City

Just a little more than one month after the embattled CEO of the city’s housing authority left the organization under a cloud of controversy, another one of the organization’s top leaders is departing.

The Portland City Council this week failed to find a compromise between the council’s two factions that could have saved a number of public safety jobs slated for elimination in Mayor Keith Wilson’s proposed budget.

The union is the latest to join a group of supporters that includes the police union and prominent business owners.

“Our inability to know if there is broad consensus among this legislative body before we are in the middle of a public process is leading to moments of embarrassment.”

Mayor Keith Wilson in a Monday letter implored the Portland City Council to make policy changes that he says would ensure that affordable housing providers don’t go belly-up in the coming year.

In about seven months, restaurants and retailers won’t be allowed to sell force-fed foie gras in the city.

The Portland City Council on Wednesday passed an ordinance to give two Black-led nonprofits a total of $2.5 million toward their efforts to build affordable housing in North and Northeast Portland.

Given that all six members of the council’s progressive caucus are likely to support the ban, its fate rests with a few potential swing votes—most obviously, Councilor Steve Novick. And he has made up his mind.

Councilor Steve Novick, who championed the idea, said he thinks councilors’ budgets are too fat—and that “as long as I have the money, I’m going to put it to good use.”

The new rate is expected to bring in more revenue while exempting a portion of low-income Portlanders.

Councilors say the ordinance will make it easier for Portland police officers to identify potential law enforcement imposters.

The trees in question were part of a riparian area considered critical for the health of the slough’s ecosystem.