A world-famous Portland jazz club’s reopening

Shelter Problems Revealed in Audit

The city’s first audit of the county-city Joint Office of Homeless Services (created eight years ago) found shelters with “waitlists that can stretch up to a year, are regularly at capacity, and ineffective at moving people in shelters into permanent housing,” OPB reports. One key audit recommendation is increasing the number of shelter beds, which is already in the works, county officials said. [OPB]

• Notable findings: Even some families had to wait six months for shelter beds early in 2023, when there were 300 families on the waitlist.
• Fewer people left the shelters for permanent homes than for another round of homelessness in the year ending July 2023.

Portland Jazz Club Reopens

The 1905, a world-famous Portland jazz club, is reopening on Friday after financial troubles shuttered it last year. It was closed for 154 days, and will now be under new management. Its first show will feature Portland’s Christopher Brown. [KOIN]

• Related: This local jazz club is one of the world’s best. [City Cast Portland 🎧]

Minimum Wage Hike

On July 1, the minimum wage in the Portland area will rise 50 cents — to $15.95 an hour. Oregon’s minimum wage varies by region (with rural areas set lower) and is indexed to increase with inflation. [Oregonian]

The Record $5.61 Billion 'Kicker' Tax Credit

OPB politics and government reporter Dirk VanderHart explains the hows and whys of the Oregon tax rebate law. [City Cast Portland 🎧]

On May 3, just over two weeks from now, we are about to celebrate the inaugural, very real, and hopefully annual 503 Day — a celebration of our city!

It’s right before Cinco de Mayo (5/05) and the Star Wars’ fandom day May the Fourth Be With You (5/04). We’re gearing up to celebrate all things Portland, including our area code (5/03). At the Hey Portland newsletter and City Cast Portland podcast, we are working to inaugurate this day. And we are taking suggestions for what Portland would want to do to celebrate civic pride.

Here are a couple of ideas that have come in:

• From KBOO news director Althea Billings: “Here's my pitch: Walk across every bridge. You can drive it. I mean, maybe biking is okay — some of them you can't drive across. I think you should have to cross every bridge. And does that mean that 503 Day may be difficult to navigate? Yes, but we're seeing the sights, not trying to get across town in a half-hour rush hour.”
• From Courtney Campbell, the founder of the Portland psilocybin treatment center Chariot: “I’m proud of our legacy of progressive politics and innovation on a national scale. The work that we are doing at Chariot is on the forefront of something truly transformational. It feels very, very 503 Day-esque.”
  
  But if he weren’t having an every day is 503 Day life: “I'd probably be up around the Japanese Garden area, maybe foraging for some natural-growing psilocybin mushrooms that tend to pop up in late spring. It happens every year around late April, early May. So it's kind of perfect.”

Your turn: What are your ideas for how to celebrate? What would you do? Where would you go? What would you eat? Please email me your ideas.

Oregon’s Controversial, Insanely Huge, $5.61 Billion 'Kicker' Tax Credit

This tax season, $5.61 billion is headed back into our pockets, courtesy of Oregon’s largest-ever “kicker” tax credit. Why were our state economists so far off? And why don’t they just use that money on all the stuff Oregon really needs, like mental health services, housing, or schools? OPB politics and government reporter Dirk VanderHart is walking through the hows and whys of the Oregon law — and hopefully sharing how he’s spending his rebate.