City Council

Portland’s biggest business chamber wants a judge to scrap a sweeping November ballot measure aimed at fundamentally reshaping the city’s government and voting structure.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty cast the lone ‘no’ vote on a contract for central city security and sanitation, saying she had heard overwhelming concern from the public that the contract left major concerns unaddressed. But the rest of the council said they felt the agreement was necessary to help revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic and rehab its reputation. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler cited a public at its “wit’s end.”

Portland is beefing up penalties for those street racers who shut down intersections and roadways and speed around city streets, following a City Council vote on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Portland City Council unanimously approved new fire bureau protocols aimed at keeping homeless individuals from camping in large forested swaths of the city during wildfire season.

The city of Portland has signed a $150,000 contract with a firm specializing in police oversight. The outside investigators will need to report back to the city by the end of the year.

Because the state of emergency will now expire before the city votes on the permanent code change, the city said it needed to be extended one more time.

The city of Portland unanimously agreed to settle a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday brought by the family of Quanice Hayes, a Black teenager who was fatally shot by a police officer in 2017 while on his knees.

In a memo distributed this week, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler urged Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty to speed up the Portland Street Response, a highly-anticipated program that will dispatch a non-police response to certain 911 calls. The fire bureau began training staff for a pilot program on Monday.

With less than two weeks to go until election night, Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty is pushing to place stringent restrictions on the 56 Portland Police officers who remain federally deputized.

In a debate at the Portland City Club, City Council candidates Loretta Smith and Jo Ann Hardesty differed sharply on public safety. They also misstated some facts.