🌱 Kotek On Housing + Traffic Fatalities + Death With Dignity

Happy Tuesday, Portland! It's a whole new month and I'm turning in my costume for a chef's hat. Have you ordered your turkey yet? Well, we've got some time before Turkey Day, so why don't I catch you up on what's going on today.

First, today's weather:

Clouds in the morning, with rain on and off for the afternoon and a high temp of 54. Brrr, make sure to bundle up.

Here are the top stories today in Portland:

1. It's a packed agenda for Portland City Council this Thursday, as it discusses what to do with $31 million in surplus funds. That's a lot of cheddar, but Portland has more than enough issues to spend it on. Some propositions will direct funds to address houselessness, while others will steer funds towards police programs, such as hiring more officers and purchasing body-worn cameras. It will also preview the next fiscal year budget that takes effect on July 1, 2022. The session will be streamed on the city’s website. I'll bring the popcorn. (KOIN)
2. Let's give some props to House Speaker Tina Kotek! She's caught the attention of the White House for a law she spearheaded, which may be a model for states across the nation. Kotek, who is now running for governor, told the group Oregon's new law is intended to restore an older model of housing that enabled people with various incomes and at different stages of their lives to live in the same neighborhood. (Portland Patch)
3. Lots of talk, but few answers, came out of a virtual town hall held over the weekend. Nonprofits, lawmakers and law enforcement leaders including Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese, met on Saturday to discuss gun violence. This comes after Portland broke its own record for the number of recorded homicides.(KGW)
4. Portland set a goal of eliminating all traffic deaths by 2025 through its Vision Zero program in 2015, but traffic deaths have regularly increased since the project began. “One of the reasons that Vision Zero is having trouble getting traction is because some of the big environmental changes, or big changes to infrastructure that they're taking on, take years and years to get from planning to design to construction,” said Brendon Haggerty, the county’s Healthy Homes and Communities program supervisor. (Portland Mercury)
5. Oregon was the first state to pass a Death with Dignity law, allowing doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives. Now one of those doctors is suing the state, to open up access to non-residents. Nicholas Gideones, who works in family medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), is the medical director of Kindred Hospice in Portland and Salem. Gideones said it is all about access, and due to a high percentage of medical facilities in southwest Washington that have religious exemptions over end-of-life care, those patients need access to Oregon doctors. (KGW)

Today's Portland Daily is brought to you by our friends at Ring, the home security company. Ring does a lot more than doorbells: check out their full suite of smart home products at Ring.com. And thank you Ring for helping to make local news happen in Portland!

Today in Portland:

• Make your evening both fun and educational at OMSI's Science Pub Portland going on at its Empirical Theater in SE Portland. Tonight's feature is Cataclysms on the Columbia - the Great Missoula Floods. Join Scott Burns, PhD, Professor of Geology at Portland State University as he talks about two great stories related to these great floods that affected over 16,000 square miles in the Pacific Northwest. Masks are required for this event. Doors open at 6:00 PM.
• Halloween may be over, but the fear is just beginning. The fear that you won't know the answers to these trivia questions, that is! If you think you know your horror movies, head to The 4th Wall Theater & Lounge in SE Portland for its John Carpenter Trivia Night. It’s difficult to argue that John Carpenter isn’t one of the most influential horror directors of all time, but how well do YOU know his movies? Team up with friends or go it alone in the ultimate cinephile showdown. The winners not only get a prize, they ALSO get to choose which Carpenter movie we watch after! Starts at 6:00 PM.
• Have you ever wanted to learn how to play the ancient game of Go? Well, now's your chance, because the Portland Go Club is hosting a Learn & Play Go evening at the Alder Commons in NE Portland. There should be plenty of boards and stones, but feel free to bring your own, too! Weather permitting, there will be some tables to play outside, too. Masks required indoors! This event goes from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.
• Author and Activist Benjamin Carlton will be speaking tonight at The Heathman Hotel in downtown Portland about his new book I'm Black, I'm a Minster, and I'm Gay. Portland is one of his stops on his STAN for Love Tour and he'll be speaking about how he overcame homophobia and how he uses religion to preach love. The event is free, but online registration is required. 7:00 - 9:oo PM.

Portland Patch Notebook

• Portland Trail Blazers: "Yabba-Dabba-Doo! (via @damianlillard)" (Instagram)
• Portland Audubon: Belated Happy Owloween from Portland Audubon! Here's a Great Horned Owl perched on a diagonal branch right next to the trunk of the tree with blurred out ..." (Instagram)
• All aboard! Holiday trains are back on track around the Pacific Northwest, with family-friendly excursions departing on scenic, historic railroads across the region. In Oregon, that includes trips around Mount Hood, the Pacific Coast and the Willamette Valley, as well as along historic railroads in eastern Oregon and southwest Washington. Holiday train ride operators are abiding by Oregon public health mandates around the COVID-19 pandemic, which currently require passengers to wear face masks except while eating or drinking. (The Oregonian)
• Halloween is over, so what becomes of the jack-o'-lanterns? Well, if you've ever been a destructive kid, I think you know. But it's not just humans that love to smash pumpkins; at the Oregon Zoo, the animals are getting in on the action as well. Check out all the gourd destroying high jinx by creatures big and small. (Willamette Week)
• Good news for Portland area racing fans; bad news for anyone who lives within ear shot of the Portland International Raceway. NASCAR is coming to PIR on June 4th, 2022 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The June race event will mark the first appearance of a NASCAR national series in the Pacific Northwest since 2000. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series visited both PIR and Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, WA that year. (KXL)
• You may think you know Portland, but are you familiar with Mills End Park? It's in the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest park in the world. Measuring just 452 square inches, it's been there since 1946 when it was created by reporter Dick Fagan who worked for the Oregon Journal, which had its offices across the street. It was made an official city park 30 years later. It's been closed since the city started work on the Better Naito Forever Project, but is scheduled to reopen by the end of the year. (Portland Patch)

From our sponsors — thanks for supporting local news!

Featured businesses:

• Add your business here

Events:

• Taxes in Retirement Seminar (November 15)
• Taxes in Retirement Seminar (November 16)
• Add your event

There you have it, another Tuesday in Portland. Welcome to November, folks, the weather's getting cold, so let's show each other some warmth. And meet me back here tomorrow and we'll see what Wednesday will bring. If you're feeling these newsletters, consider bringing some of your friends and neighbors on board. You can send them this link to subscribe.

— 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? Reach out anytime to portland@patch.com.