Drinking winter well-water (concerns with radon, water quality, and public health)
Op Ed by Scott Fernandez M.Sc. Biology chemistry/ microbiology/radioisotopes There is “no safe level of radon” (USEPA). Our drinking water is n…
Feature Stories
Locally Owned and Community Supported
By Jean Baker Mirador Kitchen and Home has closed after nearly 18 years at SE 20th and Division St. In 2016, a perfect storm of problems converged o…
A better way to help the homeless
By Don MacGillivray This freezing winter made the homeless situation a first order priority. The deaths of four people due to exposure on the street…
On the Streets Where We Live
Dear Readers: The storms of winter really took their toll this year on the PNW. We had the good fortune of a few beautiful days at the coast this pa…
My Portopia March 2016
Feeding the Mouth That Bites You By Midge Pierce As Portopia’s snowglobe turned into swampland last month, head colds, Nyquil and dehumidifiers s…
Japanese American Internment remembered at PCC
By Michelle Frost On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe mi…
Representatively Speaking March 2017
By Representative Rob Nosse The Case for HB 2387 Many of you are probably aware of news stories about the rising cost of prescription drugs that …
Ralph Chessé art
By Midge Pierce “Art is a part of life as necessary to my well-being as the food I eat and the air I breathe.” These were the words of Ralph Ches…
NorthStar Clubhouse, a place of hope for those living with mental illness
Submitted by: NorthStar Clubhouse We all know someone with a mental illness. We all have heard myths regarding mental illness. One of the most ha…
Ladd’s Addition rose garden alert
HAND residents are very concerned that Portland Parks Bureau is threatening to eliminate nearly $100,000 in maintenance for the Ladd’s Addition Rose Ga…
My Portopia: Home of the Blue
Guest Column By Midge Pierce On the third Saturday in January, I stood proudly with Dumbledore’s drenched army; my clan well-assembled despite my…
Letters to the Editor Jan 17
To the Editor: After listening to thousands of concerned citizens of East Portland about the hazards to the city’s neighborhoods posed by the encroa…
A bright future for Leach Botanical Garden
By Michelle Frost Leach Botanical Garden, at 6704 SE 122nd Ave. in east Portland, is a verdant paradise maintained by Leach Garden Friends. They ove…
2016 recap with a grimace
By Midge Pierce Good riddance 2016. I admit it. My personal views ran off the rails somewhere between not-news, #not-my-president and four-year-ol…
Ch-ch-ch-changes
By Jean Baker Division is changing again (or still, depending on how you look at it) New rules for inclusionary zoning will take affect later thi…
Help alleviate hunger in Portland
By Midge Pierce This New Year, as you prioritize resolutions, consider the Portland Food Project’s power of one green bag. Filling up the Food Proje…
Letters to the Editor December 2016
To The Editor: I’ve lived in Portland since 1965 and in the inner eastside for the past 34 years. We were in Irvington until this year and now in Co…
Representatively Speaking December 2016
By Representative Rob Nosse I will always remember where I was when I heard that Donald Trump won the 2016 election for President. I had just lef…
New Book Features Early Oregon Hero
By Michelle Frost Calvin Tibbets: Oregon’s First Pioneer is a thoroughly-investigated account of Oregon’s early trailblazers, researched and written…
Infill testimony from southeast resident
By Midge Pierce OpEd Portland residents agree that affordable housing is critically needed. What divides us is whether the Residential Infill Propo…
Tree Advocacy Workshop
By Midge Pierce The “white hot development market” was a topic at a tree advocacy workshop sponsored by Save the Giants, Friends of Trees and East M…
Portland’s Great Tree Canopy
By Midge Pierce Billed as the Grand Reveal, a five-year, record-breaking inventory of more than 218,610 street trees illustrates the magnificence of…
Let’s talk climate justice: Oregon vs California
By Stephanie Kaza Last year the Oregon legislature took up, but did not pass, a comprehensive bill to cut carbon emissions and support a clean energ…
Miracle Theater/Teatro Milagro: breaking down biases
Photo above: Dañel Malan, Teatro Milagro Artistic Director and Jose Eduardo Gonzalez, Executive Director By Michelle Frost The only Hispanic thea…
Natural Furniture — moving closer to home
Photo above: Rick Slagter By Jack Rubinger Rick Slagter is happy to be home again. The 63-year-old furniture store owner and his wife Tammy re…
