City Cast Portland
🚌 A political battle that will shape the Interstate Bridge
September 8, 2025 · — Rachel Monahan
Good morning, Portland! A dispute between contemporary tribes may prove an obstacle to the grand vision of creating public access to Willamette Falls — the second largest waterfall in the country. “Arguments arose over which contemporary tribes include descendants of year-round residents of the falls,” reports Portland Monthly.
What’s not in contention is that the site has been of cultural significance to Indigenous peoples for thousands of years.
What's DC Talking About
U of O Investigated Student Who Reported Security Lapses
A University of Oregon student was able to access thousands of state employees' Social Security numbers, tenure evaluation records, and other private data. He says he discovered the information in the university's Microsoft Teams account accidentally, doing a search for the club he ran. He reported it to the university, which investigated him for the discovery. [Oregonian 🔒]
C-TRAN Fight — With Interstate Bridge at Stake
A fight over who controls the board of Clark County’s transit agency could have an impact on whether the Interstate Bridge project moves forward. Several small cities, which generally oppose funding for the new bridge, successfully pushed through a vote last week that keeps the board balanced as is. That's despite a directive from the Washington Department of Transportation that two seats should shift to Vancouver and the unincorporated county, who favor the bridge project. [OPB]
- Related: Small cities currently have four out of nine votes on the C-TRAN board, though they represent just 20% of the county’s population. [OPB]
Spirit Airlines Leaves PDX
Spirit Airlines will cease to operate flights out of PDX in early October. The airline is also cancelling all its flights in another 10 cities after filing for bankruptcy for a second time. [Oregonian]
What To Do
Monday, Sep. 8
- 🍴 Farm to Fork Dinner with L'Orange | The Learning Gardens Laboratory (Brentwood-Darlington)
- 🎬 The Experiment (documentary on Portland City Hall in 2024) | Clinton Street Theater
- 🦹 Obojima Tattoo Flash Week (Geek Week) | Sonny's House of Tattoos and Treasures (Kerns)
- 📚 Henry James: The Bostonians (first seminar) | Literary Arts (Buckman)
- 🎨 PICA’s Time-Based Arts Festival | various locations
Tuesday, Sep. 9
- 🎵 WITCH | Aladdin Theater
- 🤓 Doris Kearns Goodwin | Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
- 💙 Crater Lake (before the trail closes) | Central Oregon
- 🎨 PICA’s 2025 Time-Based Arts Festival | various locations
🥇 A special shoutout to our newest City Cast Portland Neighbor Michael H. Thanks for becoming a member.
I hope you’ll consider joining too. Membership comes with perks like ad-free podcast listening, a weekly email with an events preview, and get-togethers — like last year’s event at Slim’s.
Free · Daily