City Hall A new audit questions recent decisions by the Portland City Council to spend funds collected from water and sewer users on city programs    More

News The season of soggy socks is upon us, as leaf-clogged storm drains spawn treacherous pools across Portland. They lie in wait, dark and still and nearly indistinguishable from the pavement beneath, until an inattentive pedestrian plunges in, calf-deep. Even the alert walker must hike 'round the lake, which sometimes covers half an intersection. So don't just pass a flooded drain by with a ...   More

News The season of soggy socks is upon us, as leaf-clogged storm drains spawn treacherous pools across Portland. They lie in wait, dark and still and nearly indistinguishable from the pavement beneath, until an inattentive pedestrian plunges in, calf-deep. Even the alert walker must hike ’round the lake, which sometimes covers half an intersection. So don’t just pass a flooded drain ...   More

News Mayor Sam Adams is expected to release a "recalibrated" 2010-11 budget very soon. Meantime, Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Amanda Fritz are pushing ahead with a compromise on next year's sewer rates, an as-yet unresolved element of the mayor's proposed budget. This year, as part of a regularly scheduled rate review, the Bureau of Environmental Services asked the mayor to increase ratepayers' ...   More

News The City of Portland is calling for vigilance in preventing the spread of pokeweed—an invasive and toxic plant (with a great name). Pokeweed, a perennial berry-producing plant, has been spotted by more than one Portland resident, according to the Bureau of Environmental Services. The plant's berries are poisonous to humans. Birds spread the plant's seeds after eating and digesting the ...   More

News A 5-0 council vote today to increase a City of Portland construction contract by $4 million had an unspoken downside: The additional spending approved today will further diminish the potential "contract savings" in the city's sewer budget that Mayor Sam Adams allocated back in February to the Bicycle Plan for 2030 . This isn't the first time the price tag on the $19 million winning bid for this ...   More