Goodbye Portland, From a Longtime Fan
By Marshall Hammond Dear Portland, By the time you read this article, I’ll be gone. I’m leaving you, the city I’ve called home for 24 years, to live abroad. You’ve
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Marshall Hammond
Sweeps of Camps Resume Despite Resistance From City Council, Homeless Rights Advocates
By Marshall Hammond On November 1 Portland law enforcement resumed enforcing a camping ban aimed at reducing the number of unhoused people sheltering in tents and other impermanent structures in
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Giant Street Art Installation Adds Even More Color to Portland’s Mural District
By Marshall Hammond Portland is bursting with fall color. From a bird’s eye view one could look across the city and take in a breathtaking tapestry of gold, orange and
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I Am We: A Children’s Book Inspired by Portland’s Winter Crows
By Marshall Hammond In the winter months, they can be seen every morning making their daily commute, fanning out across the city, heading east toward the rising sun… hundreds, no
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As Deportations Terrify Oregon’s Immigrants, Advocates Mobilize to Help
By Marshall Hammond Fear is being felt throughout Oregon’s immigrant population as the Trump administration intensifies its efforts to arrest and deport millions of individuals, sometimes to “third party” countries
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NE Portland School Provides Stability For Homeless Children
By Marshall Hammond “We’re like an oasis,” says Cheryl Bickle, principal of Community Transitional School. “I find that we’re a much calmer school than most public schools, like the ones
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Multnomah County Adds Sobering Services to Support Drug Recovery, Reduce Jail Time
By Marshall Hammond On Monday, April 28, Multnomah County’s Coordinated Care Pathway Center opened 13 new sobering stations as part of growing efforts between law enforcement and county officials to
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As Boys & Girls Aid Marks 140 Years, Funding Cuts Strain Services
By Marshall Hammond Oregon’s oldest child welfare agency, Boys & Girls Aid, celebrates its 140th anniversary this year. But widespread government funding cuts—at the city, county, state and federal levels—are
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Abernethy Elementary School Celebrates its 100th Year
By Marshall Hammond It has been almost 100 years since Abernethy Elementary School opened its doors to the first group of Portland children arriving for their first day of classes
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The Keeper of Valuable Objects
By Marshall Hammond “I’ve always felt a little pretentious identifying as an artist or a writer, but I’m trying to get over that and just be like, ‘Yeah, that’s what
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County Opens Center to Deflect Drug Offenders from Jail Into Treatment
By Marshall Hammond Monday, October 14, Multnomah County opened a new facility in SE Portland designed to “deflect” individuals arrested for low-level drug offenses into treatment services instead of jail.
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Francis + Clare Place Offers Permanent Supportive Housing
By Marshall Hammond On September 26 a crowd gathered for a ceremony celebrating the grand opening of Francis + Clare Place, a 61-residence facility offering permanent housing and on-site supportive
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MYC Gives Youth a Voice in Policy-Making
By Marshall Hammond Coinciding with the start of the 2024-25 school year, a group of youths aged 13 to 21 took up residence on the grounds of the Oral Hull
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How Do We House Everyone? Local Experts Weigh In
By Marshall Hammond The average rent for a studio apartment in Portland is $1,238 per month. The wage required to rent such an apartment without being rent burdened (spending more
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State of the County Address Highlights Homelessness and Addiction Treatment
By Marshall Hammond Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pedersen delivered her State of the County address to a large audience at OMSI on Monday, April 29. The address, which was
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CCC to Open E Burnside Treatment Center Next Spring
By Marshall Hammond Central City Concern (CCC), a non-profit agency that serves low income and houseless people in Portland, is close to finalizing plans for a new 70-bed residential treatment
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In the Wake of Madness: My Family’s Escape from the Nazis
By Marshall Hammond “Like many Holocaust survivors, my parents didn’t want to talk about the horrors they had lived through,” says Portland author Bettie Lennett Denny. “They were focused on
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Eastside Guitar Repair Celebrates 15 Years in Business
By Marshall Hammond Ryan Lynn was 17 years old when he realized his calling. “A friend of mine, he had built a guitar, and I was blown away. It didn’t
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PWB to Refill Reservoir 6 in Late March
By Marshall Hammond The Portland Water Bureau (PWB) expects to begin refilling Mt. Tabor’s Reservoir 6 this spring after completing repairs, prompted by the discovery of “voids” beneath the reservoir
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Construction to Begin on SE Division St. Micro-Village
By Marshall Hammond A new kind of housing development aimed at serving the most vulnerable members of Portland’s houseless population is scheduled to break ground on city-owned land at SE
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Mazamas Mountaineering Center
By Marshall Hammond At first glance, the Mazamas building looks like a temple belonging to a fraternal organization with a fascination for goats. The building is actually a repository of
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Uncertain Future For Vacant Lot on SE Hawthorne Blvd.
By Marshall Hammond A large empty lot and a chain link fence are nearly all that remain of a troubled complex of vacant medical offices at 4511 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
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Gol, a Soccer Bar
By Marshall Hammond For five years, Peter Mahr dreamed of owning the 4-4-2, a bar on lower SE Hawthorne Blvd. he frequented to watch soccer and enjoy a beer. He
Rent Stabilization Bill Becomes Law
By Marshall Hammond On Thursday, July 6, Governor Tina Kotek signed a bill capping rent increases on Oregon residences at 10 percent or seven percent plus inflation, whichever is lower.SB
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Oregon Moonshine: Bootleggers Busts and Brawls
By Marshall Hammond Bruce Haney drank moonshine once. The next day the Boring, OR historian’s friends told him he sang and danced the night away to Right Said Fred’s “I’m
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Podcast: Murder in Miami
By Marshall Hammond When Oregon Department of Corrections administrator Michael Francke was murdered outside his office in Salem in 1989, Phil Stanford was one of a handful of journalists who
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Psilocybin Growing Licenses Issued
By Marshall Hammond It was a day Medford resident Andreas Met had been awaiting for years. On March 22, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) issued a license to grow psilocybin
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Portland Indigenous Marketplace
By Marshall Hammond Recently Bar Carlo (6433 SE Foster Rd.) was transformed into a bustling marketplace for two evenings, with dozens of attendees filing in to purchase handmade jewelry, paintings,
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Radiant Rainbows
By Marshall Hammond Jessica Swift painted the first rainbow in 2018 after her husband Ryan died suddenly at the age of 40, leaving the Portland artist alone to raise their