🌱 Property Owners Oppose Women's Shelter + Gas Prices Remain High

Happy Thursday, Portland! I'm usually in the mood for fun, but I think today is a day for mischief. Let's see what sort of mischief we can get into today.

First, today's weather:

We've got a cloudy day with a high of 52.

Here are the top five stories in Portland today:

1. A group of property owners in Portland’s Central Eastside are suing Multnomah County over the location of a new women’s shelter. They contend elected leaders botched the public engagement process and flouted zoning rules. The developers behind the city’s Electric Blocks, a cluster of five trendy office buildings in the industrial area, filed their lawsuit Tuesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. The plaintiffs say their millions of dollars in investments in the area will be wiped away if the homeless shelter opens as planned in mid-April at 120 S.E. Market St. (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
2. Oregon will no longer require people to be residents of the state to use its law allowing terminally ill people to receive lethal medication, after a lawsuit challenged the requirement as unconstitutional. In a settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Portland on Monday, the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Medical Board agreed to stop enforcing the residency requirement and to ask the Legislature to remove it from the law. (KGW)
3. The future of the five city monuments toppled during 2020's racial justice protests is beginning to come into focus. On Monday, the city of Portland made public a call for project proposals from contractors interested in getting paid $50,000 to collect community feedback on what should happen to the monuments and what should become of other city monuments considered controversial for representing a person or movement that may have harmed marginalized communities. (Portland Mercury)
4. Since Feb. 5, when Mayor Ted Wheeler enacted an emergency ban on camping along highways and the city’s most dangerous streets, city workers have swept 50 homeless camps. The mayor’s office provided a list of swept locations to WW on March 29. Many of those camps were along Interstates 5, 205 and 405, including on- and off-ramps, and most were located in North and Northeast Portland. A number of camps along Southeast Powell Boulevard were also swept (see the full list here). (Willamette Week)
5. Gas prices around the nation haven’t changed much since last week, but Portland reached a record average cost per gallon this week. Portland prices averaged $4.79 per gallon on Sunday and matched that record on Tuesday, according to AAA. The price was an increase of about two cents from last week’s average. Portland’s prices have consistently been steeper than the state average, which is already one of the highest in the nation. (The Oregonian)

From our sponsor:

Today’s newsletter is brought to you in part by Ring, a Patch Brand Partner. We all know that Ring is the leader in video doorbells for home security. But did you know that Ring now makes a home security system that is getting raves from consumer electronic experts?

To learn more about Ring Alarm Pro, the system CNET called "the future of home security,” or to build your own custom system, visit Ring here.

Today in Portland:

• The Queer Horror Series at the Hollywood Theater presents a screening of " The Lure." Directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska and featuring music by Barbara & Zuzanna Wronska, THE LURE chronicles Silver and Golden, two man-eating mermaids adopted by a washed-up lounge singer to entertain at the sleaziest club in 1980s Warsaw. But when one of them falls in love with a human man, their victims won’t be the only ones ripped apart. Showtime is 8:30 PM.
• Welcome to Hip Hop Hell: A Showcase of Alternative-Hip Hop and Flowave is happening at Mississippi Pizza. Featuring KNOFACE, a Portland local rap artist that has made his mark by rapping over 80s inspired electronic instrumentals known as Synthwave or Retrowave. Think slam-poetry/conscious hip hop meets 80s horror films meets Naruto… you get the idea. 8:00 - 11:00 PM.
• The variety show Friends Without Benefits is going on at the Alberta Abbey. Come see Portland's finest singers, songwriters and best buds sing, play and (most likely) drink together in the classic "session" style! All ages are welcome.6:00 - 9:00 PM.
• The Portland Art Museum presents the online event Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism in the USA and Their Worldwide Contributions. This presentation is a look at the widespread legacy of Mexico’s avant-garde artists, presented in conjunction with Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Join Portland-based artist and educator, Hector H Hernandez, in a lecture that reflects upon this movement’s influence within the United States, along with the artistic contributions of Kahlo and Rivera within US art circles. Register online for access. 5:30 - 7:00 PM.
• All Classical Portland presents the Delgani String Quartet at the Lincoln Recital Hall in downtown Portland. This program travels between Spain and Latin America, featuring Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas, a six-part work inspired by the folk music and instruments of the Peruvian Andes. The program opens with an early quartet by Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, known in his day as the “Spanish Mozart.” Another Spaniard, Joaquín Turina, stunningly evokes the experience of a bullfighter in La Oración del Torero. The program concludes with Alberto Ginastera’s first quartet, an Argentinian modernist masterpiece. Showtime is 7:30 PM.

From my notebook:

• Portland Audubon: "See a baby bird alone and think they need help? Most of the time, they are still under the care of their parents even if you don't see the parents around. Feeding can be lightning quick and parents spend a lot of time searching for food...." (Instagram)
• Mary Kay Gehring said that she first noticed the owls about three weeks ago. Even living up in the forested hills of West Haven-Sylvan, it's not every day that she gets to see a new family of great horned owls settle in for their own style of domestic bliss. Little did Gehring know, there'd soon be trouble in paradise — and she'd find herself right in the middle of it. (KGW)
• The Fiber Art Invitational starts today at the Alberta Street Gallery. Featuring the art of Amy Reader, Robin Maslin, Felicia Murray, Olivia Schroeder, and members of High Fiber Diet. Fiber artists were invited to share their work and the diversity of the medium. This Community Show will be held in Lauvan's Community Gallery. (Facebook)
• If you're a gardener, you'll be happy to know that Free Compost Days are almost here. What are Free Compost Days, you ask? Every fall, Portland Bureau of Transportation collects leaves from city streets and converts them into high-quality compost. This spring, the city of Portland has so much compost, they’re giving it away for free! From April 22 - Mary 1, in celebration of Earth Day, Portlanders can pick up their FREE compost at our Sunderland Maintenance Yard, 9325 NE Sunderland Road, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. This offer ends on May 1 or when the city runs out of compost, so don’t delay. (Portland.gov)
• They may be just street names, but the Alphabet District of Northwest Portland holds a lot of the city's history. The area's history dates back to the mid 1800s when John Heard Couch, a sailor from Massachusetts, claimed 640 acres as part of the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850. It was known as Couch's Addition and what is now Northwest Portland, including the Pearl District and Old Town. Couch's plat of land was adjacent to city founders Pettygrove and Lovejoy's claim that is current day downtown Portland. (KGW)
• Comedy lives, and so does Funniest Five, the Willamette Week's annual poll in which members of Portland’s comedy community vote for the funniest among them. Ballots are cast by comedians, bookers, improvisers, podcasters and promoters. Winner Bryan Bixby delights in discomfort—one of his most memorable jokes is about watching incest porn—while the buoyancy of runner-up Riley McCarthy brings levity to even the most unnerving anecdotes from his life, like a confrontation with a skinhead at a Plaid Pantry. (Willamette Week)

More from our sponsors — thanks for supporting local news!

Featured businesses:

• JAK CBD — (Visit website)
• Add your business here

Events:

• Bach to Rock: A DJ Showcase (April 3)
• Breast Ultrasound Screening Coming Direct to You! (April 9)
• Add your event

Loving the Portland Daily? Here are all the ways you can get more involved:

• Send a friend or neighbor this link so they can subscribe
• Get your local business listed in front of readers
• Send me a news tip or suggestion at portland@patch.com

So many possibilities for our Thursday! From Hip Hop Hell to classical music, this town is jumping! Get out there a enjoy yourselves my friends and meet me back here tomorrow and we'll chat all about 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.