by Anonymous

Why is there a One Way sign pointing traffic to go the wrong way down a one way street? What does this mean?!?!?

Advice for those who feel like democracy has abandoned them. by Dan Savage Dear Readers: Well, fuck. Reading a sex-advice column at a time like this — to say nothing of writing a sex-advice column at a time like this — might seem a little pointless. But I’ve lived long enough to know that seemingly pointless distractions, small comforts, and guilty pleasures have the power to sustain us in bad times. Taking a moment to read (or write or illustrate) a sex-advice column — or listen to or make some music or watch or make some porn — doesn’t mean you’re complacent or complicit. (Unless you voted for him, of course, in which case you can fuck the fuck off.) Because it’s the little things — the small pleasures — that keep us sane, keep us connected, and keep us going. Anyway, sitting down to write a column this week lifted my spirits a bit. I hope reading this week’s column lifts yours.…

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Citing ethical issues and potential conflicts of interest, advocates want the city to halt a no-bid contract renewal that would funnel millions to the Portland Metro Chamber. by Courtney Vaughn

For years, Portland has collected fees from property owners in enhanced service districts to pay for added cleaning and security services in designated areas. The districts are typically concentrated around businesses, offering private security, extra policing, janitorial services, and more recently, removal of homeless camps. 

Some stakeholders say the city has yet to confront the unique and outsized role of Portland’s most powerful business lobbying group at one enhanced service district (ESD) in particular—Downtown Portland Clean & Safe.

This week, Portland City Council is scheduled to vote on a 116-acre expansion of the Downtown Portland Clean & Safe district, as well as a fee hike and a five-year management contract renewal for the district. 

Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, more than 100 Portlanders and over a dozen community groups are urging City Council to postpone the contract renewal that would funnel a hefty portion of a $58 million, no-bid contract to the Portland Metro Chamber.

An open letter to city commissioners outlines a number of transparency and ethics issues surrounding the Clean & Safe contract, asking the Council vote to be tabled until a new Council is sworn in this January.

Currently, the Downtown Portland Clean & Safe district is overseen by an organization of the same name, whose management has significant overlap with the executive leadership of the Portland Metro Chamber (formerly the Portland Business Alliance).

A large chunk of funding for the Metro Chamber’s leadership staff comes from a lucrative contract to oversee the Downtown Portland Clean & Safe ESD.

That means a private group that lobbies the city on behalf of private business interests is being paid millions in public money to oversee a service district that includes a large swath of its own dues-paying members. The downtown district also includes several government agencies and properties that pay into the ESD—including Portland City Hall. Moreover, community groups say the contract and service delivery model are convoluted at best, with next to no oversight from the city.

The letter’s signatories say the petition for district expansion, and the accompanying contract renewal “raises serious concerns related to affordability, efficient use of public resources, accountability, and transparency.”

“The City contracts with Clean & Safe, which subcontracts with other organizations to carry out cleaning and safety services. Yet the executive director of Clean & Safe is simultaneously an employee of the Portland Business Alliance, which is also a subcontractor of Clean & Safe,” the open letter to Council states. “Unclear lines of oversight make it difficult for ratepayers or the public to hold anyone accountable. Even more concerning, the contract allocates significant overhead to the Portland Business Alliance, the city’s most active lobbying organization.”

It's a contract that mystifies everyone from accountants, to ratepayers, and even auditors. 

A 2020 city audit of Portland's ESDs found "little oversight" of the privately funded public service districts and noted "complicated governance and management systems" that obfuscate public access to basic information such as budgets and subcontracts.

Not long after the city audit, a local business executive spoke out about the questionable business arrangement baked into the Clean & Safe contract. When she did, she was allegedly threatened with a lawsuit from the Portland Business Alliance.

Since then, other local government watchdogs have taken note, but gotten little traction with city leadership.

“I think this council has an ethical responsibility to answer all these questions for the voters, or wait,” Diane Goodwin, a member of local political advocacy group Portland For All, says.

It's unclear what Clean & Safe's latest budget includes. A 2021 budget calculated total expenses at around $5 million, including about $858,000 in salaries. Exactly what portion of staff is covered in those salary expenses is murky. Both the Metro Chamber and Downtown Clean & Safe share staff. In fact, the Chamber's CEO and president, Andrew Hoan, is also the CEO and president of Downtown Clean & Safe. The 2021 budget shows $243,000 in "shared administration" salary costs. 

Tax documents from 2022 show Hoan drew a $333,000 salary from the Chamber that year. The two organizations also share an executive assistant and an advocacy coordinator. Clean & Safe's operations director and executive director are also listed as part of the Chamber's staff. The Clean & Safe executive director drew a $154,000 salary from the Chamber that same year.

