⚽ The World Cup boost for Latino businesses

World Cup Boosts Latino-Owned Businesses

After the Trump administration launched an immigration enforcement operation in Portland and the Willamette Valley, local Latino-owned businesses lost customers in the face of community fears around detainment. The World Cup — with added excitement as games are played in North America — has helped shops and restaurants begin to return to their previous level of business. [Oregon Capital Chronicle]

• Best Mexican restaurants: Eater Portland released its picks for Portland’s best Mexican eats, some of which are hosting in World Cup watch parties. Even the high-end Mexican restaurant República has a TV set up for watching World Cup games over brunch, something I enjoyed over the weekend.
• Other impacts: The federal immigration crackdown — when more than 1,400 people were detained in Oregon — had another serious impact. More students missed school. One example from Hillsboro: The gap between Hispanic students’ attendance rate and the rest of the student population rose sharply from under 1 percentage point to 7 points during the fall. [OPB]

Albina Neighborhood Revival Underway

The 1803 Fund, the real estate company with the mission of investing in Black Portland, has purchased two more properties in the Albina neighborhood: the former manufacturing campus of Streimer Sheet Metal Works, Inc., as well as 1.5 acres from Widmer Brothers brewing. The purchase price is not yet public. [OPB]

• Context: Last year, the 1803 Fund bought the former grain silos on the Willamette River for $70 million. [OPB]

20-Minute Average Wait for High-Priority Police Calls

The amount of time Portlanders wait for police to respond to a high-priority call has been rising since 2020, even as the number of calls has dropped. Police and some police experts say that’s about staffing levels, but a progressive group says their analysis shows response times haven’t correlated with staffing levels. [Oregonian]

Fees for Psychedelic Licenses To Double

Oregon’s struggling psilocybin treatment businesses are set to take another hit. The state is planning to double the licensing fees it charges. The law that OK'd legal psychedelics included a requirement for licensing fees to cover the state’s costs of regulating the industry. [Oregon Capitol Chronicle]

• Details: The massive fee hike is a problem for treatment centers, manufactures, and the one lab in the state: Rose City Laboratories. A lab to test psilocybin is needed for all the other businesses to stay up and running, but its owner is already losing money by staying open. [Oregon Capitol Chronicle]