- A Portland-based agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has gone to work for a private equity firm that exclusively backs businesses involved in legal marijuana sales. The Wall Street Journal first reported Dec. 10 that former DEA supervisor Patrick Moen has taken a job with Privateer Holdings, a Seattle firm that invests in pot startups, including cannabis warehouses and the weed-review website Leafly.com. Moen ran the DEA team fighting meth in Portland and joins Privateer Holdings as senior legal counsel. âThe potential social and financial returns,â he tells the Journal, âare enormous.â
- City Hall still canât get to phase one of its long-delayed Portland Bike Share, but City Commissioner Steve Novick is already making a play for money for phase two. Novick is seeking $2.5 million from the Oregon Department of Transportation to expand proposed locations for bike-share stations, including one in the North Portland industrial enclave of Swan Island. The City Council still hasnât decided whether to subsidize the bike-share program with a loan up to $4.6 million for a planned launch next year (âThe Big Bike Bailout,â WW, Aug. 14, 2013).
- Two retired Portland firefighters say they and about 300 others have been cheated out of pension increases. Clark Stephens and Robert Wuerthâs class-action lawsuit filed Dec. 3 in Multnomah County Circuit Court alleges the city Bureau of Fire and Police Disability and Retirement has failed to follow a judgeâs 2011 order to boost pension checks dating to 2007. The estimated cost to make it right: $2 million. The pension fundâs financial manager, Nancy Hartline, says the city will pay up only if an appeals court upholds the ruling. The plaintiffsâ attorney, Gregory Hartman, says the affected retirees canât wait that long. âThereâs some urgency,â he says. âThese people are dying off.â
- Riverplace Athletic Club and All-Star Fitness operator Sam Adams bounced employee and vendor checks for months (âUnnecessary Roughness,â WW, Oct. 9, 2013), but when his company wrote a bad check to the Portland Water Bureau, it was game over. Bureau administrator David Shaff says the city was set to shut off Riverplaceâs water Dec. 11âa move averted when RAC owner Dennis Sivers and Adamsâ lender, Allstate Financial Group, agreed Allstate would take over Adamsâ contract. âOur goal is not to shut people off,â Shaff says. âOur goal is to get paid.â
- Give!Guide update: WWâs 2013 G!G has raised more than $760,000, nearly $200,000 ahead of last yearâs pace. More than 3,400 individuals have givenâ1,076 donors are 35 and under. Any donor who gives $10 or more Dec. 12 could win a case of Rogue Spirits. Just go to giveguide.org and GIVE!
WWeek 2015