Businesses and commercial property owners in the district overwhelmingly support the expansion, saying the frequent cleaning and beefed up security have improved downtown Portland and made it safer for workers and visitors.

“We want our associates to feel safe coming into work,” Kelly Mullen, president of Portland’s Safeway and Albertsons division, told the Council on October 31 during its initial consideration of the contract and ESD expansion. Mullen said recently, the Safeway location at 10th and Jefferson has had to reduce store hours and close off an entrance, to improve safety at the grocery store.

“We want to be part of the solution and really make our community thrive,” Mullen said.

The council also heard from the principal of a private school advocating for the district expansion so her students and staff could receive extra security and clean-up around the campus.

One element of Downtown Clean & Safe that’s lauded by nearly every district member, even critics, is the Clean Start program, run by Central City Concern. The program offers janitorial jobs cleaning city streets to people transitioning out of homelessness. For many, it offers a fresh start and a path toward self-sufficiency. 

City staff and Clean & Safe reps say the expanded district and new proposed rate structures will offer more transparency, reasonable fee calculations, inflation adjustments, and a cap on rates for condo owners. Several residential ratepayers say the whole Clean & Safe arrangement leaves them with more questions than services received. 

John Pumphrey owns a condominium in the downtown district. He and other condo owners say the services they pay for are often duplicative of private security and janitorial services they already pay for through their homeowners association. They also say the services serve mainly to benefit businesses, not residents.

“I’m a condo owner in downtown Portland and our building pays $24,000 a year to Clean & Safe and for this, [we] receive next to nothing,” Pumphrey told the Council, asking them to vote against the contract renewal. “What’s really irritating to some of us about Clean & Safe is that 50 percent of what we contribute … is skimmed off the top by the Portland Metro Chamber.”

Pumphrey isn’t the only one critical of the unusually high compensation provided to Portland Metro Chamber staff from the Downtown Clean & Safe contract.

The open letter to City Council also makes mention of the compensation arrangement, asserting the Clean & Safe contract “pays nearly 50 percent of Business Alliance executive salaries in addition to up to 30% in administrative overhead.”

“Many of these executives appear in City lobbying records and in state filings for PACs that advocate for private business interests, often directly in conflict with the will of the voting public,” the letter reads. “It is inappropriate to use public resources to offset the cost of business lobbying.”

Devin Reynolds, the city's ESD coordinator, said the arrangement between the Metro Chamber and Dowtown Clean & Safe isn't an anomaly.

“Having an ESD contract with a third party to fulfill some, or all their service areas is indeed common across business improvement districts, business improvement areas, and enhanced services districts,” Reynolds told the Mercury earlier this year.

Commonplace or not, some downtown ESD ratepayers say they’ve been cut off from any meaningful participation in their district’s oversight or decisions.

Anita Davidson, a condo owner in the downtown district, told the Mercury that for years, condo owners have had no representation in district leadership, and there is little to no transparency around operational decisions.

“As residential people, we don’t feel we belong there. We don't have a vote in who runs Clean & Safe,” she said. “We can’t even join Portland Metro Chamber, because it's for businesses. I’d like to see Clean & Safe become a public nonprofit. That would solve a lot of things. I still have to make a public records request [just] to see their budget.”

In an effort to appease homeowners, the new contract includes a fee cap on residential units. It’s a nice accommodation, but homeowners in the industry-dominated district say what they really want is a way to opt out.

There currently is no mechanism to do that, and the process for annexing additional property into an ESD doesn’t require a vote from affected property owners. It’s left up to City Council to approve. Current standards only require the city to notify affected property owners by mail and hold public hearings where they can chime in. 

“Unfortunately for ratepayers, the city has not yet, after 30 years, adopted standards for formation, renewal, or expansion of the ESDs,” Davidson told Council. “At some point, we hope and expect that this will happen, although listening tonight, it sounds like it's an all-in-one thing.”

Other district members say they disagree with their tax revenue being used to initiate homeless sweeps, and pay for increased police presence.

That’s especially true in the case of Sisters of the Road, a homeless services nonprofit and member of the Downtown Portland Clean & Safe district.

“From 2016-2020, unhoused residents accounted for over half of arrests made in Portland. Their charges were primarily nonviolent, survival crimes. That same data showed that people are 20 times more likely to experience criminalization in Downtown Clean & Safe versus other areas of the city,” Lauren Armony, program director at Sisters of the Road, told the city in written testimony earlier this year. “Hyper-surveillance has not made our neighborhood any healthier or safer, but further entrenched vulnerable individuals in the cycle of incarceration and poverty.”

