State snubs Lane County transportation project, Medicaid bean counters miscount and Warrenton gets an organic grocery store.
With apologies to Leo Tolstoy: All cities gentrify. But each city gentrifies in its own way. I returned last night from a five day trip visiting my daughter in New York City. She is spending the summer in Bushwick, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Brooklyn (most residents hail from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico) that is now home to an increasing number of chic wine bars, single origin coffee shops and 20-somethings like my daughter. The intruders are provoking familiar debates about how to preserve local communities in the face of powerful market and demographic forces.
Back in Portland — another front has emerged in the battle over affordable housing. Advocates on Friday rallied against potential $80 million a year in federal housing cuts. The Oregonian has the story.
Passed over. The new $3.8 billion transportation bill will pour money in road projects around the state. One exception is Lane County’s congested Delta Highway/Randy Papé Beltline interchange and a two-mile stretch of Beltline west to River Road. The Eugene Register-Guard reports.
The Salem Statesman-Journal published an evocatively titled article about marijuana businesses on the Oregon Coast. “Oregon’s Cannabis Coast” profiles new pot shops and cannabis-friendly lodgings. Provocative headline notwithstanding, the story does not support claims that cannabis is radically reshaping the coastal tourism market.
Natural Grocers comes to Warrenton. Under the radar, organic and natural food purveyors are slowly making their way to underserved neighborhoods. This North Coast community is the latest beneficiary. The Daily Astorian reports.
A blow to state Medicaid accounting. Oregon has determined it awarded Medicaid health benefits to more than 37,000 people during the past year who earned too much money or otherwise failed to qualify. Those figures represent half of the Medicaid recipients whose incomes were double checked by the state this summer. The Bend Bulletin has the story.
From the Magazine: OB Research Editor Kim Moore has compiled a list of staffing agencies ranked by full-time staff in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
