Ashah Smith News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Two weeks after Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office unveiled a heavily revised ordinance to address restrictions on homeless camping in Portland, other commissioners are floating their own versions. Despite the various plans on the table, homelessness experts say none of the proposed ordinances get to the root of the problem, or offer solutions to fix it. Earlier this week, City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez released a draft version of an ordinance that was vastly different from the...

A Portland city commissioner may have jumped the gun by appointing the city’s first interim deputy city administrator. Last week, Commissioner Rene Gonzalez’s office announced Mike Myers will assume a leadership role over the city’s new Public Safety Service Area. Public Safety will encompass the fire and police bureaus, emergency management, 911 operations, business operations, and programs and policy. The commissioner was the first to appoint a top leader to carry the city into its...

Portland’s elected leaders are pushing back on a key element of the city’s charter transition. After a lengthy City Council meeting Wednesday, November 1, commissioners voted to approve a new reporting structure for city bureaus and offices, but not before rewriting language to ensure current commissioners will continue overseeing city bureaus through the end of 2024. Come January 1, 2025, Portland will be managed by a city administrator and an interim city administrator, along with...

A homeless services consultant whose videos about Portland frequently went viral has been arrested on theft charges and accused of misusing his position.

Portland Street Response managers say a recent online petition garnering nearly 11,000 signatures is a resounding show of support, but internal memos indicate budget constraints and other directives still threaten the program’s livelihood. On Wednesday, Friends of Portland Street Response–a group formed to organize public support for the city’s alternative, crisis response program–delivered paperwork to Portland City Hall showing more than 10,000 people signed an online petition to preserve funding and resources for Portland Street...