Mayoral, City Commissioner Races
By Midge Pierce The November ballot will include two City Council positions with run-offs against Portland’s Mayor Wheeler and Commissioner Eudaly. A…
Tag: Midge Pierce
Library Seeks Levy for New Building and Expansions
By Midge Pierce Multnomah County Library officials are forging ahead with a measure on the November ballot during a time when household finances have …
Portland Printer Receives Arts Award
By Midge Pierce “Serendipity!” That’s how SE artist, entrepreneur and community volunteer John Laursen, a winner of this year’s Governor’s Arts Awar…
Residential Neighborhoods Rezoned for Multiplex Housing
By Midge Pierce After five years of heated debate, City Council’s passage last month of the Residential Infill Project (RIP) codifies the allowance of…
Good News for Black Homes and Heritage
By Midge Pierce Amidst three-plus months of outcries for racial justice and reforms, one City department quietly achieved an equitable path toward nat…
RIP Passage Likely
By Midge Pierce A year ago, six-plexes in SE’s single-family neighborhoods would have been unimaginable. Now, love the idea or hate it, Portland’s Cit…
PPS Stresses Safety in Fall Reopening Plans
Editor's Note: The Southeast Examiner went to press before Portland Public Schools announced earlier this week that it would not reopen classrooms in S…
SE Stands Up for Reform
By Midge Pierce Portland has a new police chief, a revamped police budget and is on its way toward significant police reform influenced by momentum ga…
Debate Over RIP Continues
By Midge Pierce In the midst of the dual challenges of pandemic and civil unrest, Commissioners heard two days of public comment on amendments to the …
Burnside Bridge Replacement Design Chosen
By Midge Pierce Portland will have a new, Long Span, seismically safe Burnside Bridge within the decade; more than a century after the original span w…
2020 Makes Graduation History
By Midge Pierce For the Class of 2020, Commencement will go on, at least in a physically-distant, drive-through form. The determination of families, e…
Pandemic Refocuses Library Priorities
By Midge Pierce Since closing on March 14 due to COVID-19, Multnomah County Library (MCL) has ventured deeper into the world of electronic media deliv…
Healthier Hawthorne Initiative
By Midge Pierce Prompted by what he calls, “terrifying experiences” bicycling down Hawthorne Blvd., Zach Katz, “a neighbor with a plan,” is pitching c…
Climate Collides with Coronovirus
By Midge Pierce Given environmentalists’ 10-years-to-apocalypse countdown, Earth Day would have been extraordinary under any circumstance. On the cel…
RIP and Builders in Limbo
By Midge Pierce The final vote on the Residential Infill Project (RIP), five years in the making and re-making, has been postponed in recent weeks as …
Climate Crisis in the Age of COVID-19
By Midge Pierce Before the world ground to a corona virus-induced halt, climate seemed the Earth’s most pressing problem. Yet, long after this virus c…
RIP Decision Delayed
By Midge Pierce Public testimony on the controversial Residential Infill Project (RIP) that split the City into divisive camps is yet another casualty…
Will Mt. Hood Blow?
By Midge Pierce Portland loves its volcanoes. On a clear day, a lucky few may catch a 10-peak view along the storied stretch from Washington to southe…
Police Bureau Pledges Ongoing Reforms
By Midge Pierce A spike in gun violence has added steam to Portland residents who talk of leaving the City and its problems behind. New Police Ch…
Taborspace Fills Community Need
By Midge Pierce SE Portland lacks a community center, a situation that leaves organizations struggling to find space for events, concerts and more. …
Burnside Bridge: Retrofit or Rebuild?
By Midge Pierce Despite living in an earthquake zone, few Portland residents think about the danger of crossing the Willamette River on our aging br…
RIP Marches Forward
By Midge Pierce The Residential Infill Project (RIP) was presented to Council at a February work session as part of a broader Housing Opportunities …
Richmond Considers Parking Permits
By Midge Pierce Few issues rile up Portlanders quite so much as parking. On the eastside, it is dividing those who seek it from those who seek to re…
OCCL Seeks 3.96 Resolution
By Midge Pierce Code Change 3.96 would reform Portland’s public engagement system, and is intended to give marginalized communities more voice. …
Census Workers Needed
By Midge Pierce If you’re looking for a flexible, well-paying, part-time job that benefits your community, you may be in luck. The search for 2020 c…
PDX Main Street Calls for Nominations
By Midge Pierce PDX Main Street, a grassroots group launched six years to advocate good design elements for new builds along SE’s commercial corrido…
Police Strive to Turn Tide of Crime and Negativity
By Midge Pierce A perfect storm of conditions: an unprecedented police shortage, anti-police sentiment and diminishing crime prevention activity may…
RIP Gains Traction Amid Calls for More Density
By Midge Pierce Like it or not, quadplexes and possibly six or eight plexes are likely coming soon to Portland’s single family neighborhoods. Th…
Council Wrestles Over Contentious Code and Infill Proposals
By Midge Pierce As old Portland and new spar over the City’s future, Commissioners are in the hotseat hearing issues that split the City and blame c…
Buckman Fundraises a Makeover
By Midge Pierce Thanks to some busy holiday elves, Buckman Elementary students may return from break to find long-anticipated playground improvement…
City Takes Trees and Climate Seriously
By Midge Pierce As Fire Drill Friday climate protests swept the globe imploring action to save the planet, Portland took steps to curtail carbon emi…
Make Emergency Prep a New Year’s Resolution
By Midge Pierce Rising from the center of SE Portland is a reminder of nature’s unpredictability: the only volcano in a major American city, accordi…
New Seasons’ New Owners
By Midge Pierce Since New Seasons announced its sale under Good Food Holdings to South Korean E-mart, reactions at both the Hawthorne and Sellwood s…
Wyden Plans to Deliver
By Midge Pierce SE Portlanders know intuitively what US Sen. Ron Wyden confirmed last month: Oregon is among the top five states for unsheltered hom…
Residential Infill Project Update
By Midge Pierce Despite a recent Portland State University study indicating the number of people moving to Portland has slowed, city planners are co…
Look Up, There’s a Star Party on Mt. Tabor
By Midge Pierce If December holds a certain stargazing fascination for you (or you just want to scan the skies for Santa), consider trekking up Mt. …
Christmas House: Lights to Shine Once More
By Midge Pierce A once abandoned Georgian beauty known as The Christmas House, at 5631 SE Belmont Ave. is now fully restored and preparing to twink…
Walkabout Kicks Off Alliance
By Midge Pierce A coalition called Inner Powell Alliance (IPA) has formed with Creston-Kenilworth, Richmond, Hosford Abernethy and Brooklyn Neighbor…
Neighborhood Associations Live Another Day
By Midge Pierce Score a success for neighbors seeking to retain a pipeline to City Hall. Postponement of a code change vote that could have upended …
Civility Suffers as Challenges to Neighborhood Clout Continue
By Midge Pierce The role of the City’s Neighborhood Associations under Commissioner Chloe Eudaly’s watch remains in limbo with her apparent slowdown…
Kids Combat Climate Change
By Midge Pierce Anyone who doubts that children are leading the way to save the planet, meet Jeremy Clark and Charlie Abrams. Fearing for their …
Something to Crow About
By Midge Pierce They’re back and there’s a good chance their murder will land on a doorstep or rooftop near you. It’s crow season in Portland. As…
Homeless Solutions Remain Elusive
By Midge Pierce T he City, County and State are spending more than ever to curb homelessness. This year’s Point in Time Count showed homeless number…