TREE REGULATION TEAM STRIPPED FROM URBAN FORESTRY: The Portland Metropolis Council voted final week to maneuver the town’s crew of tree regulators from the City Forestry division to the centralized allowing workplace. The council additionally voted to maneuver $2.1 million from tree enforcement to backfill parks upkeep cuts. The proposal was the brainchild of Councilor Eric Zimmerman, who for weeks has referred to as into query City Forestry and the way it polices and fines Portlanders looking for to trim or take away timber close to or on their property. WW wrote in regards to the division in a March 5 cowl story (“The Taking Tree,” March 5). The transfer means enforcement of the town’s Tree Code will not be underneath the oversight of metropolis forester Jenn Cairo, whose administration has come underneath scrutiny. “In a spot the place I believe we’ve acquired a metropolis program that’s being administered in an both unfair method or is just not treating Portlanders properly, we do have an obligation to behave,” Zimmerman instructed his colleagues earlier than the vote. The tree regulation crew should transfer by Oct. 1.
KOTEK SIGNS ILLICIT MASSAGE CRACKDOWN: Gov. Tina Kotek signed a invoice June 12 to crack down on illicit therapeutic massage parlors. Home Invoice 3819-A was spurred by WW’s reporting final fall, which used information from a watchdog nonprofit to disclose that the variety of such companies, which sexually exploit undocumented girls, had tripled in 5 years to 114 in Portland (“Nightmare in Plain Sight,” Sept. 25, 2024). Amongst different issues, it will increase the utmost cost for repeat offenders working such a enterprise from a misdemeanor to a Class C felony, punishable by as much as 5 years in jail and a $125,000 fantastic. The invoice, sponsored by state Rep. Thuy Tran (D-Portland) and Sen. Kathleen Taylor (D-Portland), handed the Senate final week on a 28–1 vote. (Democratic state Sen. Khanh Pham of East Portland was the one senator to vote no. Pham instructed The Oregonian she was involved about taking a punitive method with immigrant-owned companies.) Tran’s workplace credited the laws to the work of WW contributor Eliza Aronson, who began her reporting as an intern positioned by the Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism. “It was Willamette Week’s reporting that led to [Tran’s] work on HB 3819,” her aide, Collin Ledford, stated in an e mail.
COUNTY SEVERS TIES WITH HOUSING CONTRACTOR: Multnomah County’s Homeless Providers Division halted funding for a Gresham-based shelter supplier after a dispute over billing practices. For 3 years, the county paid Rockwood Group Growth Company to accommodate homeless households in 50 of the 65 models at an condominium advanced referred to as Rockwood Tower. Not too long ago, officers on the division found Rockwood CDC had sought reimbursement for unapproved bills, double-counted some prices, and charged the county for rooms that had been closed for repairs, the county alleges in a memo describing the matter. The transfer is important as a result of Multnomah County delivers greater than $1 billion in providers by way of nonprofits like Rockwood CDC. Rockwood says a coverage change on the county led to the rift. “Initially, funding was understood to help not solely the designated rooms, but in addition the broader operational infrastructure mandatory to take care of them,” Rockwood CDC spokeswoman Savannah Carreno stated in a press release. “The county has since retroactively narrowed that interpretation, limiting funding to bills tied immediately and completely to the person 50 rooms.” Rockwood CDC is run by president Brad Ketch, a former tech govt, who was paid $228,000 in 2023, in response to the nonprofit’s tax filings. His spouse, Lynn, serves as govt director, a place that pays her $143,000.
OHSU CONSOLIDATES RESEARCH: Confronted with seemingly cuts to federal funding, Oregon Well being & Science College is centralizing its analysis features underneath a single govt, down from three, OHSU interim president Steve Stadum stated in a memo to analysis workers. Dr. Nate Selden, dean of the medical faculty, will take “major govt duty” for OHSU’s analysis mission July 1, Stadum wrote. Selden made information in October when the college introduced it might forgo a nationwide search and instantly title him president, changing Dr. Danny Jacobs, who resigned underneath strain. The board scrapped that plan after Gov. Tina Kotek publicly opposed the rushed appointment. Selden’s new appointment comes as the present chief analysis officer, Peter Barr-Gillespie, retires from the place, which he has held since 2019. Till now, analysis at OHSU has been supervised by the dean of the medical faculty, the provost, and the chief analysis officer. Interim chief analysis officer Bonnie Nagel will report back to Selden. She’s going to oversee the impartial analysis facilities that Barr-Gillespie runs and all analysis accomplished within the faculty of drugs.
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