Murmurs: At Least East Portland Has Enough Parking.

1. The next stop for Portland’s apartment boom? Neighborhoods east of 82nd Avenue. A new report from the city’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability predicts commercial districts in East Portland will see 11,600 new apartment units built in the next 20 years. The projected apartment growth would hit neighborhoods such as Parkrose, Lents and Gateway, where residents have long complained about a lack of basic city services and amenities (“The Other Portland,” WW, Oct. 12, 2011). In the past decade, only 1,005 permits have been issued for multifamily residences in East Portland. The projected growth would double its share of the city’s apartment construction. Many areas also lack the easily defined business districts of inner-Portland neighborhoods that have witnessed an apartment-building frenzy (“Block Busters,” WW, Sept. 19, 2012). The report introduces new commercial zones, such as the “Jade District” along Southeast 82nd Avenue, and “Midway” along outer Southeast Division Street. 

1. Residents of Hayden Island long frustrated by the concentration of video lottery retailers in their area—a dozen in a single strip mall—have asked for an investigation into the relationship between one retailer and Elisa Dozono, chairwoman of the Oregon Lottery Commission. The Hayden Island Neighborhood Network (HINooN) has asked Secretary of State Kate Brown to order an audit into the potential “conflict of interest and appearance of impropriety” of Dozono, whose law firm, Miller Nash, represents Dotty’s Deli, one of the biggest video lottery retailers. In 2012, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission said Dozono doesn’t have a conflict because she is a “non-equity” partner of Miller Nash—that is, an employee, not an owner. HINooN chairman Jeffrey Geisler, who says that distinction is “sophistry,” wants the state Audits Division (which answers to Brown) to investigate. Dozono says she’s done nothing wrong and is “disappointed” with HINooN’s action.

1. How many words of instructions should a third-grader have to wade through before getting to an actual test question? If it’s a Smarter Balanced practice exam, the answer is a lot—more than 700. Portland parents and teachers have been complaining on Facebook, as first reported on wweek.com, about the overly complicated English exam. This spring, Oregon students will be tested for the first time on Common Core State Standards in English and math using Smarter Balanced assessments. So we’re wondering, parents and teachers, what examples of Common Core nuttiness have you seen? Send them to bslovic@wweek.com. We’ll publish the best of the worst.

WWeek 2015