Organizations like Sisters of the Road say they're irked that the ESD funnels its members’ taxes into the Metro Chamber, which has powerful influence over city politics and often advocates against the city’s vulnerable, unhoused residents–the same population Sisters of the Road is trying to help. 

The Clean & Safe contract and district expansion are currently scheduled for a second reading and vote by Portland City Council on Wednesday.

Uzo Aduba has won over critics and fans for her portrayal as "Crazy Eyes" on Netflix's Orange Is the New Black. Aduba speaks to NPR's Michel Martin about her success and how she got there.

Tell Me More has regularly turned to Alfredo Corchado for insight on Mexico. He gives host Michel Martin one last look into his reporter's notebook.

Around the world, it can still be very hard to live as an openly gay man. Host Michel Martin learns more from two LGBT activists: Jamaican Maurice Tomlinson and Nigerian Bisi Alimi.

Host Michel Martin speaks with rapper Samuel Bazawule, better known as Blitz the Ambassador, about his new album, "Afropolitan Dreams."

Tell Me More has been dedicated to covering stories from Africa. Host Michel Martin speaks to NPR's Africa correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton about reporting on the changing continent.

For the final program, host Michel Martin speaks with Neil Minkoff and Maria Cardona about the biggest political stories of the week.

Six years after playing at Tell Me More's first anniversary, the the jazz group performs as the show closes.

Did ESPN's Stephen Smith need to apologize for saying women need to be aware of provocation? The Barbershop guys weigh in.

Host Michel Martin speaks with Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld for a final Faith Matters conversation.

The host shares some final thoughts before the close of the show.

NPR's Scott Simon remembers actor James Earl Jones, whose deep, resonant voice animated some of cinema's most iconic characters.

Bangladesh defies the stereotypes. It was born in poverty but has risen up the income ladder and is a model of health progress. Will the current political upheaval take a toll on its impressive achievements?

Jean Brodie, Minerva McGonagall, Violet Crawley: Maggie Smith embodied these memorable roles on stage and screen. NPR's Scott Simon has a remembrance of the actor, who died yesterday at the age of 89.

NPR's Scott Simon wishes we could text them back when politicians message us asking for campaign donations.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, no stranger to controversy, has ignited another with a hat. NPR's Scott Simon explains.

NPR's Scott Simon is dazzled by the turn of the seasons, especially the color of the leaves.

China's government is censoring puns and wordplay on-line. NPR's Scott Simon explains why double meanings are a problem for Beijing.

NPR's A Martinez talks with Cary Baker, author of "Down on the Corner: Adventures in Busking and Street Music."

Utility companies have been sued to bankruptcy over downed power lines that caused deadly wildfires in Hawaii and California. A Colorado utility's power shutoff to prevent fire also caused problems.

Companies in China are fueling a "silver economy" by adapting to serve hundreds of millions of people over the age of 60.

Global pandemic treaty negotiators are hashing out cooperation plans this week and considering rushing the process out of fear that the Trump administration would pull the U.S. out of negotiations.

A federal judge has ruled that a Louisiana law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms is unconstitutional.

NPR's Michel Martin talks with Edward Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center about President-elect Trump's influence on Senate Republicans' selection of a new majority leader.

Trump has made some unconventional and surprising choices when it comes to his foreign policy and defense team, like his plan to nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense.

Mattel is pulling its Wicked dolls from some store shelves because of a misprint directing shoppers to a pornographic site. Meanwhile, resellers are listing the products on eBay for up to $500.

The crypto industry was the largest corporate donor to this year's elections. Now it has a crypto-friendly president headed to the White House, while critics worry about the fallout for consumers.

Israel's airlines are generating a windfall as international carriers cancel or limit flights due to security concerns. Flying in or out of Israel has become a logistical challenge since the war in Gaza erupted.

For a long time Tesla used its own kind of charger plug and had its own supercharger network. That once-exclusive network is opening up to other EV manufacturers.

In a first-best world, we'd all save enough money and there'd be no scammers. In a second-best world, we'd all know how to protect ourselves.

That's what Sheila Bair thought, too. As former chair of the FDIC, she noticed many kids and adults weren't quite getting the education they needed. So, she decided to do something about it.

Today on the show: What Sheila Bair has learned about American capitalism as one of its top regulators and how she's trying — one book at a time — to help new generations from falling into its traps.

We learned about Sheila Bair's kids books from listener Erin Vetter. If you've come across anything that makes finance fun, email us! We're at indicator@npr.org.

Related Episodes:
Mailbag: Children Edition
Beach reads with a side of economics

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Voters really don't like inflation. In fact, whenever there's a sustained jump in the cost of living, the party in power often pays a price.

