Tag: Portland

Street Response Effective At Resolving Non-Violent 911 Calls

Portland, Oregon – The first six months of the Portland Street Response pilot project is meeting its lofty expectations, according to a Portland State University (PSU) study released Tuesday.

“Based on the findings… we feel very optimistic about the future of Portland Street Response and believe it is well on its way to becoming a citywide solution to responding to 911 and non-emergency calls involving unhoused people and people experiencing mental health crisis,” reads the report, conducted by PSU’s Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative.

The Portland Street Response (PSR) is an unarmed first responder team comprised of a mental health clinician, firefighter paramedic, and two community health workers who are dispatched to 911 calls regarding mental health crises or issues regarding unhoused people.

Union Painters Are Primed For A ‘Summer Of Chaos’

At 5:45 a.m. Friday, May 21, painters started assembling outside under-reconstruction Madison High School in Northeast Portland, and picked up picket signs instead of paint sprayers. For the first time in over 40 years, members of Painters Local 10 were on strike. On the picket line were the 21 members scheduled to work there that day plus others who came to back them up. Painters District Council 5 field rep Scott Oldham says at first there was fear, not knowing what to expect. But when other union trades started to arrive in twos and threes, the mood shifted.

“People from each crew would walk forward and say, ‘Hey, we’re with Local 16, and we respect what you’re doing. We absolutely will not be crossing the line today,” Oldham says. “Next time it could be me,” some workers said.

Portland Strike Union Organizing Worker Rights and Jobs

How Portland Police Came to Be Armed With Military-Grade Rifles

AR-15-certified cops store the weapon in their patrol cars. (Sam Gehrke)

For two decades, the Portland Police Bureau has armed its officers with AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, the result of a tough-on-crime policy that equipped officers with firearms most people associate more with mass shootings than community policing.

In response to a records request from WW, the bureau revealed last week that it owns 238 Colt AR-15 rifles.

Today, 168 Portland police officers—about 20% of the force—are trained to operate the semi-automatic weapon, which allows for greater accuracy and the ability to shoot with precision from upward of 100 yards, or about a city block away.

That means AR-15 rifle operators outnumber the 146 Portland officers who are certified to respond to mental health crises through the Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team—established following the city’s settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

militarism Police Portland Wars and Militarism

And The Landlords Said ‘Fuck You’

Portland, OR – I know it is often hard to see, but significant elements of the folks in power at various levels of government are keenly aware that we’re in a crisis, and they want to avoid a total meltdown of the social order. They often like to act blasé and in control of the situation, they like to pretend that we all believe we live in a society governed by law, where we all play by certain rules that are more or less sacred. But really they know they rule over a house of cards that sits on top of a powder keg, and there’s a fire burning nearby, which they need to keep from reaching the powder keg, and any notions of the rule of law are relatively worthless when millions of people are suddenly unable to house themselves or put food on the table.

Cancel the Rent Evictions Landlords Portland

The Red House And The Future Of Eviction Defense

Portland, Oregon has been in the headlines again over the last few days, and this trend will continue. The reasons for the headlines will vary depending on who you ask. If you ask the far right they will say something about Antifa terrorists having violent confrontations with the police because they hate law and order. The mainstream media’s headlines will also tend to lead with the so-called violent clashes, but then they may inform us that the reasons for the confrontation have to do with folks trying to prevent the eviction of a Black and indigenous family that has lived in the Red House at 4406 North Mississippi for multiple generations.

Eviction Eviction Defense Gentrification Portland

Portland Community Beats Back Eviction, Erects Barricades

On Tuesday morning, Portland community members successfully repealed heavily armed and militarized Multnomah County Sheriffs backed by Portland police officers, who were attempting to evict the Afro-Indigenous Kinney family, who has lived in the “Red House on Mississippi” in the North Portland neighborhood for 65 years. The eviction began in the early morning, after officers officers “violently dismantled the 75+ day “Red House” [support] encampment,” and then “entered the home itself, destroying its interior, and violently arrested two residents – injuring at least one.”

Eviction Defense Police violence Portland Red House

Red House Remains ‘Unceded Territory,’ Portland Family Says

A local family says their home in Portland’s historically-Black Albina neighborhood remains “unceded territory” — despite authorities’ vow to remove barricades and enforce what they say is a lawful eviction.

Several members of the Kinney family hosted a press conference outside the “Red House” on North Mississippi Avenue just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 9.

