News In a 4-0 vote with Commissioner Nick Fish absent on vacation, City Council today approved the parking plan for the streets around Jeld-Wen Field formerly known as PGE Park.That plan, which Mayor Sam Adams introduced as an emergency ordinance, calls for expanding the hours for paid parking around the revamped stadium on Portland Timbers game nights and increasing the hourly rates from $1.60 to $3.50 ...   More

News Two weeks after federal law enforcement officials said they foiled a terrorist attack in downtown Portland, Mayor Sam Adams has responded to calls for re-evaluating Portland's relationship with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. In 2005, the City of Portland withdrew from the task force, and Adams, then a city commissioner, supported that move. His 2010 plan, released this afternoon, is ...   More

News It was billed as a hearing to discuss the Bureau of Environmental Services' 2010-2011 budget, but the talk at City Hall this afternoon quickly devolved into an episode reminiscent of a dysfunctional family meeting. Topic No. 1: Mayor Sam Adams' decision to take $20 million from BES's budget to help fund the Bicycle Plan for 2030. Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who manages BES, opened the talk by ...   More

News This week's WW has a story about City Commissioner Dan Saltzman's re-election race and the role of bikes and bike funding in the tough contest. Much of what the candidates told WW about their approach to bike funding came from a portion of WW's endorsement interview with them last week in advance of the May 18 election. Watch Saltzman and three of his opponents -- Jesse Cornett, Ed Garren and ...   More

News The day after a bruising primary election looks and sounds like the debate at City Hall around 10:30 am today. That's when, during a discussion of water and sewer rates for fiscal year 2010, newly re-elected Commissioner Dan Saltzman came out swinging against an idea to use $10 million in water ratepayer money to pay for land in Northwest Portland. That industrial land would then be turned into ...   More

News Commissioner Dan Saltzman is proposing significant changes to Commissioner Randy Leonard's fire bond proposal. Leonard's proposal [PDF] would ask Portland voters in November to approve $72 million for fire and emergency response vehicles, a fire station and emergency response center, and a public safety emergency radio system. City Council is scheduled to discuss the possible fire bond Thursday ...   More

News Three months after Mayor Sam Adams called the proposal for a new westside staging area a top city priority, City Council appeared no closer today to agreeing where on Portland's west side to site that staging area to respond to possible natural disasters. Until that siting decision happens, City Council won't begin to discuss how to pay for the staging area. The funding had been included in ...   More