🌱Downtown Roe V. Wade Protests + Anti-Asian Actions Rise In Portland

Wow, the parties keep on coming here in Portland! Cinco de Mayo and a First Thursday, as well. Looks like my social calendar is full, but let me tell you about today first.

First, today's weather:

The rain returns and with it cooler weather with a high of 54.

Here are the top five stories in Portland today:

1. Nearly a year ago, WW first reported on a new project spearheaded by City Commissioner Dan Ryan: six safe rest villages in all quadrants of the city, each outfitted with basic hygiene services, communal living and cooking spaces, case management and behavioral health services. The idea was to shelter homeless Portlanders in pods while attempting to find them permanent housing. The project has been plagued with a litany of setbacks. One year later, the city is just starting to place tiny pods on the sites officials selected. (Willamette Week)
2. Portlanders took to the streets Tuesday night to reject the Supreme Court opinion suggesting they’d overturn Roe v. Wade. “Politics just don’t belong in the exam room,” said local OBGYN Jennifer Lincoln, who joined the pro-choice rally in downtown Portland. “I’m not here to tell people they should or shouldn’t agree with abortion, but I’m here to say that they should leave that choice to patients and their providers.” Separate from Tuesday’s rallies at Portland State University, against the Supreme Court’s draft opinion suggesting the court would overturn Roe v. Wade, unrest on Portland’s streets left some downtown businesses damaged. (KOIN)
3. After a record-setting month of rainfall in April, the threat of wildfires might be something placed on the backburner for some, however, Portland General Electric (PGE) is gearing up ahead of wildfire season and putting millions of dollars into fire prevention. PGE is investing about $32 million into wildfire mitigation. This is all part of the utility’s wildfire mitigation plan which includes vegetation management. Bill Messner, the director of wildfire mitigation and resiliency at PGE said crews are identifying and removing at-risk trees and branches that could potentially hit a power line and ignite a wildfire. (Fox 12 Oregon)
4. There was a time, not long ago, that cities across America were determined to end chronic homelessness within a decade’s time. Some even believed Portland was close to doing so. “My sense was we were making good progress before the crash in 2008 and the crash overwhelmed local governments and we never came back from it,” said Erik Sten, a former Portland city commissioner who was a champion of the 10-year plan to end homelessness. Today, there is no escaping Oregon’s housing and unsheltered crisis. It’s evident in nearly every part of the state. (OPB)
5. Asian businesses in the Portland area have been hit by a rash of vandalism and break-ins, community groups reported. An Asian American legislative candidate has been subjected to “you-brought-the-virus here” messages. And Asian students at a middle school in Portland have been racially taunted by classmates, according to a community leader. The anecdotes mirror findings in recent surveys by the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center and released April 28. The local nonprofit said the surveys found strong evidence that the number of race-based hate crimes and harassment of Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean Oregonians is on the rise. (OregonLive)

Today in Portland:

• Mandos Mundo Ent. presents a Cinco De Mayo celebration at Stage 722 in SE Portland. With the normal waterfront Cinco De Mayo festival still down, it’s being moved indoors this year to Morrison Market! Eat, drink and dance the day away with five food carts serving up some fire dishes, a full service bar with insane margarita specials and a craft brew tap with some of the best local beers and ciders around! And if that’s not enough, there will be a full rink with Lucha Libre wrestlers flying in from Mexico, sure to put on quite the show! The fun starts at noon.
• Join Modern Macramé for a Community Craft Night at its new space in North Portland. Bring your own project and craft with us! Join in and meet your crafting community at our cute, new shop. Stuck on a pattern? All tied up in knots? Eager to make new fiber friends? This casual, crafting circle is for you! Join Elspeth Vance, our resident Pattern Designer, Production Manager, and all-around-fiber-artist-extraordinaire, in community crafting! 4:00 - 7:00 PM.
• Sneaker Week invites you to celebrate Cinco De Mayo at the Pioneer Courthouse Square’s Welcome Dome. See highlights of the cultural influences of the Latinx community on footwear, design and storytelling. Hear from the Latin legends in the industry while getting your first chance to purchase tickets to Sneaker Week PDX ’22. 5:00 - 8:00 PM.
• There's a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Barrio inside of the Portland Mercado. Join and celebrate Cinco de Mayo with upbeat funky Latin music. It's a party! Free for all. Kids are welcomed. It will feature the music of Tequila Highway and their fusion of Latin music with rock, blues and funk. 6:30 - 8:30 PM.
• Spring has sprung! Grab your allergy meds, some fresh pints, and join Gigantic Brewing for the May edition of the Live Comedy Extravaganza! This extravagantly FREE show features comedy from Adam Pasi (Two time winner of Portland's Funniest Person), Marietje Hauprich (Helium Comedy Club, Vibe Comedy, Sorry Not Sorry), Julia Corral-Treasure (Comedy Corral, Sorry Not Sorry), and Noah Watson (Midnight Mic, Willamette Week's Funniest 5). 7:30 - 9:00 PM.

