Skip to main content- Police are investigating two bike hit-and-runs on Tuesday morning, Sept. 21, in inner-Northeast Portland as being connected. Police said that the car involved in both incidents was a silver Subaru WRX with no rear license plate and perhaps a temporary sticker in the back window. Witnesses said the car also had a green sticker in the back window similar to the Monster energy-drink logo. Fortunately, neither bike rider suffered life-threatening injuries. The first collision was at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. and Lloyd boulevards; the second at Northeast 1st Avenue and Multnomah Street. Police ask anybody with information to call 823-2103.
- The Albina Ministerial Alliance will hold a rally and march starting at 11 am Saturday, Sept. 25, at Pioneer Courthouse Square to protest police violence and push for reforms at the Portland Police Bureau. The AMA Coalition for Justice and Police Reform arose in response to the Jan. 29 shooting of 25-year-old Aaron Campbell, the first of three fatal police shootings in Portland this year. As first reported Aug. 31 at wweek.com, the Police Bureau’s Use of Force Review Board has recommended firing Ronald Frashour, the officer who shot Campbell in the back with an assault rifle. Mayor Sam Adams and Chief Mike Reese have not yet issued their final decision on discipline.
- A Multnomah County judge threw out a lawsuit against the City brought by a former spokesman for Mayor Sam Adams. Judge Pro Tem Thomas Christ ruled Sept. 16 that Wade Nkrumah had no legal grounds to sue the city for wrongful termination, defamation and unpaid wages (See “Flack Attack,” WW, Sept. 15, 2010). Nkrumah claimed he resigned three weeks into his job in January 2009 because Adams repeatedly lied to him and the public. Christ’s dismissal of the lawsuit also means Adams avoids being questioned under oath in a deposition about his 2005 relationship with former legislative intern Beau Breedlove. Nkrumah plans to appeal.
- A familiar face has returned to City Hall. Aisling Coghlan, former chief of staff to Commissioner Dan Saltzman, started working part-time in Saltzman’s office last week. “It felt like the first day of school,” says Coghlan, who last worked for Saltzman six years ago. Coghlan could offer a bridge between Saltzman and Mayor Sam Adams. She is married to political strategist Mark Wiener—an adviser to Saltzman and Adams, as well as Commissioner Randy Leonard and Multnomah County Chairman Jeff Cogen. She also worked as executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, where she worked closely with Adams.
- Mayor Sam Adams is on the road all this week, in Toronto for a green-building conference and in Ontario for a bike summit. Adams then heads to Washington, D.C., for the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ fall meeting. Commissioner Dan Saltzman is in Spain until Oct. 5 on a personal vacation. Adams’ and Saltzman’s travels mean the agenda for the weekly Sept. 22 meeting is slim for the three City Council members who remain. Among the items: A broadband strategy that could tee up the city for federal stimulus dollars. Olé, eh?
WWeek 2015