This article was originally published on Rebel Metropolis. Editors note: This is my first piece for Rebel Metropolis, a new writing endeavor of mine that will chronicle the ongoing struggles of people to protect urban space and wilderness, the current bicycle resurgence against capitalist car culture, and the Right to the City movement. I look...
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It’s been almost two weeks since Portland voters overwhelmingly rejected a plan to add fluorosisilic acid to Bull Run tap water. Outspent 3 to 1 and facing fluoride lobbyists, high-paid consultants, and king-maker campaign operators, a loose-knit posse of citizen activists banded together to help Clean Water Portland overcome ‘Healthy Kids, Healthy Portland’ by...
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If you’re reading this, that means spring has sprung and Pedalpalooza is just around the corner. As a lover of the Earth and all things fun, it is your Cascadian duty to pull your bike out of storage and get it tuned up. It’s time to ride. But come next next fall, you’re not...
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If you worked on the ‘Healthy Kids Healthy Portland‘ campaign promoting fluoridation of Portland’s legendary Bull Run fresh water, you’re probably not having the best week. You’re probably thinking, “I don’t understand, HOW could we have lost by 21 percent with the campaign manager/consultant duo of Evyn Mitchell and Mark Wiener that crafted platinum...
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Recently, Oregon’s Chief Education Officer (CEO) Rudy Crew wrote an editorial in the Portland Tribune purportedly distancing his plans for education “reform” from the much-maligned standardized testing regime being foisted upon our youth. Here are some comments on his editorial I made in an email exchange that I’ve chosen to publish as a free standing...
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What does it mean to have a sustainable city? While I am still tentatively certain that this concept will forever remain an impossibility in the strict sense (see William E. Rees, “Is ‘sustainable city’ an oxymoron?” 1997), I’m equally sure that we must begin moving toward this imperative with cities that are at least...
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By Portland Teacher (writing anonymously out of fear of reprisal) Just months after angry parents, students, and teachers forced Portland Public Schools (PPS) officials to back down from closing several neighborhood schools, PPS has found a new target: teachers. Negotiations between the school district and Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) began this month with...
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By now you’ve likely received your special election ballot in the mail, and if you’ve been focused on the issue of adding fluorosilicic acid, (aka fluoride) into our drinking water, you’ve likely already voted and mailed your ballot. If you’re one of the thousands of Portlanders who haven’t yet voted and are undecided, well,...
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On Tuesday, April 30th 2013, a semi rig hauling a massive trailer collided with the CL line streetcar on Martin Luthur King Jr. boulevard at Market street. There were no injuries. The massive truck was attempting a left-hand turn and swung wide across all four lanes of moving traffic before slamming into the streetcar, completely...
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You might call it the world’s shortest march. You might call it a real-life trolling of the police state. Both the police and the corporate media had learned of this event via social media… just as we had intended. Unfortunately, we weren’t there to sate their desire for tragedy, but rather, to have a...
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• The following three essays were written by local PDX bicycle writer Elly Blue. Please be prepared to discuss the following articles at our next class. • ‘More and more of us have less and less money these days. Fortunately, there are a lot of things you don’t need money to do, and bicycling...
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Friday, April 26 • Portland, Oregon Alberta Street saw upwards of 700 clean water lovers take to the streets Thursday in opposition to fluoridation chemicals being added to fresh Bull Run tap water. The heated campaigns for and against fluoridation have been waging an all out war, though the pro-fluoride side has received far...
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