🪿 Portland’s ferocious foie gras debate

What Matters Right Now to Portland-Area Voters

The Oregonian commissioned a new poll on the metro area’s top concerns. The results show some changes in the last two years:

• More concern: Voters are increasingly worried about taxes and cost-of-living — those issues grew the most compared from the previous two years’ polls. Three times as many residents cited “taxes” as their most pressing concern, rising from 3% in the March 2025 poll to 11% now. “Inflation and cost-of-living” saw a similar increase to 9%. Once again, homelessness was rated as our region's top problem, but just 33% of respondents picked that — down from 48% last year. [Oregonian]
• Less concern: The number of respondents naming drug addiction and safety has declined most dramatically. Just 4% of Portland city residents named crime and safety as their top concern — down from 15% in 2024. [Oregonian]
• Details of the poll: From April 23 to 30, 600 registered voters in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties answered the questions from Portland-based DHM Research. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points for metro area voters. [Oregonian]
• Kotek’s cratering numbers: Gov. Tina Kotek faces no notable challenger in Tuesday’s primary election, but her lack of popularity may be problem in the fall: In Multnomah County, where there are five times as many registered Democrats as Republicans, 56% say they have a negative impression of Kotek — versus 35% with a positive impression. That’s almost an exact reversal of a year ago, when polling found just 35% who had a negative impression. [Oregonian]

Debate Over Banning Foie Gras

New York City — as well as some European cities — have banned foie gras for its unethical treatment of animals. And some Portland city councilors have proposed fines of upwards of $1,000 for any instance of selling or serving the controversial food. There’s been strident debate at City Hall, including testimony from chefs at some of the seven restaurants that serve it, arguing it’s critical to Portland’s world-class food scene. [City Cast Portland 🎧]

Earthquake-Readiness Standard for PPS Schools

As Portland Public Schools prepares to upgrade a bunch of schools to prepare them for an earthquake, what is the district's standard for declaring a building seismically safe? The answer at a recent public meeting: “The intention is to safely egress, not necessarily to be able to reoccupy it right away, but it’s certainly a higher standard than an office building,” said Jennifer Eggers, a structural engineer with Holmes, a private-sector firm the district has hired. [Willamette Week]

A Bad Year for Oregon’s State Fruit

Oregon’s pear growers in the Hood River Valley had such a bad year in 2025 they’re seeking federal emergency aid for an estimated $40 to $45 million in losses. [OPB]

• The problems: There was a glut of Bartlett pears at the beginning of the season, meaning many orchards had no market for their products. Also, there was an unusually bad infestation of pear psylla on D’Anjou pear trees. [OPB]