Politics

How (and why) you can help Coastal Martens this Holiday

Coastal martens (also known as Humboldt martens and pacific martens) were once thought to be extinct. But 50 years after the last one was spotted, they began to show up, little by little. Their numbers are still low – there might be 500 in all – but thanks to good science —especially the good science […]

/ December 20, 2021

📈 A timeline of the Portland protests

After six months of near nightly protests against police brutality and calls for racial justice, a timeline and retrospective.

/ October 16, 2020

The Procrastinator’s Guide to Portland’s 2020 election

Enjoy this effective Bridgeliner guide to Portland’s elections. (🎨: Bridgeliner illustration) Bridgeliner has changed up its voter guide a little bit this year. Our goal is still to provide you with a resource for filling out your ballot in the most informed way possible, but due to the massive interest in this election, there seem […]

/ October 13, 2020

Mark Kruger Created a Public Shrine to Nazi Soldiers — And Kept His Job with Portland Police

When Portland police officers took a knee alongside protestors this week, it became part of a national narrative — a storyline about how most cops are good people who condemn violence and want to reform their departments and the system as a whole. But before we turn those officers into heroes for taking a knee, […]

/ June 4, 2020

The Future of Portland Is On the Ballot. How Will We Ever Decide?

It’s officially election season in Oregon, and it’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that the future of our city is on the ballot this year.  With four of the five Portland City Council seats up for grabs, voters have a chance to either give Mayor Wheeler and his colleagues a vote of […]

/ May 11, 2020

Trump Is Sowing Fear Ahead of the Census. Jordan Hernandez Is Pushing Back.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who became a Bridgeliner member to help make this project possible. Here are the profiles from Jordan’s series “We Count: Latinx Portland in 2020.” Candace Avalos Now Embraces Her ‘Blacktina’ Identity — But It Wasn’t Always Easy Teena Soto Smith Doesn’t Have All the Answers. And That’s OK.  Latina or Latinx? Maria Garcia […]

/ February 5, 2020

Mailbag: ‘Why Are You Shilling for Residential Infill?’

(📸: Mark McClure) “Your constant spewing of YIMBY talking points is too much. The Residential Infill Project was designed by those who will profit off it. The fact that you are shilling it, as though it will actually help with affordable housing, is shameful.” —S.A.  And so the debate begins!  ICYMI, we wrote in Monday’s […]

/ December 17, 2019

Your View: How to Fix Oregon’s Broken Tax System

By Bennett Minton The inequities in Oregon’s property tax are only one feature of a tax system that makes no sense. I was a tax wonk in D.C. for three decades, and I’ve spent a lot of my free time thinking about taxes, the purpose of which is to fund whatever ‘we the people’ want. […]

/ November 7, 2019

The Making of a Foster Family — What Local Foster Parents Told Us About Their Decision

One couple started fostering to give their friend a break. Another did it after they couldn’t get pregnant. Another saw it as their responsibility as Christians.  To help answer reader Vanessa Holmgren’s question about the incentives for becoming a foster parent in Oregon, we’ve been asking local foster families: What convinced you to take the […]

/ August 8, 2019

The 6 Things I’ve Learned About Foster Care in Oregon

Our readers sent in some great questions this month about Oregon’s foster care system, and I’ll be digging into them throughout the summer.  For now, here’s an update on what I’ve learned: 1. First things first: what even is foster care? That’s not a stupid question. Sometimes foster care is a short-term arrangement for a kid […]

/ July 24, 2019

Portland Can’t Fix Its Homelessness Crisis Without Learning from San Francisco

(📸: Erik Cooper on Flickr) “How does the Bay Area handle the homelessness issue?” When we invited questions about what Portland can learn from the Bay Area about managing growth, several readers asked us about homelessness — and it’s no surprise. Portland’s homelessness crisis ranks among the worst in the country, and on any given […]

/ June 18, 2019

Portlanders Are Riding Public Transit Less Often. Is More Housing the Fix?

(📸: Hector Chacon) “How can we get more people to ride public transit?” Reader Judy Welles submitted that question for our series on what Portland can learn from the Bay Area about managing growth — and it’s interesting timing. TriMet just announced that ridership has dipped nearly two percent since last year, continuing a downward […]

/ June 4, 2019

‘Can Optimism In Democracy Be Exploited?’ And Other Qs for Danielle Allen

(📸: Oregon Humanities / YouTube) Oregon Humanities wrapped up its 2018-19 Think & Drink series last month by interviewing Danielle Allen, a political theorist at Harvard University and author of the memoir “Cuz.” You can watch the full conversation on YouTube. And as always, we took questions from the audience for a bonus Q&A after […]

/ June 1, 2019

Your Questions about PERS, Answered

(📸: Hector Chacon) We shared an update last week about the PERS debate down in Salem and asked you for your burning questions — and boy, did you have questions. To help get answers, we turned to North Star Civic Foundation executive director Caitlin Baggott Davis, who co-authored a recent report about the PERS crisis […]

/ May 24, 2019

Think Local Government Is Gridlocked in Portland? Try Living in San Francisco

“How should the Portland metro area govern itself?” That’s the question that reader John Sieling sent me before my trip to the San Francisco Bay Area — and it’s one many Portlanders have been asking lately. In February, City Club released a 35-page report about Portland’s unusual form of government and proposed a series of […]

/ May 22, 2019

Can Portland Learn Anything from the Bay Area?

Timothy Egan once wrote a NYT column that described San Francisco’s growth as “nothing to emulate.” But for cities like Portland that are trying to avoid the same pitfalls, the Bay Area is certainly a place to study. That’s why we sent Ben to the Golden State last month to learn what’s working (and what’s […]

/ May 21, 2019

Here’s to Keeping Portland Special As Our City Grows

It’s no secret we think Portland is one special place — but we also know that keeping our city special as it grows will sometimes mean looking and learning beyond our borders. That’s why we travelled to the Bay Area last month to learn what’s working (and what’s not) for the region as it deals […]

/ May 21, 2019

Is Congestion Pricing the Solution to Portland’s Traffic Woes?

(📸: Pix For our latest Real Talk series, we’re digging into what Portland can learn from the Bay Area’s successes and struggles with growth, starting with a reader’s question about tolling: Does the Bay Area have toll roads and how’s that working out? I hate the idea of toll roads because I’ve seen them abused […]

/ May 15, 2019

Portland has Big Housing Problems. Brett Schulz is Thinking Small

MEET THIS CHANGEMAKER: Brett Schulz. Brett develops projects for non-profit organizations and affordable housing complexes. He is currently working on two major projects: 1) Jolene’s Cousin Series – a part SRO/part market-rate apartment building with commercial space below that has been funded by private donors and crowdsourced funds, and 2) A Homeownership program partnership with Portland […]

/ February 27, 2019

What Will Portland’s ‘Residential Infill’ Plan Do? We Asked the People Behind It

📸: Hector Chacon “I embrace progress. I’m not a curmudgeon. I understand the city needs to increase revenues and all that to function. I just think the city could do it a little more kindly. To me, it looks like the city is doing a money grab and giving developers carte blanche.” That’s how reader […]

/ February 4, 2019