News Here's one Southeast Portland resident's take on the controversial decision by the City Council — led, in this case, by Commissioner Randy Leonard — to declare March 10 as Tibet Awareness Day in Portland. The council's proclamation — which stated outright that Tibet is independent — drew fire from the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco as well as local Chinese leaders. Here's ...   More

News After a week of controversy over City Commissioner Randy Leonard's push to make today Tibet Awareness Day in Portland, here are the events on the calendar for local Tibetan activists. • 10 a.m. — Raising of the Tibetan flag in front of City Hall, with speeches and prayers for those who died in the 1959 Tibetan uprising. • Noon — March through downtown. • 1:30–2 ...   More

News Since introducing a City Council proclamation last week recognizing Tibet's struggle for freedom, Commissioner Randy Leonard has heard from quite a few angry parties. The local Chinese business community, Portland's Suzhou sister city committee and the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco have all pressured Leonard over his action. Leonard says the Tibetans warned him the proclamation would ...   More

News Commissioner Randy Leonard's Bureau of Development Services is so broke it's asking for an immediate $1.5 million loan. In a resolution that will go before City Council on Wednesday, the bureau asks for interim funds from Portland's "Bancroft Bond Interest and Sinking Fund," a pot of local improvement district money that topped $15 million at the start of this fiscal year. If approved, the loan ...   More

News City Commissioner Randy Leonard currently has an ordinance before City Council that would beef up oversight of the Police Bureau. But don't think that ordinance gives Leonard sympathy for the city's most virulent police critics. On those who have described the recent police shooting of Jackie Collins as murder, Leonard had this to say in a WW interview last week: "You just watched the health-care ...   More

News With a 5-0 vote, City Council tonight approved the new ordinance from Commissioner Randy Leonard and Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade on strengthening police oversight. That decision followed more than three hours of impassioned public testimony and came after Police Chief Rosie Sizer voiced some objections to details of the measure, including its call to make the city auditor (rather than ...   More

News The person everyone wants to hear from, following this morning's major police shakeup, is Commissioner Dan Saltzman. But Saltzman wasn't at City Hall after Mayor Sam Adams announced at noon he was both taking over the Police Bureau (16 months after taking the unusual step for a mayor of assigning it to Saltzman) and firing Chief Rosie Sizer. Meanwhile, one of Saltzman's main opponents in the ...   More

News The fall-out from Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard's Housing Interdiction Squad (also known as the "HIT Team") continues. The HIT Team's enforcement actions contributed to the closure of at least two controversial downtown businesses: Cindy's Adult Bookstore and the Greek Cusina. Last November, the owners of Cindy's sued Leonard and the City of Portland. On May 13, Ted Papas, (below) ...   More

News Portland City Council this morning approved a resolution calling for U.S. immigration reform and a halt to racial profiling in Arizona in the wake of that state's passage of Senate Bill 1070. The vote this morning was 4-0 because Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who supported the measure, was absent due to illness. Senate Bill 1070 [PDF] became law in Arizona in April. It calls on local law-enforcement ...   More

News Portland City Council cancelled its regular morning session today due to the lack of a quorum. Commissioners Randy Leonard and Amanda Fritz, plus Mayor Sam Adams are out today. On the other side of the river, the Portland School Board has called for an executive session tonight [PDF] to discuss labor negotiations and the 2010-11 budget. Under Oregon's Public Meetings Law, members of the media ...   More