Pre-Thanksgiving strike at New Seasons

New Seasons Strike at 11 Locations

New Seasons workers have called a strike for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, a busy day of shopping. That applies to the chain’s 11 unionized locations. The union has objected to a company proposal to raise starting wages by a mere 25 cents during contract negotiations. [OPB]

MLB to Oregon

High-level elected officials (including the current and incoming mayor and state treasurer) met last week with the group that’s been working for seven years to secure a Major League Baseball team. It’s a good indication that they may support financing a stadium with bonds backed by taxes from the players’ and team officials’ pay. [Willamette Week]

City Council Victors, 2 Weeks After Election Day

It took 16 days to determine who won two closely contested City Council seats in this month’s election, but the Oregonian called the races last week: Jamie Dunphy, a board member for MusicPortland, will represent East Portland (District 1), and Eric Zimmerman, a county commission staffer, will represent the West Side (District 4). [Oregonian 🔒]

How TriMet Is Addressing Rider Safety

There’s a very low opinion of TriMet’s ability to offer a safe ride, but the agency has responded by quadrupling its safety budget in recent years, and operator assaults as well as calls to police for help have declined. [City Cast Portland 🎧]

November in Portland saw a couple notable bar openings. Here’s why you should visit:

🍷 Living Room Wines | 4818 N Lombard St. (University Park)

Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 1- 9 p.m.

You’ll find high-quality wines and a neighborhood hangout at Living Room. This wine bar and shop stands ready to welcome the community in with reasonable prices: A flight of three wines costs $20 and the bar has a reasonable ($10) corkage fee. There’s also cider and beer for the unconverted — and for variety.

Go for: The carefully curated selection of wines.

Stay for: For the cheese. No, really, they’ve taken care with their food too.

Return for: A fun neighborhood hang.

🍾 Fancy Baby | 1204 NW Glisan St. (Pearl District)

Hours: Tuesday - Thursday, 4 - 10 p.m.; Friday - Saturday, 4 - 11 p.m.

The opening of a champagne bar in the Pearl has been greeted with much hype. The quality of the champagne backs up that buzz. (There were, however, some early jitters. One note: at least when we visited, the acoustics didn’t back up their advertising as a listening bar)

Go for: The buzz.

Stay for: The help deciphering the many, many options. (The wait staff offered good assistance in figuring out what to order — including notes that one champagne tasted of oyster shell. Indeed, it did.)

Return for: The tasty bubbles.

🍴 The Heist | 4727 SE Woodstock Blvd. (Woodstock)

Hours: 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.

In time for the rainy season, the newest food cart pod in Woodstock officially opened its long-awaited indoor space. It’s got some offerings worth visiting for:

Go for: A food cart pod that has new indoor seating.

Stay for: The many options, including Golden Triangle (which serves Asian fusion) or coffee in the morning at Caffeine Withdrawal.

Return for: Bark City BBQ, one of the city’s best barbecue spots, which is back in action at this location.

• Related: Bark City BBQ gets an honorable mention from our favorite restaurant critic. [City Cast Portland 🎧]