Since Tuesday, hundreds of black-clad activists have used fencing, plywood and other materials to block access to the area near the home by erecting palisades across city streets. Portland Police Bureau officers and Multnomah County deputies arrived in the early morning Dec. 8…

Eviction Defense Gentrification Indigenous Rights Portland

Portland Drone Testing Facility Cancelled

Last week, the Port of Portland announced it would cancel a pending lease with Verizon for seven acres of riverfront property in one of Portland, Oregon’s most diverse neighborhoods. Verizon and their Portland-based subsidiary Skyward had sought to lease this area to test drones on Verizon’s 5G network along the Willamette river.

“We appreciate the Port responding in support of community members and organizations who organized quickly to oppose this facility,” said Cassie Cohen (she/her), Executive Director of the Portland Harbor Community Coalition.

Drones Militarization Portland Verizon

Portland: DA Declines To Prosecute 70% Of Portland Protest Cases

Portland police have referred almost 1,000 protest-related cases to the Multnomah District Attorney’s Office since late May and prosecutors have declined to file charges in nearly 70 percent of them, according to an online tracking dashboard unveiled Wednesday.

Prosecutors have so far fielded 974 criminal cases against people in the ongoing demonstrations against racial injustice and police use of force.

They have dropped 666 of them without filing charges, data provided by the office shows.

Legal System Police violence Portland Rebellion2020

Dangerous Use Of Crowd-Control Weapons Against Protestors And Medics

Portland, OR – Regardless of where we are, we are living in a reign of violence in which “we can’t breathe.” We are witnessing a global downward trend in terms of respect for fundamental human rights, freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. In most parts of the world, the human rights environment is radically transforming in a way that brings into question the basic concept of human rights: holding, possessing, claiming, and asserting rights legally as a human being. This deterioration in the human rights environment has accelerated over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Human Rights Law Enforcement Portland State Violence

Portland: Police Arrest Far Right Protestor

Portland Police have arrested a far-right protester and member of the Proud Boys who pointed a gun at antifascist protesters on Aug. 22 in downtown Portland.

Alan James Swinney, 50, is being held in the Multnomah County Jail on multiple assault charges, pointing a firearm at another, unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful use of tear gas, stun gun or mace.

Photographs and video from the Aug. 22 rally outside the Multnomah County Justice Center depict Swinney pointing a revolver at a crowd of counterprotesters.

Police Portland Rebellion2020 Right wing extremism

Volunteers Mobilize In Aftermath Of Oregon Fires

Portland, United States – Hunter Bombadier has spent the better part of the past year protesting for an end to police violence and anti-Black racism – and supporting communities hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

That is how the 33-year-old member of Symbiosis, a network of left-wing organisations across the United States, was ready to help when massive wildfires broke out south of Portland, Oregon, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

“We were able to use the programming and infrastructure we already had,” Bombadier told Al Jazeera in a recent phone interview.

Mutual Aid Oregon Portland Wildfires

Portland Protests, The Fire And Organizing Eviction Defense

Portland, Oregon is one of the epicenters of the rebellion against police violence that broke out after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Portland has a long history of racism and abusive police. David Rovics, a composer, performer, organizer and activist, joins Clearing the FOG to speak about the history of Oregon as a “Whites Only” state, the resistance there, the murder of Michael Reinoehl, the current fires and his work to develop Eviction Defense Squads. Eleanor Goldfield joins Margaret in the first half of the show to discuss current news.

Evictions Portland Rebellion2020 Wildfires

Witness: Officers Never Gave Commands Before Killing Michael Reinoehl

Officers who first confronted Michael Forest Reinoehl outside an apartment complex in Washington last week yelled no warnings or commands before firing and killing the Oregon man wanted on a murder warrant in the death of a right-wing demonstrator in Portland, according to a witness now represented by a lawyer.

Nathaniel Dingess, 39, lives in the apartment complex near Lacey, Washington, where Reinoehl apparently was hiding.

Police violence Portland Rebellion2020

Portland Protest Killing Suspect Acted In Self Defense, Murdered During Arrest

Ever since a member of the right-wing “Patriot Prayer” group was shot and killed during a violent rally in downtown Portland August 29, the police investigation has reportedly focused on 48-year-old Michael Forest Reinoehl, an Army veteran and father of two who has provided what he called “security” at Black Lives Matter protests.

The Wall Steet Journal reported earlier that Reinoehl was a person of interest in the killing of Aaron “Jay” Danielson, who was taking part in a massive pro-Trump caravan that began in Clackamas earlier in the day.

Leftist Michael Reinoehl Police violence Portland

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