🌱 Portland To Demolish O’Bryant Square + Mayor Emergency Declaration

Hello again, neighbors! It's me, Michelle Paul, your host of the Portland Daily. Here are all the most important things to know about what's happening in town.

But first, your local weather:

• Saturday: A bit of rain, snow mixing in. High: 46 Low: 29.
• Sunday: Mostly sunny and colder. High: 38 Low: 24.

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Here are the top four stories today in Portland:

1. Portland Parks & Recreation plans to demolish O’Bryant Square at Southwest Park Avenue and Harvey Milk Street in Downtown Portland, also known as Paranoid Park and Needle Park. It has been closed and fenced-in since 2018 due to structural issues with the garage underneath and became popular with graffiti taggers and drug dealers. In February and early March, the Portland Parks Foundation will host "Back to Square One: Rethinking O’Bryant Square and How Urban Public Space Can Work" to get community input and "reimagine" a use for that square block. (KOIN.com)
2. More than 600 city employees, including wastewater treatment operations, pollution testing, street maintenance, and park ranger services, are planning to go on strike in February. In response, on Thursday, Jan. 26, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler issued an emergency declaration that would make it easier for the city to move around workers and hire contractors to fill in. According to the city, they have been negotiating a new contract with Laborers Local 483 for almost 10 months. (KOIN.com)
3. Portland lawmakers are considering requiring new multi-family housing with five or more condos or apartments to include electrical capacity and conduits for EV charging stations, even if they do not have parking spaces. Currently, buildings with six or fewer parking spaces must have EV conduits at all the spaces, and those with more than six need conduits at half the areas. Existing multi-family homes would not be affected. (Kiosk Marketplace)
4. Next week, Portland City Council will vote on a resolution to provide clear leadership and direction, "a roadmap for the next two years," to implement changes to Portland’s election system and government. Chief Administrative Officer Michael Jordan will manage the shift to ranked-choice voting in the resolution. Commissioners-in-charge will have a specific process to prepare their service area for management by a city administrator. (Portland.gov)

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Today and tomorrow in Portland:

Saturday, January 28

• PSU Portland Farmers Market At Shemanski Park (9:00 AM)
• Alliance: Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble With International Alliance For Women In Music At Lincoln Recital Hall (7:00 PM)

Sunday, January 29

• Day Drink & Draw At Tomorrow’s Verse Taproom And Bottle Shop (2:00 PM)

From my notebook:

• This weekend is going to be a cold one in Portland! Click here for tips to keep your water running and pipes from freezing. (Portland Water Bureau via Twitter)
• More than 30 Portland-area restaurants will join Dumpling Week 2023! The Oregonian/OregonLive’s annual celebration will return from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4. (OregonLive)
• Travel Portland is awarding $20,000 to $50,000 for tourism-related projects aligned with the priorities outlined in Travel Portland’s Strategic Plan! Click here to apply now through 5:00 p.m. on Feb. 17. (Prosper Portland via Twitter)

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That's it for today. I'll see you around!

— Michelle Paul