I would one day bike almost 70 miles to and from Portland and Multnomah Falls in one day I would’ve LAUGHED and LAUGHED. But I guess things change!
Big crowd at Portland City Hall this morning as people rally against city commissioners promoting an overhaul of the voter-approved charter reform measure.
@portlandmercury
Massive crowd at tonight’s
@pdxteachers
rally outside PPS HQ, where the school board is meeting. This photo does not do the size of the rally justice.
“We’ve already won, it’s just making sure that they know it.” -Angela Bonilla
Sorry this happened to you and your family. But we must end this insane cycle of mutually assured destruction by SUV. Your child may be safer in a big car, but what about the kid crossing the street who you can’t see from your tower behind the steering wheel? Hate this
Ignore this at your own risk.
Do not put your family in a small car.
Yesterday, my wife was driving my son to school and an oncoming delivery truck crossed the center lane and hit her head on — the driver had a seizure was going 40 mph.
I was on my way to work in a separate
Ok I don’t know if this is really controversial. But as Oregonians are posting about how we have the worst air quality in the world (and don’t get me wrong it sucks), I am thinking...who had the worst air quality in the world last week? Why didn’t we care about them?
Just saw a comment in r/Portland recommending a newcomer to town read the Mercury and BikePortland. The comment had almost 400 upvotes! And no snarky replies! Is there a vibe shift on the horizon?
S/o to board member Tyler Frisbee, who tapped her Hop card 361 times. TriMet GM Sam Desue, Jr. is also a real TriMet rider (as he should be) racking up 363 taps on his ID card last year.
If you’ve ever worked a low-paying service job, you’d know how it exhausts you and strips away creative energy. U work so hard and make so little $$. $15 an hour would be a start in allowing people to think about something besides survival, which = “capitalist innovation”
Started my new job today as a reporter for
@portlandmercury
! Very excited to keep covering the Portland transportation beat and add some new stuff to the mix as well. HMU: tgriggs
@portlandmercury
.com
Every doctor and nurse i met was an angel on earth. Even when we couldn’t understand each other which was the majority of the time. And I think I managed to pick up a little French
Had a great conversation with breakout Twitter star
@calebsaysthings
: (but I’m still waiting on more of the inside scoop about Jonathan from marketing 😭)
I could report on transportation in Portland for 1,000 years and never fully comprehend the sheer amount of Zoomers with TriMet fan Twitter profiles. The lore here runs deeper than the Pacific Ocean.
Big crowd outside
@SenJeffMerkley
’s office in downtown PDX this afternoon - hundreds of people asking the Oregon senator to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. This is one of several protests for Palestine held in Portland over the last several weeks.
@portlandmercury
I always expect people see me as a dogmatic ideologue when they’re often a lot more open to change than I give them credit for. So I should prob change my thinking around this
Absolutely NO complaining about the rain will be tolerated this year. Everyone who is not jumping for joy with gratitude about this soggy weather is cancelled
Big crowd at City Hall today for the
@PortlandStrike
. Youth from across Portland will march this afternoon for climate action. Stay tuned for updates!
@portlandmercury
Hard to say exactly what happened but it appears that someone driving a car without valid plates drove into the crowd and may have sprayed mace. (Pepper spray was definitely in the air, just not sure where it came from.) the car is now…no more
At least 75% of the AC units given to low-income Portlanders have been energy-efficient heat pumps/coolers. They use much less energy than traditional ACs. Hope this helps
So, even as utility companies in the PNW urge people to curb their AC use (threatening power blackouts if people use too much, even though the law requires utilities to maintain enough supply to meet demand), the government is handing out "free" (paid for by working citizens) air
I think this video of a
#vanlife
TikToker talking about the “dark and heavy” energy she sensed in Portland (due to homelessness, duh) during her three day visit here is what will finally send me over the edge. Any remaining sanity I once possessed is gone.
Just arrived at PSU to take over coverage for the
@portlandmercury
. Large crowd still in standoff with PPB cops near SW Hall and Park. Some people chanting, most are milling around.
@keithzi
@itssspencer
@vinn_ayy
It’s just that the first season was so fucking good. It’s really hard to beat that. And they went a little off the rails
My 90-yo grandma, who may or may not have ever ridden a bike in her life, is now networking with Phoenix-area bicyclists on my behalf and telling me whenever she sees a new piece of bike infrastructure in her city 😭❤️
At this point next year, there will be nary a Portlander left who isn’t running for some kind of political office. We are turning into some indie version of D.C. and everyone should be afraid.
Multnomah County commissioners will discuss and vote on a resolution to call for a cease-fire in Gaza at their board meeting this morning. The board room is currently packed with pro-Palestine activists.
@portlandmercury
Every state in America has a fentanyl problem, but only Oregon has decriminalized drugs and sent hundreds of millions in legal-weed tax dollars to organizations that are trying to heal people.
@jackholmes0
writes:
I should clarify, as I just did in the story, that the data only includes ID card taps. It’s possible that board members are using another method to pay for their transit rides, and I would be happy to hear them out if that is the case.
@hwhouston1
From Justin Herbert to the judgemental pharmacists, an entire frat, your meanest professor from four years ago w his kid, two cashiers screaming at a customer: these are all people you can expect to see at this Safeway
🚨INSPIRATIONAL STORY ALERT🚨: A year ago today, I stepped into the Chicago Tribune office, my cheeks flushed by the Windy City’s winter air. Though 2020 threw us all some curveballs (to say the least 🤣), I, for one, am now EXTREMELY successful.*
*moved back home, unemployed
Journalists need to come up with a better way to refer to this website. Because “X (formerly known as Twitter)” is really not cutting it and is actually pissing me off to a degree I didn’t know was possible.
