Story by Pete Shaw After several months of deliberation and community input, the Socially Responsible Investments Committee (SRIC) voted unanimously to recommend that the City of Portland divest its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company due to the company’s financing of for-profit prisons and “morally bankrupt” lending practices. The City currently holds $40 million in…
Story by Pete Shaw After nearly two-and-a-half years of negotiations, town halls, council meetings, and testimony, Right 2 Dream Too (R2DToo) is moving to a new home near the Tilikum Crossing. In a 4-1 vote on February 24, the City Council approved a resolution whereby the rest area for people without housing will relocate across…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw Many part-time recreation employees are cheering the unanimous Portland City Council decision on February 17 to ratify an agreement between the Parks and Recreation bureau and Laborers Local 483. Under the arrangement, Portland Parks and Recreation will create 130 new living wage union protected jobs by the Fall, and…
Story by Pete Shaw Right 2 Dream Too (R2DToo), the rest area for people without housing currently located at the corner of Burnside and NW 4th, must wait until Wednesday to find out if it will have a new home in Southeast Portland. After four hours of deliberation on February 18 the City Council…
A vigil attended by over 50 people was held on January 29 at the AME Zion Church on North Vancouver Avenue to remember Aaron Campbell, the young Black man killed exactly six years earlier by Portland Police Officer Ron Frashour. A further significant aspect of the event was the opportunity to reflect upon Campbell’s death…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw As a debilitating housing crisis continues to plague Portland, those people most affected are organizing against landlords and the laws that work to benefit them at the expense of tenants. On Wednesday December 16, Know Your City (KYC) and Portland Tenants United (PTU) hosted a community dialogue titled “The…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw A petition signed by over 350 Recreation employees was presented the Portland City Council on December 2, asking for a $15 an hour minimum wage, benefits, and more opportunity for year-round jobs. “I’ve seen excellent employees struggle with low wages and a lack of access to full time work,”…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw Over 300 supporters of Don’t Shoot Portland and the Black Lives Matter movement gathered in Holladay Park on Friday November 27, making demands ranging from police reform to the abolition of capitalism that has created a system where Black lives do not matter. The rally also included a boisterous…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw Exactly one year after 12 year old Tamir Rice was fatally shot by Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann in a public playground on November 22, 2014, 50 people gathered in Portland near the corner of SE Madison and 11th for a vigil in Rice’s memory and to demand justice…
Story and photos by Pete Shaw Voz and the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC) held a candlelight vigil on the night of November 19, calling for an end to the detentions and deportations that have torn apart many immigrant families and communities. The action was part of a national week of action promoted by immigrant…
