🌱 City Hall Demonstrators + Bullets Fly In Portland

Dominic Anaya
Updated ·5 min read

Happy Tuesday, Portlanders! Things are happening and I'm here to tell you about it. Why should you listen to me? No idea, but I'm going to keep on talking.

First, today's weather:

Early morning clouds will clear up to partial sun in the afternoon and a high of 50.

Here are the top five stories today in Portland:

  1. Demonstrators rallied outside Portland City Hall to show support for city workers who may strike next week. Workers are calling for a wage increase. They said the city's most recent offer would leave employees with a 5% wage cut. Union members are now considering the city's latest offer. If they vote it down, union members say 1,200 workers across 17 bureaus will go on strike on Thursday at 9 a.m. (KPTV.com)

  2. The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Oregon will peak this weekend and then decline quickly, returning to pre-omicron levels by the end of March, according to the latest predictions from Oregon Health & Science University. Hospitals remain under incredible strain. Statewide, almost one in four hospital inpatients has COVID-19. And a record number of patients — 608, or about one in 10 — are ready to leave the hospital but lack access to home health care or a long term care bed. (OPB)

  3. A massive, earthquake-induced oil spill in Portland’s Northwest industrial zone could cost upwards of $2 billion in damages and clean up costs, a county and city report found. Regional officials are using this new data to build a case for why the oil tank owners should be liable for the costs while state legislators are proposing a bill to mitigate the disaster. (Portland Mercury)

  4. Bullets continue to fly around Portland in 2022, with 116 shootings already reported in the first 5 weeks of the year. Four homicides were recorded in Portland this week, all from gunfire. Early Saturday a man was shot to death in Northeast Portland’s Argay Terrace neighborhood not long before a shooting on Hayden Island wounded one person. (KOIN)

  5. Deputies are warning parents that they’ve had reports of a man offering children candy to get into his car in Washington County. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said it had two separate but similar reports over the past week. The latest incident happened Friday in North Plains. An 11-year-old was walking after getting off the school bus when a man pulled up, offered him candy, and encouraged him to get in the vehicle. (KATU)

Today in Portland:

  • Powell's Books presents an online conversation with Chuck Klosterman. The ’90s brought about a revolution in the human condition we’re still groping to understand. In The Nineties, Chuck Klosterman makes a home in all of it: the film, the music, the sports, the TV, the politics, the changes regarding race and class and sexuality, the yin/yang of Oprah and Alan Greenspan. Klosterman has written a multidimensional masterpiece, a work of synthesis so smart and delightful that future historians might well refer to this entire period as Klostermanian. It all happens at 5:00 PM.

  • Spice up your Taco Tuesday with DJ Danny playing Rumba and Salsa music at Stage 722 in SE Portland. Whether you are a pro or just learning, this night is for you! We have instructors ready to teach you all the steps or join in to be your dancing partner. Come hungry and bring your best dancing shoes! 7:00 - 11:30 PM.

  • Singer-songwriter Samia will be at Holocene in SE Portland. She gained widespread acclaim for her impressive vocals and confessional songwriting. Her wit and self-deprecating humor shine through on her debut album, Baby. On her latest EP, Scout, she tapped into something more emotional by taking inspiration from themes of mental health and self-help, which we can all relate to after the last two years. Tickets available online. Doors open at 7:00 PM.

  • If you're in the mood for some goth-flavored burlesque, come to the Coffin Club in SE Portland for Burlynomicon. Produced and hosted by Natasha Riot, Burlynomicon is a darkly decadent monthly showcase of performance featuring a rotating cast of cabaret and performance art talent from Portland and beyond. Performers present art with a dark but humorous twist. Doors open at 7:00 PM.

  • The Clinton Street Theater is screening the documentary News From Home tonight. Letters from Chantal Akerman’s mother are read over a series of elegantly composed shots of 1976 New York, where our (unseen) filmmaker and protagonist has relocated. Akerman’s unforgettable time capsule of the city is also a gorgeous meditation on urban alienation and personal and familial disconnection. Showtime is 7:00 PM.

From my notebook:

  • Portland Trail Blazers: "Good to see some old friends 📸" (Instagram)

  • Travel Portland: "That's a wrap on Dumpling Week 2022! Thanks to all the participating restaurants, you really worked your tails off so we could eat well this week. And to everyone who patronized these wonderful restaurants and food carts for dumplings: y..." (Instagram)

  • Portland Art Museum: "Artist Dan Flavin used only fluorescent tube lights arranged to create light, color, and space. He explained, “One might not think of light as a matter of fact, but I do. And it is, as I said, as plain and open and direct an art as you w..." (Instagram)

  • Waypoint Aerial Imagery did a video for Lan Su during their Chinese New Year Lantern Viewing Evenings. It's a pretty fun watch. Enjoy! (YouTube)

  • “Love is in the Air” is an experiential, experimental, interactive, immersive, art installation gallery. It is the latest popup art installation created, financed and produced by “Portland’s best Balloon Artist” Kameron Messmer. It will be located inside Pioneer Place and will run Friday the 11th - Monday the 14th, Valentine's Day. Kameron’s lifelong mission as an artist is to spread joy through creating immersive, magical experiences. (Eventbrite)

Loving the Portland Daily? Here are all the ways you can get more involved:

Have a great Tuesday, my friends. We've got a whole new week ahead of us and we're going to make the best of it. Join me back here tomorrow and we'll talk all about our life in Portland.

— Dominic Anaya

About me: Doctor, educator and now a writer/artist, I'm just chillin' in Portland, OR with my wife, our ferrets, our chickens and our goats.

This article originally appeared on the Portland Patch