🌱 Officer Hunzeker Fired + Nextdoor Inspired Vigilante

How are we doing today, Portland? The birds are singing, the rain is ending and the mask mandate is being repealed early. Things are shaping up pretty nicely. Let's talk about today.

First, today's weather:

The rain ends early today and we may even see some blue sky. The high temp will be 50.

Here are the top stories today in Portland:

1. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler plans to use his executive powers today to create a new homeless service hub within the city government, streamlining the work of various departments that interact with people living outdoors. The mayor will use his emergency powers to enact a Street Services Coordination Center, overseen by Community Safety Director Mike Myers, a former Portland fire chief and emergency management director. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
2. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has fired Officer Brian Hunzeker, former president of the Portland Police Association (PPA), nearly one year after he leaked information falsely identifying Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty as a hit-and-run suspect, the mayor announced Tuesday. "Real police reform requires community-oriented, hard-working, evidence-based, and fair-minded staff ... Police reform also means calling out actions that fail to meet these standards of public service," the mayor said in a statement. (KGW)
3. The Russian attack on Ukraine was at the front of minds during President Joe Biden's state of the union address Tuesday night. Ukrainians living here in the Pacific Northwest are trying to do everything they can to help their home country. Kun was born and raised in Kharkiv. While she cannot help in person, she is now raising and donating money to humanitarian relief. "This is where I can make a difference. I don’t know where else I can make a difference," Kun said. "At this point, the goal is just to save people’s lives, and to get people somewhere to recover from all the horror." (KATU)
4. Multiple women have spoken to the Mercury about being allegedly harassed by actor Christian Kane while working on Portland-area productions. Another said she was assaulted by actor Timothy Hutton following a production. While it's been almost a decade since Lily* worked as a day player on the Portland set of the television show Leverage, the darker memories of her time on the job have yet to fade. That includes the on-set sexual harassment she and other women workers say they endured, and an alleged sexual assault by a prominent actor on the TV series. (Portland Mercury)
5. For months, a narrative has grown among Oregon conservatives that Portland is filthy and needs to be cleansed. That idea has also found purchase among neighborhood associations, whose members on several occasions have threatened to take the law into their own hands. And it thrives on Nextdoor, the app that functions as a virtual neighborhood watch. By several accounts, similar obsessions drove Benjamin Smith, the man charged with murdering Knightly last week. So the actions of a lone gunman had a destabilizing effect: people on Nextdoor in the neighborhood where the killing happened struggled to fit the violence into their worldview. (Willamette Week)

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Today in Portland:

• Tony Starlight, his wonderful band, and special guests will lift your spirits at Alberta Rose Theatre in NE Portland tonight. Two years since the virus triggered lockdowns and assembly restrictions that altered our lives forever, it’s high time we gathered to laugh, sing songs we know by heart, raise our hands to the sky, and sway back and forth with our neighbors. Quite simply, we need to “be” together. Get your tickets online. Doors open at 6:30 PM.
• Local Roots Music NW is proud to host a five day residency featuring 15 NW artists at McMenamin's Al's Den in downtown Portland! With 3 acts a night, hosts Robert Richter and Ronnie Carrier are thrilled to welcome NW musicians from Portland, Seattle, Spokane, Eugene, Salem, and beyond! Tonight features songstress Jessa Campbell, indie rocker Arthur C. Lee and indie folk artist Last Year's Man. Tickets available online. Showtime is 6:00 PM.
• Celebrate the 2022 March First Thursday with a performance by Moorea Masa. This singer/songwriter/guitarist is known for transporting listeners from lush green forests to dimly-lit juke joints with her songs. She will be performing an intimate concert with a trio as part of the March First Thursday festivities at Portland Center Stage in NW Portland. This performance will also be livestreamed through YouTube, Facebook and Twitch. 5:00 - 7:00 PM.
• Rose City Underground presents the musical event House Call going on in downtown Portland. They will be working hard to bring you fresh new sounds with a consistent heavy nod towards the cultural history that flows behind us. A scene grows when you nurture the culture. Tonight features longtime musician Brandon Wolfymausen, playing everything from disco to techno, and Charlie Oh, a DJ who weaves together a variety of house music tracks, creating soundscapes of snappy drums, catchy vocals, and sweet-sounding melodies. Cash or Venmo door only 5-10$ sliding scale . Bar is cc ONLY no cash machine yet. The fun starts at 9:00 PM.
• Michelle Alany & The Mystics will play Sephardic & Klezmer love songs and more at Mississippi Pizza in North Portland. Given the current events in the news, she's been listening to Ukrainian folk songs. Get your tickets online.8:00 - 10:30 PM.

From my notebook:

• Travel Portland: "March is here and it's going to be a whole lot of fun! Hit the link in our bio for our full rundown of events. Cheers! #ThisIsPortland 📷: @jeremygenss #PDX #PDXNOW #TravelPortland #TravelOregon #PortlandOregon #HereForPortland" (Instagram)
• Portland Art Museum: "Before pixels, there was Pointillism. 🖌️ This month and year-round, we recognize and celebrate women artists who contributed to art history. Take a close look at Jeanne Selmersheim-Desgrange’s “View of Seine,” ca. 1910 from the collect..." (Instagram)
• Portland Parks & Recreation: "🚶🏾‍♀️Keen for a walk? 🚶🏽Here’s some inspiration. 👇🏾Check out Marquam Nature Park which includes a portion of the Marquam Trail, a linear trail and connection in the 40-mile Loop system, that starts at Willamette Park, passes over C..." (Facebook)
• In 1957, CBS aired a 30-minute film imagining what might happen if Portland, Oregon, came under threat of nuclear attack. Watch the video for a little taste of the cold war. (My Northwest)
• If you've lived in Portland long enough, you're familiar with the almost cult-like obsession with the carpet at Portland International Airport (PDX). The podcast 99% Invisible did a little segment documenting the famous PDX airport carpet. (YouTube)
• Speaking of podcasts, Popular Front speaks to Portland journalist Justin Yau who's on the ground in Kyiv covering the ongoing battle between Ukraine and Russia. Popular Front is a grassroots media organization that focuses solely on war and conflict. They go deeper than mainstream news in a way that makes important war coverage accessible for everyone. (Apple Podcasts)

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Events:

• Portland Chiropractors Announce Grand Opening (March 15)
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That's your day, my friends. Have fun with it. Go on, enjoy yourself, you deserve it. But please meet me back here tomorrow for more news of Portland.

— 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.