Did tax breaks for downtown businesses work?

Do Downtown Tax Breaks Work?

Portland entrepreneurs are giving mixed reviews to a tax break program that includes up to $250,000 to businesses who sign a new lease in the central city. Portland Soda Works says the tax breaks are aimed at bigger businesses, and the animation studio ShadowMachine, which worked on the Oscar-winning film “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” says what they need more is faster permitting for new production space. [Oregonian 🔒]

Restaurants and Bars Ask State for Help

Many local restaurant and bar owners are struggling after the storm and are now asking the city and state for help. They want everything from investments to prevent future power outages, to a relief fund for small restaurants with fewer than 100 employees, to an eviction moratorium for commercial leases. [KGW]

Oregon’s Olympic Skaters

Tonya Harding was the last Oregonian to achieve fame (and notoriety) as a figure skater. But this week three skaters, who train at a rink in Sherwood, are competing at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Notably in a sport where girls outnumber boys, all three are young men. [OPB]

Portland After the Storm

For the midweek news round-up, Portland is trying to get back to normal after the storm. But a few schools remain closed due to damage; restaurant and other workers worry about their paychecks; and there was a landslide that blocked the train tracks on the route to Seattle. [City Cast Portland 🎧]

I love our mild winters that, yes, are full of rain.

I lived for many years in the Northeast, and I have never looked back fondly on the icy cold (or the lingering gray slush that snow quickly becomes on city streets). Even at the remove of a decade, the memory of frigid winters helps me get through the slog of a long string of gray days.

So I love the rain. I’m willing to admit my unpopular opinion this week, because I am certain that after ice and snow, I have some company in appreciating weather that’s 50 degrees and rainy.

If I have to pick what I like most about the massive amount of rain that drips (and sometimes pours) all winter long, I’d say it’s the moss and lichen that swarm over trees. They can turn into something that’s just an imaginative leap away from a giant green Bigfoot. It gives the Pacific Northwest wilderness a unique flare.

What The Storm Left Behind. Plus, More Anarchist Arson Claims

In this mid-week round-up of Portland news, there’s the aftermath of the storms and another suspected arson. City Cast Portland producer Giulia Fiaoni and host Claudia Meza discuss what’s happening this week as well as open reader mail.