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COUNTY SENDS DATA DUMP TO GOVERNOR: Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson delivered spending data from the Joint Office of Homeless Services to Gov. Tina Kotek and Metro Council President Lynn Peterson on March 14, complying with a request the pair made after Vega Pederson held a press conference last month to disclose a surprisingly large $104 million deficit at the agency. The shortfall prompted a strong response from Peterson, in particular, who called it “shocking.” (Peterson has skin in the game because most of JOHS’s budget comes from Metro’s supportive housing services tax.) Among other things, the county’s spreadsheets show how much one-time funding JOHS spent to meet its needs in two and a half fiscal years (data for FY 2025 is through January). One-time funding is contentious because the county’s own budget contains a preamble that calls it “hard to resist,” especially during tough times, and using it “inevitably produces shortfalls and crises.” The data dump, though delivered on time, may not go far in repairing relations between the county and Metro because of one line in Vega Pederson’s cover letter that accompanied the data. “While we have had several conversations with the governor and legislators about our budget gap and strategies for addressing it, we have yet to have that conversation with Metro and would like that to happen as soon as possible,” Vega Pederson wrote, describing a March 13 budget meeting that county staff held with the city of Portland and state officials. County staff didn’t include Metro in that meeting, Metro spokesman Nick Christensen said. “They didn’t invite us to meet with them in the governor’s office last week.”
CROSSTOWN PLAN FOR SIDEWALKS TAKES SHAPE: Portland City Councilors Loretta Smith and Mitch Green, who represent opposite ends of the city, are hatching an ambitious plan to build sidewalks in Districts 1 and 4. While planning is in its early stages, the councilors are exploring a combination of funding streams to raise several hundred million dollars, including issuing revenue bonds, using money from the Portland Clean Energy Fund tax, and seeking federal transportation grants. Fifty-eight people died in traffic last year; 27 of those deaths occurred in District 1. Smith represents District 1, which covers East Portland. Green represents District 4, which covers the westside. The councilors are not entirely on the same page about how to fund the project. “Sidewalks are important, and we want to make sure that infrastructure in District 1 is a priority,” Smith tells WW. “We need to go back to our book of business, and that’s infrastructure.” The councilors will discuss their proposal at a March 24 meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
OPEN PRIMARIES BILL SURFACES: The Oregon House Rules Committee will hold a hearing March 19 on the latest effort to enfranchise the largest single group of voters in the state—those unaffiliated with any party. The latest voter registration totals show non-affiliated voters constitute 36% of the Oregon electorate, Democrats make up 33%, and Republicans 24%. Despite being the most numerous group, non-affiliated voters cannot vote in state-funded primary elections. As proponents of House Bill 3166 note, Democratic primary elections typically determine the outcome of Oregon general elections. House Bill 3166 would change the current system by putting all candidates regardless of party on the same primary ballot, available to all voters. The top two vote-getters would advance to the general election. Voters decisively rejected open primary ballot measures in 2008 and 2014, but proponents have continued to push the idea—and Oregon’s Motor Voter law, which automatically registers people getting or renewing driver’s licenses or state identification cards, has accelerated the trend toward more non-affiliated voters. In testimony in support of the bill, former Secretary of State Phil Keisling, a Democrat, noted the current system suppresses more recent registrants who are disproportionately people of color and younger voters. “In the last, May 2024 primary, the median age—half older, half younger—of those who actually cast ballots in the primary was about 64 years of age,” Keisling testified.
CAT OWNER SUES RAW FOOD COMPANY: A bereaved Portland cat owner has filed a lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court against a raw pet food company for allegedly infecting his cat with a fatal case of H5N1 bird flu. The case is against Wild Coast Pet Foods, an Olympia, Wash., company that specializes in raw, “human-grade” pet food. The lawsuit is for “unlawful trade practices” by omitting from its advertisement that raw chicken has a particularly high risk of exposure to the H5N1 virus and that cats are particularly susceptible, according to the court filing. In late January, Portlander Tim Hanson fed Kira, his 4-year-old female cat, Wild Coast cat food containing raw chicken. By early February, Kira fell ill and tested positive for bird flu. She had to be euthanized at DoveLewis Veterinary Hospital on Feb. 9. Her kitty brother, Jen, also tested positive for bird flu after eating Wild Coast but has made a full recovery. Hanson sued to recoup the expense of the $48 cat food and the veterinary bills, which ran him $7,952. “The fact that they knew cats were getting sick and weren’t responding is what was concerning me,” Hanson says. Tyler Duncan, founder of Wild Coast, did not respond to WW’s request for comment, but the company has voluntarily recalled multiple lots of its Chicken Feline Formula and has transitioned to fully cooked poultry recipes to eliminate any risk.