December 1, 2023

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Today’s Forecast

49º | Showers | 84% chance of rain | Sunrise 7:50 a.m. | Sunset 4:40 p.m.

From pilot to permanent

An officer stands with their back facing the camera and words "Portland Police" across their back with downtown Portland and the Willamette River blurred in the background on a sunny day.

Tammy Mayer, the PPB’s body-worn camera program manager, said Axon cameras and software “performed very well” during the pilot. | Photo via the city of Portland

Portland City Council has approved a funding plan to outfit most of the city’s police officers with body-worn cameras in the coming months.

Under the plan, the city can spend up to $2.6 million to buy enough body cameras from Axon Enterprises to outfit all Portland Police Bureau uniformed officers who interact with the public (about 810). The budget also includes training and the technology needed for processing and storing video footage.

Portland was the largest municipal police department in the country without body cameras before a pilot program got underway earlier this year. About 150 PPB officers (from the Central Precinct and the Focused Intervention Team) wore Axon cameras for two months starting in August.

Who will wear them

Nearly 300 patrol officers will be equipped with the cameras every day, while 500 additional sworn members — like detectives and sergeants — will wear them while interacting with the public. It’s unclear whether the officers who participated in the pilot will continue wearing their cameras between now and when the remaining 650 officers receive their devices.

The timeline

Mayor Ted Wheeler, who oversees the PPB, said that rolling out the new body cameras is going to take “some time” because officers will need plenty of training. The policy that governed the pilot program, agreed upon by the city and the police union, may also be adjusted. During the pilot, officers were required to turn on their cameras for all service calls and the cameras turned on automatically if an officer drew their weapon or turned on their vehicle lights. City officials estimate that officers will be ready to wear the devices within the next 10 months.

Events

Friday, Dec. 1

L’Chaim: A Hanukkah Pop Up Experience | Friday, Dec. 1-Friday, Dec. 15 | Times vary | Leikam Brewing, 5812 E. Burnside St., Portland | Free | All are welcome at this Hanukkah-themed pop-up featuring special beers like the “Ain’t No Challahback Girl,” snacks, unique cocktails, nonalcoholic drinks, and a Jell-O shot made with Manischewitz.
Festive Fleece Holiday Fun Run | Friday, Dec. 1 | 5-6 p.m. | Rotary Plaza, 12345 SW Main St., Portland | $15 | Lace up your sneakers and pull on a cozy fleece for this 1.5-mile route with prizes for those who reach the finish line in under 8 minutes and 30 seconds.
Irish Network Portland Holiday Party 2023 | Friday, Dec. 1 | 7 p.m. | Kells Irish Restaurant & Pub, 112 SW Second Ave., Portland | $20-$40 | Connect with the Irish-American community group at this third annual cocktail party filled with drinks, food, prizes, and new friendships.
Unmask Lupus: Silent Auction & Masquerade | Friday, Dec. 1 | 7-10 p.m. | Easton Broad, 237 NE Broadway, Ste. 300, Portland | $75 | Support the Lupus Foundation of America at this fundraiser with bites and drinks; guests are encouraged to wear masks to symbolize the mystery surrounding the disease.

Saturday, Dec. 2

My People’s Market | Saturday, Dec. 2-Sunday, Dec. 3 | 11 a.m.-5 p.m. | Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland | Free | Food, music, fun activities, and more than 160 vendors at this family-friendly market designed to advance opportunities for business owners of color.

Sunday, Dec. 3

Breakfast with Santa | Sunday, Dec. 3 | 10 a.m.-12 p.m. | The Laurelhurst Club, 3721 SE Ankeny St., Portland | $15 | Kids will think Christmas morning came early at this pancake breakfast attended by North Pole royalty; donations of unwrapped toys are encouraged.
Just Pressed Wine Fest #3 | Sunday, Dec. 3 | 2-6 p.m. | 107 SE Washington St., Portland | $30-$40 | Get an inside look at the winemaking world, meet Oregon and Washington producers, and taste your way through the vino rainbow, including wines bottled just this year.

Monday, Dec. 4

Boozy Book Fair | Monday, Dec. 4 | 5-7 p.m. | Migration Brewing - Glisan, 2828 NE Glisan St., Portland | Free | Take a walk down memory lane at this grown-up version of a school book fair featuring libations, literature, and gifts.

Events calendar here

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News Notes

Civic

One of Portland’s 12 bridges has a new name. Multnomah County, in conjunction with Tribal governments, passed a resolution to rename Sauvie Island Bridge to Wapato Bridge in recognition of the Indigenous peoples who lived on the land. (KOIN)

Travel

Visiting Seattle this holiday season? Amtrak Cascades will add two more daily round trips between Portland and the Emerald City starting Monday, Dec. 11, with trains leaving Union Station as early as 6:45 a.m. and as late as 7:25 p.m. Check out SEAtoday on your journey. (KOIN)

Opening

Migration Brewing is popping up everywhere lately. The company is opening a new pop-up location called Migration’s Craft Collective at 2425 SE 35th Place, which it hopes to eventually make a permanent location. Customers will find signature and experimental beers starting Friday, Dec. 15, and food at the neighboring Farmhouse Carts. (Willamette Week)

Sports

The Portland Timbers will say goodbye to Argentine midfielder Sebastián Blanco this winter. Blanco played 176 matches with the Timbers after joining the team in 2017, scoring 41 goals and leading the team to win 2020’s MLS is Back Tournament, but chronic knee issues kept him largely off the field during his final season. (The Athletic)

Environment

Researchers at Oregon State University will join a nationwide study to better understand a disease turning “newly hatched [honeybee] larvae into brown mush.” The scientists will follow over 1,500 hives that are transported to pollinate crops up and down the West Coast and in Mississippi starting in February. (KOIN)

Tech

A Portland-based startup wants to help kids safely navigate the internet. Hello Wonder uses a combination of information submitted by guardians and AI to customize a child’s online experience, ask comprehensive questions, and set reminders. Five families, including that of co-founder and Google alum Seth Raphael, are currently testing Wonder. (Portland Inno)

Shop

ICYMI, Habitat for Humanity Portland Region ReStores are now open seven days a week. Every purchase from the home improvement store helps fund local Habitat homebuilding programs — that sounds like a good deal to us. Learn more.*

Development

✨ ‘We’ve been waiting for this for 30 years’

“We’ve been waiting for this for 30 years,” said Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle. | Rendering courtesy of First Forty Feet

Portland’s neighbor across the Columbia River is evolving so quickly that, if you don’t visit regularly, it might seem like someone simply waved a magic wand. Poof! There’s a shiny new waterfront. Poof! There’s another residential tower.

The city of Vancouver is now pointing that wand downtown and summoning a mighty spell of transformation.

This week, city leaders invited community members to a final open house session where they showcased City Council-approved designs to reconstruct Main Street from Fifth to 15th streets starting next spring.

Here are some of the changes that are in store:

Replacement of diagonal parking spaces with curbside parking
Widened sidewalks with room for outdoor restaurant seating
Improved safety + accessibility features like inlaid sidewalk strips for visually impaired pedestrians
New street lighting, landscaping, and infrastructure for events that would close side streets to traffic
New underground utility lines

Construction is slated to be completed no later than winter 2025.

The Buy

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The Wrap

Today’s edition by:
Cambrie

From the editor

There’s still time to partake in the “world’s only film festival dedicated to mushrooms and molds.” The Fungi Film Fest’s final showing is this Sunday, Dec. 3, at 4 p.m., at Cinema 21, with works from nine countries exploring the fascinating world of mycology and a filmmaker Q&A session.

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