History of Portland’s Neighborhood Associations
By Don MacGillivray Neighborhood Associations in Portland have always been a center of controversy. Some believe if you don’t have any adversaries, …
Positions Flip in a Mixed Bag of Survey Results
By Midge Pierce Once upon a time, several decades ago, neighbors came together to stop the Mt. Hood Expressway from tearing the Eastside apart. Port…
Letters to the Editor October 2016
Dear Editor: In the 25 years that my wife and I have lived in our neighborhood, we have witnessed more change in the last two than the previous 23 y…
Sunnyside neighborhood
Part two: Reaching for Community by Karen Hery In the beginning, it was a reach just to get across the river. The 384 urban acres from 28th to 49…
Transforming historic and sacred spaces
by Jack Rubinger Taborspace, located at 5441 SE Belmont, the site of the Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church had about 100 active congregants seven years …
Reasons for high house prices in the Portland metropolis
By Robert McCullough A question that comes up frequently in neighborhood discussions concerns the rapid run up of prices in Portland. Why are price…
New businesses open at 1100 SE Division Street
Two new shops recently opened at 1100 SE Division. Both are totally different and unique to the Division streetscape. Book With Pictures (see below …
Introducing home energy scores
By Don MacGillivray In spite of climate change and global warming, Portland is on the way toward enacting measures to reduce carbon emissions. The C…
Col. Summers Park Improvement Plans Finalized
By Don MacGillivray Next summer there should be an interesting new water feature in Col. Summers Park to replace the existing circular w…
Empty Bowls/beer pairing fundraiser
By Michelle Frost Montavilla Farmers Market is hosting the Empty Bowls soup and beer pairing fundraiser event on September 13, 5:30-8:30 pm, at Mont…
Altruistic Italian cycling legend
By Karen Blauer Cycling legend Gino Bartali was a multiple winner of the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia cycling races, and an athlete recognized a…
Representatively Speaking
Measure 97 This upcoming November election is going to be one of the most important in recent memory. Certainly the presidential election looms larg…
Central Eastside continues to grow
By Don MacGillivray A handsome building where Fishel’s Furniture has become an icon at E. Burnside and SE Martin Luther King Blvd. (MLK) will soon b…
Salvation Army Rose Senior Center open to all
The Salvation Army is familiar to everyone. We’ve all seen the bell ringers at Christmas and probably been to one of their thrift shops, but this is on…
Let’s talk climate, but how and where?
By Stephanie Kaza Flooding in Louisiana, California wildfires, permafrost melt in Alaska – the list of events made more extreme by climate change is…
Belmont Street Fair origins
By Karen Hery Belmont Street Fair is in its 21st year attracting over 10,000 people to the streets of Belmont between SE 33rd and Cesar E. Chavez Bl…
Letters to the Editor
To the Editor: Your recent story titled “Division Preferred for Rapid Transit” was excellently reported. Midge Pierce is to be complimented on her c…
Hawthorne Street Fair Sunday August 28
Sunday August 28 11am - 7pm EVENTS (as of press time) SE 34nd Acoustic Stage 11:00-11:50 Jon Koonce 12:00-12:50 Reverb Bros 1:00-1:50 Te…
Bike Around Town
A hundred Biketown racks have been placed around Portland’s inner city with 1,000 bikes in use. In four days 1,960 single ride passes and 441 day passe…
On the Streets Where We Live
By Nancy Tannler, Editor Dear Readers: The past few weeks every time I hear the news, I think of the line in Patty Griffin’s song, “Don’t bring m…
Summer in a city pocket park
By Michelle Frost Avalon Sanctuary is a very small ‘pocket park’ nestled between The Hope Center/Cascadia and St. Philip Neri Convent along SE Divis…
Letters to the Editor August 16
NOTE: The Southeast Examiner was included in many letters regarding Belmont Street zoning. We only have room to print the form letter and a few of the …
A story of the Buckman neighborhood
By Don MacGillivray The East Side was involved in the settlement of Portland from its beginning. James B. Stephens arrived in the mid-1840s and sett…
Ballot measure proposes increasing taxes on big businesses
By Don MacGillivray Perhaps the most controversial measure on the November ballot is the increase in the corporate minimum tax on the largest busine…
Hawthorne business owners take pro-active stance on vagrancy
