Opinion
City’s rapid changes demand we act fast on housing
Urban renewal is the most powerful tool Portland has to direct development in the ways that we as a community want. Without it, we are at the mercy of private forces that we can’t control. But when we harness the resources of urban renewal, we Portlanders are able to put development to use to address…
Ignore the gunman behind UCC shootings? Just the opposite
In the days since the Umpqua Community College mass murder, communities grieve, mourners weep, survivors twist in anguish, and we — all of us — grope for answers. “How will we get through today? How can we face what might happen tomorrow?” Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin thinks he has the solution, which he expoused…
Director’s Desk: ‘We cannot become numb’ to deaths on the street
James Michael Bostick died of a heroin overdose on June 5 in Portland’s Union Station downtown. At 42 years old, James had lived a hard life. Holding back tears, Krista Campbell, James’ mother, talked to me by phone from her home in Florida. Her son had been battling addiction and homelessness for more than 13…
News
Finding the light in the darkness
Marissa Madrigal, former Multnomah County chair, gave this speech Thursday, Oct. 8, at Street Roots’ Annual Family Breakfast. I’m going to start with a confession. Lately, I’ve been feeling a little lost, a little melancholy and unsure of myself in the face of all these profoundly sad events and conditions in our community, state and…
Stacey Hallal and the power of comedy
After about 10 years of research and study, partly with Chicago’s Second City, Stacey Hallal brought what she learned back to the Rose City and, in 2008, opened the nonprofit Curious Comedy Theater. The group performs its own main-stage improv, sketch, and it does standup comedy shows two to four days a week. The theater…
Janet Holland heads mental health agency charged with helping Roseburg heal
At 10:38 on the morning of Oct. 1, a 26-year-old Umpqua Community College student shot and killed nine students and injured nine more before killing himself. Less than two hours later, the community college’s students, faculty and staff were evacuated to the Douglas County Fairgrounds, where they could call friends and family to tell them…
Vendor Profiles
John Brown is ‘so much more than a vendor’
Vendor of the Year John Brown travels the farthest every day to get to his sales location. Without fail, he can be found at Food Front Co-op in the Hillsdale Shopping Center. John has become a part of the fabric of that community, taking perch each day on Food Front’s porch. On the days with…
