🤔 Can Portlanders be nice online?

Police Funding Proposal May Not Make the Ballot

It’s looking like the effort to redirect 25% of the Portland Clean Energy Fund to hiring police officers won’t actually make the ballot. The campaign appears not to have gathered enough valid signatures for the effort. [Willamette Week]

• Problems with signature gathering: The campaign gathered nearly 63,000 signatures — almost 23,000 more than were needed. But the city has found irregularities, tossing more than 7,000 signatures outright. And then during signature validation, the county's elections office also rejected 38% of signatures in its first sampling. There’s more validation to be done, but that’s not looking like enough. [Willamette Week]
• Part of the issue: Susan Mottet, director of the city’s Small Donor Elections program, filmed her experience with canvassers for the campaign. They weren’t following the rules as they gathered signatures. [Oregonian]
• Campaign response: A campaign spokesperson went on that attack, accusing Mottet of playing politics. But the chair of the city’s election commission defended Mottet. [Oregonian]
• More police funding? On yesterday’s podcast, Mayor Keith Wilson said he wasn’t backing this possible ballot measure, but he still wants more funding for police. [City Cast Portland 🎧]

Can Southeast Portland’s New Online Community Stay Kind?

There’s a new online community built on the idea that people can gather online and actually be nice to one another. Roundabout Southeast PDX, which started two weeks ago, has 1,600 people already signed up — and it’s going well so far, says Roundabout Southeast PDX community steward Hays Witt. Roundabout has real-life human beings as moderators in place to help that happen. [City Cast Portland 🎧]

• How to join Roundabout Southeast PDX.
• How to bring Roundabout to your area.

Wildfires Double in Size

Between Friday and Monday, Oregon’s wildfires doubled — more than a million acres have now burned. It’s one indication that the wildfire situation is worsening. [KGW]

• Painted Hills update: Photos obtained by the Oregonian show wildfire has charred sage brush and grasses in the area, though the Painted Hills themselves appear undisturbed. [Oregonian]

Hillsboro Enacts 4-Month Ban on New Data Centers

With only a day’s notice on the public meeting, the Hillsboro City Council unanimously passed a four-month moratorium on new data centers — the state’s first to go into effect. The city also kept quiet when it gave a notice to the state’s land use board 45 days ago — all to avoid pressure from tech companies. [Oregonian]