By Midge Pierce Hawthorne merchants are taking a proactive approach to Portland’s thinning blue line. In an effort to keep the shopping district …
Bloodworks Northwest
Blood donations are in critical need; help by donating at the fair on July 23 Donate at the Division/Clinton Street Fair to help offset a forecasted…
Division / Clinton Steet Fair Saturday, July 23
The Division/Clinton Parade 10:45 am Featuring an expanded cast of characters including the Last Regiment, Joy Now!, Love Bomb Go-Go, the Unipiper…
A Happening Movement of the People – Big Float 6
By Tommy “T-Bone” Vandel Ready for a rockin’ (and unrockin’) summer? Good times will soon be coming in waves. The Human Access Project (HAP) hosts T…
Letters to the Editor July 2016
Residential Infill: Another Breach Of Public Trust Dear Editor: As citizens concerned with widespread home demolitions and egregious infill, we a…
New Development on Clinton Protects Trees
By Midge Pierce Nervous jitters continue to spread through the Richmond community over the fate of two remaining large Doug Firs at the corner of SE…
Dodging fires, freeways and pesticides – Richmond thrives where it almost languished
by Karen Hery It’s easy to bemoan growth in inner city Portland. Four story apartment buildings keep popping up almost as fast as the new residents …
Caring for elder community members
By Michelle Frost Hidden in plain view, Emerson House is a large brick building nestled among restaurants and shops at 3577 SE Division St., across …
Washington HS celebrates community
Washington High School officially closed in 1981, but its school spirit remains today for this historic site was once Portland’s premier high school in…
Brewing up a good time
By Nancy Tannler The sleepy little Montavilla neighborhood has blossomed in the past few years and one of the new businesses that has become an anch…
SE Rapid transit routes
Powell is out and Division likely in as Metro’s preferred route for its planned rapid transit. The proposal revision is based on studies that indica…
Poisonous plants for cat
By Don MacGillivray While our gardens are a thing of beauty, danger lurks in plain sight for both humans and our animal friends. Generally people kn…
Vox Populi – Watching the “Game of Zones”
By Robert McCullough You may suspect that this title is a parody of the wildly popular “Game of Thrones” television serial. And it was chosen in an…
Shakespeare Island: Plants, protest, and publicity
By Brandon Marrow On April 24, 1930 the president of Reed College, Dr. Norman F. Coleman, shoveled dirt onto the first oak sapling planted in the ne…
Letters to the Editor June 16
How many homeless folks are in Portland? Last week when I was downtown, for the first time in a long time, I saw people sitting on the streets askin…
SE Uplift Neighborhood Coalition: Working for positive changes
By Michelle Frost Portland is known for its many unique neighborhoods and the distinct features of each including community gardens, public art, inf…
Portland’s Unfiltered Water System
Scott Fernandez M.Sc. Biology chemistry/microbiology The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the EPA Science Advisory Board Drinking Water C…
Letters to the Editor May 2016
Editors note: Our neighbor has raised awareness of the most recent demolition/rebuild in our neighborhood. The following letter to Commissioner Dan Sal…
Locally Famous Naturalist
by Midge Pierce Tireless naturalist Mary Kinnick has made her mark on Mt. Tabor. As a longtime board member of Friends of Mt. Tabor Park, she is cre…
National Poetry Month field notes
by Michelle Frost April is known as National Poetry Month. It was introduced in 1996 and organized by the Academy of American Poets as a way to incr…
Unreported crimes
By Midge Pierce If you’re feeling like crime is under-reported, you’re right. “Reported crimes are only a shadow of what’s real,” Crime Preventi…
Gunk in the creek
By Stephen Quirke In 2013 three types of radioactive thorium were found in a “gelatinous goo” that built up in a drainage pipe that leads …
Vision Zero – The end of traffic deaths
by Don MacGillivray The days when the car was king in the inner city are slowly passing. The nation is becoming more concerned about the safety of o…
SE Uplift April Newsletter
April, 2016 …
Vox Populi – APRIL 2016 – Portland’s Drinking Water
Op-Ed By Scott Fernandez M.Sc. Biology chemistry/microbiology US Executive Order 13563- “The American people deserve a regulatory system that works …
Representatively Speaking April 2016
By Representative Rob Nosse I’m writing this column today as a father and SE Portland resident, as well as a State Legislator. Like many of you, I w…