Portland’s “public intellectuals” (if we have something like that) seem to be incapable of imagination and it’s hurting all of us. Most local news stuck rehashing same things over and over again to appease suburbanites who are addicted to complaining. We need something new
Portland: People should drive less, tolls, fewer parking spots & new meter surcharges = good.
Also Portland: Bike lanes & MUPs covered in trash, broken glass & debris; bike chop-shops operate in the wide open; bus drivers stabbed/assaulted; smoking drugs on MAX = routine delays
I look forward to everyone who manufactured outrage about Measure 110 finding something else to farm for clicks. Genuinely, I’m not sure what some of you will be able to talk about now.
So…tomorrow is my last day at
@BikePortland
. It has been so amazing to cover the world’s best bike scene for the world’s best source of bike news. Thx a million to
@Jonathan_Maus
and all of BP’s wonderful readers and supporters. 💙🚲 (Will have more to share soon 👀)
Emotions are high at this morning’s press conference about traffic deaths in Portland, hosted by
@CommMapps
. One bike activist is doing a “die-in” in front of City Hall.
There aren't any facts to back this up, but the talk along Vancouver's waterfront is that people are picking it over downtown Portland when it comes to dining out.
I have spoken to many people while reporting for
@StreetRoots
about why these types of shelter requirements are dangerous for homeless people. They use the idea of humanitarianism as a guise to try to force people to go places they don’t want to go.
Proposed metro ballot initiative would require safe shelters for everyone, enforcement of public camping laws. See the attached release for more details.
#PeopleforPortland
Portland's wealthiest and most powerful people are also the most resistant to bike infrastructure improvements—but a local narrative persists that those who bike for transportation are somehow elitist and out of touch. Hmmm...
The Portland Metro Chamber is mounting a last-minute campaign to kill the
@PBOTinfo
SW 4th Avenue project, saying it's nothing more than a "wasteful... $20 million bike lane"
The “Park In” on Outer Division has begun. Only one person, the organizer (
@PDXFPI
), parked in the bus lane so far. Several counter-protesters are on the scene.
From the way you hear about heat pumps and induction stovetops these days, you'd think people are actually out here owning homes! (But for real what are you supposed to do if you're a renter and don't want to keep paying for gas utilities???)
Met an American woman living in Amsterdam who lived in Portland for a while. She said “Amsterdam is like Portland…*whispers* without all the homeless people.” 🙄🙄 can’t escape it even 5000 miles away!!
@JillZiessler
@baddanadanabad
Ok, but then don’t use gender essentialist language when describing them. Of course people can choose what makes them comfortable. But making blanket statements about male obgyns inherently being creepy is reductive and a sad way to look at the world.
*I* was on the verge of a meltdown because of how rainy and cold it was out this morning. But the
@AbernethBikeBus
kids didn’t complain! (One kid was workshopping a poem about how cold his fingers were as he rode.)
Happy anniversary to the harassment campaign against me by Turning Point USA when I took down one of their pieces of fascist propaganda from a public space and was accused of “stealing” and then sent death threats by grown men
This is what a coward looks like. Tearing down posters for my speech in Oregon, and running away when confronted.
$20 says she won’t come to the event and debate me.
Behind the Scenes on the Campaign Trail
Rene Gonzalez’s mayoral campaign recently reached out, upset about one of my tweets.
Honestly, I was confused, because everything in it was true.
After reviewing the tweet, I’m guessing this sentence hit a nerve:
“Rene Gonzalez has
Just want to say a few more things about this. First, this is not shocking news, and though the results in Portland were particularly dramatic, you’ll likely see similar results in many (most?) transit boards across the country.
Many of the key people responsible for making important decisions about TriMet don’t actually ride the system. At least, they didn’t last year. Thanks to one dogged transit advocate willing to fight TriMet over public records law, we now have the data.
@maxdubler
@hooka321
You have no idea if these are a “cool pair of vintage jeans.” They could easily be fast fashion from the last 10 years, and this is very overpriced. Plus, Goodwill is not a vintage store. Their employees are not curating for quality.
This story is brought to you by my deep fascination with zoning code drama, which I could probably write a million words about but had to restrain myself here.
Someone at today’s City Council meeting said bike lanes shouldn’t be funded because car mechanics earn more than bike mechanics, therefore motorists are better contributors to the economy 🤨
Moving across town next week. Should I try to move by bike just to be annoying? If so does anyone want to aid and abet me by letting me borrow their cargo bike
What compels someone to decide to run for mayor two months before the election?? I’m seriously asking. It would never occur to me to impulsively run for mayor of Portland at the very last minute
Another one bites the dust. Nancy Congdon, a local financial planner, has withdrawn from the Portland mayor's race. Meanwhile, five more people filed paperwork to run for mayor on or just before this week's deadline.
Workers with the
@NSLU_PDX
at the Grant Park
@newseasons
have walked out for the day, alleging unfair labor practices from the company. Employees at the Arbor Lodge location have also walked out.
For Portland to meet the challenges of recent years, we must have a healthy police bureau. Platforming a police abolitionist 2 years after voters soundly rejected her ideology is undemocratic & imperils public safety progress in Portland. This is textbook judicial overreach.