Murmurs City Commissioner Amanda Fritz won her council seat in 2008 with public financing, part of the short-lived experiment in Portland that voters killed last year. Facing re-election in 2012, Fritz    More

City Hall Public records offer clues about what politicians are really like. Do they pay their bills, vote or license their dogs? And what about parking tickets? All the major City Hall candidates have them an   More

News Members of local civil rights organizations turned out by the dozens to support the proposed Portland Office of Equity at Wednesday night’s City Council meeting.In public testimony, advocates called out numerous areas of social and racial disparity in Portland, citing statistics and disparity studies as evidence of the city’s need to move forward with the ordinance.Supporters told the council that ...   More

News It should’ve been a gimme: a city of Portland office devoted to making sure “everyone has access to opportunities necessary to satisfy essential needs, advance their well-being, and achieve thei   More

News Dr. Sharon Meieran, a Southwest Portland emergency room physician, is the first candidate to form a political action committee and start raising money in House District 36, which includes much of Southwest Portland.Meieran, who earned her medical degree from the University of California-San Francisco in 2002,  is one of a handful of people who had expressed interest in the seat being vacated by ...   More

News Rep. Mary Nolan (D-Southwest Portland) told WW this morning she will enter the 2012 City Council race, challenging incumbent Position One Commissioner Amanda Fritz."I have been talking to folks for a few months but just made the final decision in the past few days," Nolan says. "City Hall is where I think I can be most effective."Nolan, 56, brings a wealth of experience to the race. From the mid-70s ...   More

News Rep. Mary Nolan (D-Southwest Portland) is running for something—and it's probably not the legislative seat she has held for six sessions.While the Legislature is in session, members refrain from raising money. But lawmakers finished their 2011 business yesterday at 2:50 pm and today state filings show Nolan reported 12 contributions totaling $6,950. That's a pretty nice haul, especially considering ...   More

News The biggest single infusion of cash so far in any of the 2012 Portland City Council races came late last week from a surprising source: Commissioner Amanda Fritz.On June 9, Fritz loaned her reelection campaign $25,000, her campaign finance records show. Fritz, who worked as a psychiatric nurse before joining the City Council, was not immediately available for comment. Fritz was a key booster and beneficiary ...   More

News At a town hall meeting Saturday, city Commissioner Amanda Fritz introduced Friends of Last Thursday, an organization 15 months in the making that will assume the task of overseeing the monthly street festival on Northeast Alberta Street. Reaction was mixed as Fritz unveiled the steering committee-a long-awaited answer to Last Thursday’s fate amid complaints from some residents that the monthly event ...   More

News A seemingly mundane discussion today at Portland City Hall about bonds related to a $72.4 million fire-equipment measure morphed into a verbal tussle over the planned purchase of four emergency vehicles.Those four emergency vehicles were part of the ballot measure that city voters narrowly approved last year to beef up emergency-response infrastructure in Portland. But, as Commissioners Amanda Fritz ...   More