City Cast Portland
How to clean up Portland 🗑️
December 19, 2023
Good morning, Portland! I’m as judgey as the next person about people who litter. But I’m still skeptical of this latest clean-up idea: There’s more below.
What's CITY Talking About?
$50K for Gold-Colored Spike Lee Nikes
The pair of gold-colored Nikes mysteriously donated to the nonprofit Portland Rescue Mission fetched $50,800 at an auction. In collaboration with the film director Spike Lee, who wore a pair to the 2019 Academy Awards, Nike only ever made four or five pairs of them. Proceeds will go to the nonprofit. [Sotheby’s]
Shelter’s Uncertain Future
Oregon Harbor of Hope, the nonprofit founded by developer Homer Williams, is abruptly ceasing operations on Jan. 1 at its Northwest Portland navigation center. The shelter currently serves 90 unhoused people. Harbor of Hope is now handing off control of the shelter to the city of Portland, which is scrambling to keep it open. [KGW]
How to Clean Up Portland
Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle wants to run billboards that say “Portland Is Not a Trash Can” to improve the city’s image. Boyle is also donating roughly $150,000 to the state to clean up litter along Oregon Department of Transportation highways. [Oregonian]
Financial Woes Hit Corporate Restaurant Overlord
A local corporate holdings company, Sortis Holdings, has bought up a bunch of local restaurants — including Bamboo Sushi, Sizzle Pie, and Ava Gene’s — but it’s now in financial trouble. Freelance writer Alice Wolfe, who’s been following the story for Eater Portland, explains what’s happening. [City Cast Portland 🎧]
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What To Do
Tuesday, Dec. 19
- 🎶 Brown Branch Big Band’s Holiday Tribute to Count Basie | 7:30 p.m. | $40 | Portland Center Stage
- 🎵 Holiday Pub Crawl: North Pole Cello Sextet Plays Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite | 9 p.m. | $26.05 | Mississippi Studios
Wednesday, Dec. 20
- 🎁 Solstice Eve Market | 6 - 9 p.m. | Free Admission | Kerns
- 📚 Neal Allen and Anne Lamott (book reading) | 7 p.m. | Free | Powell’s City of Books
- 🎵 Pink Martini: Home(town) for the Holidays With the Oregon Symphony | 7:30 p.m. | $68+ | Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Thursday, Dec. 21
- 🌲 Winter Solstice Celebration | 11 a.m - 3 p.m. | $5 | Leach Botanical Garden
- 🎵 Pink Martini: Home(town) for the Holidays With the Oregon Symphony | 7:30 p.m. | $68+ | Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
- 🎭 Origami Night (poetry show) | 7 p.m. | $15 | Northwest
Today on City Cast
Meet Your Favorite Restaurant’s New Corporate Overlord
In recent years, some of Portland’s most well-known independent restaurants were quietly bought up by a local corporate holdings company. Sortis Holdings now owns Bamboo Sushi, Sizzle Pie, and Ava Gene’s. But the company s is in financial trouble. Freelance writer Alice Wolfe, who’s been following the story for Eater Portland, explains.
In some ways buying a brand that would otherwise go under does feel like an act of empathy, but in other ways, it feels like it’s just this screamin’ deal for Sortis.
I enjoyed this story on a moment of grace — and a lifetime of impacts. It’s a heart-warming, holiday-appropriate tale.
— Rachel Monahan
Edited by John Notarianni and copy edited by Giulia Fiaoni
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