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ENVIRONMENTAL GIANT DIES: Bob Sallinger, executive director of Willamette Riverkeeper, died unexpectedly Oct. 31. Sallinger, 57, also served as executive director of the environmental nonprofit he founded, Bird Conservation Oregon. Mike Houck, director of the Urban Greenspaces Institute, collaborated frequently with Sallinger for decades and called him “the fiercest conservation warrior I’ve ever known.” For more than 30 years, Sallinger worked at the Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon), serving for most of that time as conservation director. He plunged into virtually every major environmental issue, from West Hayden Island in North Portland to the long disputes over water and habitat in the Klamath River Basin in Southern Oregon. One of Sallinger’s last big achievements came Oct. 15, when the Oregon State Land Board approved a management plan for the Elliott State Research Forest after a contentious and complex seven-year process. Vicki Walker, director of the Department of State Lands, worked closely with Sallinger throughout that process. “Bob Sallinger was an Oregon wonder, a human as special as the places and creatures he loved and protected,” Walker says. “Bob’s legacy is all around us. It’s the hoot of the owls in the Elliott State Research Forest, a cannonball into the Willamette River, peregrines dancing across the sky.” Sallinger is survived by his wife, Elisabeth, and three children.
BOARD HAS “NO PLAN” TO LEAVE OUT CLEVELAND AND WELLS IN NEXT SCHOOLS BOND: Last month, Portland Public Schools Board member Gary Hollands publicly suggested reallocating money from a planned property tax bond to go before voters in 2025. He suggested directing the revenue toward projects other than completing modernizations at all PPS high schools. Those comments caused quite a stir among parents and students at Cleveland High School, which, along with Ida B. Wells High School, is last in line for an upgrade. Frustrated Cleveland parents and students swarmed an Oct. 21 facilities meeting in protest, with several speaking out about poor conditions at the school. And they have no plans to stop—they’ve already booked several public comment slots at two Nov. 6 School Board meetings. But, for the most part, School Board members dismiss Hollands’ comments as isolated remarks that have been blown out of proportion. “There is no plan to not have Cleveland on the bond,” School Board Chair Eddie Wang says. “Cleveland is on the bond, and the district is moving ahead with the bond.” Board member Andrew Scott, whose zone encompasses Wells High, says a majority of the board is prepared to stick with the promise to modernize all the high schools. Plus, Scott says fallout from a reversal would be too risky for the school district: “I think any bond that didn’t finish the high schools would be at very high risk of failure.”
STATE WALKS BACK RETURN-TO-WORK PUSH: Berri Leslie, director of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services, told state agency directors Oct. 28 that she wanted managers of agencies with hybrid employees (who mostly work from home) “to establish in-office work (with meaningful engagement) approximately 1-4 days each month.” But Leslie then reissued the memo Oct. 31, with one small but noticeable change: She deleted the return-to-work instruction. That raised questions about who demanded the change and why. Spokespeople for two of the state’s largest public employees unions, Service Employees International Union and Oregon AFSCME, say they had nothing to do with the change. Gov. Tina Kotek’s spokeswoman says the governor, who is Leslie’s boss, also had nothing to do with it. “The edit was made because that recommendation needs more socializing with agency directors and their teams before it becomes part of an official recommendation,” says DAS spokeswoman Bryanna Duke.
WHISTLEBLOWER ACCUSES KENTUCKY FIRM OF VIOLATING FEDERAL LAWS: Volare Health, a Kentucky-based company that purchased 11 Oregon nursing homes last year, is being sued for allegedly picking and choosing residents based on their mental condition, a violation of federal anti-discrimination law. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Portland on Monday on behalf of Karla Hunt, who was fired by Volare in August after working more than 17 years for one of its new acquisitions, the 80-bed French Prairie Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Woodburn. Hunt, who was in charge of admissions to the center, says a new administrator brought in by Volare overruled her decision to admit a patient from Salem Hospital. The new administrator “was unwilling to approve the admission of ‘a 56-year-old man with a mental health diagnosis,’ for whom the facility would be required to provide care ‘for the next 30 years,’” the lawsuit claims. Hunt alleges she repeatedly pushed back, noting that the administrator was possibly violating the Fair Housing Act, and was fired. Hunt is now seeking compensation under state whistleblower protection laws. As WW has previously reported, state payments to nursing homes have skyrocketed in recent years amid a statewide shortage of long-term care options for elderly people currently stuck in community hospital beds. Volare did not respond to a request for comment.
ARTS ORGS SAY CITY STIFFED THEM: Fifteen small arts organizations complained in a Nov. 1 open letter that the city of Portland plans to unfairly decrease their collective share from the city’s arts tax and give a greater share to the largest arts organizations, like Oregon Ballet Theatre and Portland Center Stage. The arts groups—which include Third Angle New Music, Boom Arts, and Chamber Music Northwest—asked the city to “retain the funding small organizations are counting on based on historical giving from the city.” The groups wrote: “We are not against giving larger groups more funding, but in this case, smaller organizations’ funding was decreased significantly despite an overall increase in available funds.” The top five largest arts organizations in the city, the 15 complainants wrote, are slated to receive 33% of the total grant money, whereas last year they collectively received 20%. Forty-five of the smaller arts organizations, the letter noted, will have their funding decreased from last year. The city announced the grants Oct. 30. It’s the first time in decades the city has decided directly how to use its arts tax dollars; for years, the city simply passed the money on to the nonprofit Regional Arts & Culture Council to distribute. The city announced last year it would take its arts tax funding in house and form a new Arts & Culture Office to allocate the money directly to arts organizations. In an email provided by the city that the Arts Office sent in response to the organizations’ letter on Nov. 1, the city wrote it had expanded the number of organizations it funded and that “we recognize the financial challenges that many arts organizations face and will continue to face. Moving forward, we will strive to secure additional funding, prioritize strategic investments, and support initiatives that advance the arts.”