Category: News & Current Events

Right 2 Dream Too Has a New Home

By Pete Shaw Right 2 Dream Too (R2DToo) has found a new home. The rest stop for people without housing whose successful model has helped people find not only rest, sanctuary, and safety, but jobs and housing has reached an agreement with Bureau of Development Services (BDS) Commissioner Amanda Fritz that will see it moving…

City Workers Fight Privatization; Demand Fair Contract

Story and photos by Pete Shaw Over 300 people converged in downtown Portland on August 14 to to demand that city managers negotiate in good faith with the District Council of Trade Unions (DCTU), the 7-union coalition that operates jointly in bargaining with the city. DCTU members–who hail from AFSCME Local 189, Laborers Local 483,…

R2DToo In Court Fighting for Housing Rights

Story and photo by Pete Shaw The thought of camping conjures images of freedom, romance, and perhaps even daring. Pitch a tent, lie under clear skies, sit in front of an open fire telling stories or picking a guitar. Forage for food that will become dinner. Hike down a trail to a pristine lake and…

Postal Activists Blockade Private FIrm USPS Sliding Out of Public Hands

Story by Jamie Partridge Ten protesters blocked a private mail truck leaving the Mt. Hood Distribution Center (US Postal Service) today, demanding that postal management stop subcontracting the trucking of “the people’s mail.”  Claiming concerns about safety, cost and corruption, the blockaders left after police ordered them to disperse.  No arrests were made. ”Postal truckers are losing…

Portlanders Gather in Support of Justice for Trayvon Martin

Story and photos by Pete Shaw A crowd of over 400 people gathered in Peninsula Park on Sunday July 14th in response to the verdict that acquitted George Zimmerman of second degree murder and manslaughter charges. Zimmerman was on trial for killing 17 year old Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida. At…

Immigrants Rally to Keep Their Families Together

Story and photos by Pete Shaw Gathered around pairs of shoes representing fathers and father figures who have been detained and deported, over 70 people assembled in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office at 511 NW Broadway on Monday June 17th to demand Congress and President Obama create and pass immigration legislation…

Protesters Target Postal Privatization, Demand Corporate Mail Theft End

Story by Jamie Partridge • Photos by Jerry Atkin Over forty demonstrators, ten of whom blocked the entrance to the Portland Air Cargo Center (US Postal Service), declared victory against “postal privatizers”  today.  According to postal service managers, several morning mail runs by subcontractor Dill Star trucking were disrupted by the protest. ”Postal truckers, mail…