Citizens take action on traffic problems
By Midge Pierce An uptick in vehicles and construction has snarled virtually every SE Portland corridor and major intersection. To address the growi…
The Eco-Cities of Japan
By Don MacGillivray Japan is sponsoring a Future Cities program to transform itself into a low-carbon society. The Japanese government is selecting …
Community builders give kids free streetcar tickets
By Outdoor Magazine When the Portland Streetcar announced last year it would no longer offer free ride tickets to area schoolchildren, local residen…
Local website stores, protects, shares medical records
By Nancy Tannler The people of Portland are fortunate to have a wide array of healthcare providers to choose from for the health journey. The spectr…
Progressive preservation keeps Portland old
The growth and development changes in the inner city has aspects to be embraced as well as others to resist. A group of neighbors in inner SE Portland …
Ground-breaking an intergenerational community
Community members gathered to break ground on the first phase of Native American Youth and Family Services (NAYA) Generations; a community development …
Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply settling in and gearing up
By Michelle Frost Why did the baby chick cross the road? To see her friends at Naomi’s! This farm supply stop is a friendly and buzzing oasis for g…
Reforms in the Police Bureau
By Don MacGillivray Despite periodic criticism over the years, Portland police officers are well-trained and thoughtful in their use-of-force. The p…
Portland’s Toxic Air: A Public Health Crisis
By Scott Fernandez M.Sc. Biology chemistry/microbiology Oregon has the third largest population at risk of excess cancer due to air pollution behi…
Letters to the Editor March 2016
To the Editor: For over forty years, the SE Uplift Neighborhood Coalition has listened, helped, advocated, and educated on issues important to the …
Franklin Renovation Updates
By David Mayne The ongoing Portland Public Schools School Bond construction work at Franklin High School consists of the seen and the unseen. The ex…
Climate change comes home
By Michelle Frost Heavy rain did not deter Portland folk from turning out in support of the climate on Tuesday, January 12 at TaborSpace on SE Belmo…
Community building waiting for new stewards
By Karen Hery Almost 100 years ago, a stone block was slipped in place on a building addition wrapping around the corner of SE Yamhill St. and 35th …
More cell-towers planned on school properties
By David Morrison Op-ed from a concerned parent “Parents deserve to know wireless radiation can cause a wide range of symptoms including headaches…
Climate Change Coming Home: Bill Bradbury at TaborSpace
By Michelle Frost A free community education event called Climate Change Coming Home invites you to a discussion of the impacts of climate change and …
Representatively Speaking
By Representative Rob Nosse Portland’s Housing Crisis With the 2016 legislative session approaching, I thought it was a good time to write another co…
Division Street retrospective
By Jean Baker The year’s end seems like a fine time to recognize and celebrate the many businesses in Division/Clinton that have existed for decades…
Letters to the Editor January 2016
Dear Editor, I am writing to give my complete support to the Policy Recommendations for Portland put forward by the Division Design Initiative. I own…
Funs all done at Café au Play
By Midge Pierce As tributes to the now shuttered Café au Play pour in literally from up and down the West Coast, neighbors question what the future h…
Lewis Mumford’s legacy in Portland
By Stephyn Quirke John Kitzhaber based his State of the State speech off of him in 1996. His rival Robert Moses called him an “outspoken revolutionary…
Making Portland bird friendly
By Don MacGillivray In the daytime, birds will often see the sky or nearby habitat mirrored in the windows of large buildings and believe there is a c…
Open medical notes gaining legitimacy
By Don Macgillivray Have you ever wondered what’s in your own health records? Open-Notes (O-N) allows patients to read about their medical condition…
Taking Care Portland: Community-based Cancer Survivorship
By Michelle Frost Roughly eight million new cancer cases occurred in economically-developing countries in 2012, the most recent data reflects. Chanc…
Finding the elder care you need
By Don McGillivray At one time or another, everyone is likely to want information about caring for aging family members or oneself. The best and mos…