Opinion
Opinion | Measure 26-217 will help create real police oversight
Members of the Mental Health Alliance will vote YES on Portland City Ballot Measure 26-217 to form a new and empowered police review board and bring accountability and credibility to the Portland Police Bureau. But first — say their names. Aaron Campbell, Black, died in 2010. Distraught over the death of his brother earlier that…
Opinion | Why you should listen to kids about city planning, transportation and housing
Communities across Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties desperately need transportation infrastructure upgrades and improved safety measures and to meet the challenges of the climate crisis. Measure 26-218, the regional transportation measure on the ballot this fall, makes necessary improvements in all these areas and will invest billions of dollars into our communities over the next…
Opinion | Community land trusts could help heal segregated cities
American cities represent part of the nation’s long and grim history of discrimination and oppression against Black people. They can also be part of the recovery from all that harm. Some cities’ work can be symbolically important, such as removing public monuments that honor oppression. But as professors of urban sustainability and community development at…
Kaia Sand | Democracy must reach the unhoused — and that includes voting
They just keep at it. The day the Proud Boys attempted to disrupt the city, the Street Roots Action Team was undeterred and focused, out on the trails and sidewalks registering people to vote. Democracy in action. Kaia Sand is the executive director of Street Roots. This column represents her views. Then there was the…
Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendors tell us what they’re grateful for
"What are you grateful for?" Street Roots vendors respond: Tom Miller “I’m grateful to have a Man up there looking over me. If you don’t have faith, you don’t have much. Things may be really stressful, but somehow, you’re still making it.” Honey Badger “I’m grateful for God. I wake up blessed every single day,…
News
Coping with the moment: Insights into resilience on the frontlines of 2020
A month of utter destruction caused by devastating wildfires. Four months of nightly standoffs with protesters standing up for Black lives and against police brutality. Eight months into a global health pandemic with no end in sight. And within each ongoing event, a death toll. The emotional weight is stacking up. “I imagine we’re going…
Opinion | Community land trusts could help heal segregated cities
American cities represent part of the nation’s long and grim history of discrimination and oppression against Black people. They can also be part of the recovery from all that harm. Some cities’ work can be symbolically important, such as removing public monuments that honor oppression. But as professors of urban sustainability and community development at…
Isolation during the pandemic exacts a complex toll on senior citizens
For people over 50, the physical health impacts of loneliness are alarming. Social isolation can be as harmful to their health as smoking cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And for those with heart failure, feeling lonely correlates with a nearly quadruple increased risk of death, according to a National Academies…
Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s fight endures; these Oregonians are making sure of it
The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has long been acclaimed for carrying the weight of progressive issues in the Supreme Court on her small yet mighty shoulders. A fierce defender of reproductive freedoms and gender equality, Ginsburg shaped the legal fight for women’s rights since the early ’70s. While the political battle over her vacant…
Medford residents to sue over camp sweep during wildfire
At least eight people, some of whom are homeless, say they plan to sue the city of Medford, the Medford Police Department and Jackson County following last month’s police sweeps of an unofficial mutual-aid site in the city’s Hawthorne Park. Jayden Becker and their brother Sam were among the residents of the camp. Becker said activists designated the…