From my notebook:

• Portland is known for its coffee, and two Portlanders are further cementing the city’s place on the map by taking top honors during a national coffee competition. Morgan Eckroth from Keeper Coffee Co. took home the U.S. Barista Championship while Andrew Coe, part-owner and head roaster of Elevator Coffee, took fifth place overall in the U.S. Roaster portion. The competition was set in Boston and lasted several days. (KOIN)
• Ballots have been set out for the vote-by-mail May 17 primary that includes Oregon governor. The following Q&A was compiled by Oregon newsrooms collaborating to cover the 2022 governor's race. Journalists across the state drafted the following 15 questions, which were distributed to candidates by the Agora Journalism Center at the University of Oregon. Responses are in the candidates' own words and have been trimmed to the 300-word limit. Click on the "cards" to see how they responded to these questions on housing, crime, education, economy and environmental issues. The primary election is on May 17 and voting is underway. (Portland Patch)
• In the early 1990s, San Francisco was the epicenter for radical bike activism in America. In 1992 riders came together to take over streets dominated by car drivers for the first Critical Mass, a ride that would spark a global movement that reverberates today. Seven years later, perhaps burned out on heavy-handed policing, infighting and politicization of the ride, some of these activists moved onto something different: An event that would, “celebrate the glories of the bicycle” in the mold of the 1960s Freedom Summer or Summer of Love. They called it BikeSummer. Now, after 20 years since coming to Portland, no other city has continued the BikeSummer ethos for this long. And no other city in the world has anything quite like Portland’s Pedalpalooza. (Bike Portland)
• Interested in trying out a male birth control method? OHSU is looking for couples to participate in a research study. Help them develop a male contraceptive gel. Contribute to discoveries that may improve health care for you and your family! This study is testing a gel as a possible new method for male family planning. It is a transparent gel applied daily to the skin of the shoulders. It aims to decrease a man’s sperm production in a reversible way without reducing sexual drive. The study also looks at the men’s compliance and couple’s acceptance of this contraceptive method. (Study Pages)
• Lights Out Alert! Tonight, millions of birds will be migrating through Oregon skies. You can help them on their journey by turning off your outdoor lights and closing your blinds, AND writing to Portland City Council and telling them that you support dedicating funding in the upcoming budget to reduce light pollution in Portland. (Instagram)
• Shady Pines Radio is looking for some new DJs! It’s a volunteer run community internet radio station here in Portland. It’s looking for a few new DJs who are interested in hosting weekly live radio shows from home. It has about 90 DJs on the team right now, mostly local to the Portland area, doing all kinds of shows. SPR is home to a wide variety of musical taste, with an eye toward more obscure and non-mainstream selections. (Instagram)

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That's an action-packed Thursday! Art, music, tequila; there's a ton of ways to celebrate the evening. But don't over do it, Portland. I really hope to see you tomorrow, so I tell you all about your Friday.

— 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.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Portland Daily? Contact me at portland@patch.com