🎨 Why a Portlander’s job is to focus on 2 square inches

Unvarnished Monet

One of Portland Art Museum’s prize possessions — Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies” — is about to undergo a lengthy restoration. The masterpiece acquired a layer of varnish around time it came to PAM, as was standard at the time. Removing the varnish will now take six months of slow, painstaking work on up to two inches square per day. [Willamette Week]

Laying Off 800

The Portland-based vacation-rental company Vacasa announced it will lay off another 800 employees. Most of the jobs are not based in Oregon. The company has already laid off 1,600 employees in the last year and a half. [OPB]

Fight Over Expanding a Suburb

A vote on expanding the city of North Plains will take place, after all. The courts halted a new Oregon law that would have blocked ballot measures on the urban growth boundary. This is the first measure of its kind and is being watched as a precursor of possible fights to come. [Oregonian 🔒]

• Related: Will Oregon’s best farmland start harvesting silicon? [City Cast Portland 🎧]

This year, there’s a potential sea change happening at Multnomah County:

• Four of the county’s five Board of Commissioners’ seats are up for election.
• There’s a push from downtown real estate developers to move the left-leaning commission to the right or at least toward the center.
• Amid fentanyl use, mental health crises, and homelessness on the streets of Portland, the spotlight has turned toward Multnomah County and its power to address those issues.

“Everybody's running against the status quo at the county because things have not been going well there,” the Oregonian’s Shane Dixon Kavanaugh told the City Cast Portland podcast.

District 1

Commissioner Sharon Meieran faces term limits and can’t run for reelection. She’s often been a vocal critic of the two county chairs she’s served with, pushing for more urgency on addressing homelessness.

🗳️ Who’s on the Ballot

• Meghan Moyer, policy director of Disability Rights Oregon
• Vadim Mozyrsky, an administrative law judge
• Kevin Fitts, a longtime advocate for people with mental illness
• Chris Henry, chair of the Oregon Progressive Party

🗞️ Read more: “Multnomah County commission race pits candidates backed by developers against one backed by unions, elected Democrats.” [Oregonian 🔒]

District 2

Former commissioner Susheela Jayapal resigned to run for Congress (she’s also on the ballot). The candidates are running to complete the rest of her term, which lasts through 2026.

🗳️ Who’s on Your Ballot

• Sam Adams, former Portland mayor
• Jessie Burke, The Society Hotel CEO and Old Town Community Association chair
• Shannon Singleton, former adviser to Gov. Kate Brown and former interim director of the Joint Office of Homeless Services
• Nick Hara, a data consultant
• Dr. Carlos Jermaine Richard, Multnomah County manager for equity and inclusion and Warner Pacific University adjunct professor

🎧 Learn more: Top three candidates — Adams, Singleton, and Burke — debate. [OPB]

District 3

Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards is up for reelection. She’s joined with Meieran in pushing for more urgency, and may be getting some more allies on the board this year. She enjoys the advantage of incumbency.

🗳️ Who’s on Your Ballot

• Julia Brim-Edwards, commissioner and former Nike executive
• TJ Noddings, a housing navigator for a social service agency

🗞️ Learn more: Brim-Edwards took the lead on a plan to reopen a sobering center in the county. [Oregonian 🔒]

District 4

As in District 2, Lori Stegmann is coming to the end of two terms. A Gresham elected official is the frontrunner.

🗳️ Who’s on Your Ballot

• Vince Jones-Dixon, Gresham city councilor and funeral director
• Brian Knotts, technology consultant
• Timothy O. Youker, retired truck driver and business owner

🗞️ Read more: “In race for Multnomah County’s most diverse commission district, leading contender would ‘shift the narrative’” [Oregonian 🔒]

📖 Check out newspaper endorsements: the Oregonian, Portland Mercury, and Willamette Week.

Note: Candidates included here took the initiative to appear in the official Voters' Pamphlet.

Best Dance Spots in Portland

With the arrival of warmer weather, it’s the perfect time of year to jump from dance club to music bar. City Cast Portland producer Giulia Fiaoni has spent a lot of time tracking down the best places to dance in town – whether you’re moshing to live punk, grooving to ABBA, or learning how to two-step.