Major flooding events are increasingly common across the U.S., but homeowners looking for flood insurance will find few choices. The main providers of flood insurance is the U.S. government through the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP. But even though the NFIP is one of the only flood insurance games in town, it's drowning in debt. On today's episode, the NFIP's struggle to stay afloat.

Related listening:
Hazard maps: The curse of knowledge (Apple / Spotify)
When insurers can't get insurance
Flood money

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Event date: November 24, 2024
Event Time: 10:00 AM - 03:00 PM
Location:
15556 Summit Ave
Fontana, CA 92336
Description:
Visit the Fontana Farmers' Market every Sundays! You can enjoy the many hot foods, produce, crafts, and unique accessories that are available.

Event date: November 21, 2024
Event Time: 03:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Location:
14501 Live Oak Ave
Fontana, CA 92337
Description:
Visit the Fontana Farmers' Market every Thursdays! You can enjoy the many hot foods, produce, crafts, and unique accessories that are available.

Event date: November 17, 2024
Event Time: 10:00 AM - 03:00 PM
Location:
15556 Summit Ave
Fontana, CA 92336
Description:
Visit the Fontana Farmers' Market every Sundays! You can enjoy the many hot foods, produce, crafts, and unique accessories that are available.

Event date: November 15, 2024
Event Time: 06:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Location:
16822 Spring St
Fontana, CA 92335

Event date: November 14, 2024
Event Time: 03:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Location:
14501 Live Oak Ave
Fontana, CA 92337
Description:
Visit the Fontana Farmers' Market every Thursdays! You can enjoy the many hot foods, produce, crafts, and unique accessories that are available.

Event date: November 19, 2024
Event Time: 06:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Location:
8353 Sierra Ave.
Fontana, CA 92335

In acknowledgment of Women’s History Month Basic Black presents a Women’s Roundtable. This special presentation will be a conversation on the issues and concerns of women of color coming out of the political landscape in this presidential election year. In addition to the wealth income gap and health care reform, we’ll dig deep on issues such as reproductive rights, women of color in political life, and setting the "women's agenda.'"

Our panel this week:

Callie Crossley, host and executive editor, The Callie Crossley Show
Anita Hill, Professor of Social Policy, Law and Women's Studies, Brandeis University
Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz (MA-2nd Suffolk)
Kim McLarin, Assistant Professor of Writing, Literature and Publishing, Emerson College

Monday March 19th, Professor Anita Hill co-hosts "Disrupting The Script: Raising To Legal Consciousness Sexual Assaults On Black Women." Click on the image to learn more.

Originally broadcast March 23, 2012

Basic Black takes a look at national and local headlines including the outrage ignited by the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida, the debate over Massachusetts; "three strikes" legislation, and Charles Street AME Church vs. One United Bank.

Our panel this week:
- Callie Crossley, host and executive editor, The Callie Crossley Show
- Phillip Martin, senior reporter, 89.7 WGBH radio
- Charles Yancey, Boston City Councillor
- State Rep. Russell Holmes, (D-MA)
- Alejandra St. Guillen, executive director, Oiste

This week on Basic Black: In the wake of the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, a look at Massachusetts' "stand your ground" proposal and recent efforts to pass or block the legislation. Also, the pending Supreme Court decision on the Obama administration's health care reform legislation: however they decide, what are the political ramifications for President Obama's re-election campaign and the impact on communities of color.

Our panel:
- Callie Crossley, host and executive editor, The Callie Crossley Show
- Kim McLarin, author and assistant professor of writing, literature, and publishing, Emerson College
- Peniel Joseph, professor of history, Tufts University
- Phillip Martin, senior reporter, WGBH Radio



(Image source via Creative Commons: xtopalopaquetl)

(Originally broadcast on April 13, 2012)

In a country where an African American boy can grow up to be president, the tragedy of Trayvon Martin's death is one in a continuum in the stories of young black men whose lives end at the intersection of race and violence. The facts of the case in the fatal shooting death of Trayvon Martin continue to be debated, but in addition to the headlines and specific events of that night, our Basic Black conversation focuses on the myriad of themes and persistent questions about what it means to grow up black and male in America.

Panel:
- Latoyia Edwards, lead anchor, New England Cable News
- Phillip Martin, senior reporter, WGBH Radio
- Kim McLarin, author and assistant professor of writing, Emerson College
- Peniel Joseph, professor of history and founding director of the Center for the Study of Race & Democracy, Tufts University
- Laurence Ralph, assistant professor of African American History & Anthropology, Harvard University

(Originally broadcast April 20, 2012)
The Basic Black panelists sit down with playwright Kirsten Greenidge to discuss her new play The Luck of the Irish, currently playing at the Huntington Theatre through May 6. When an upwardly mobile African-American family wants to buy a house in an all-white neighborhood of 1950s Boston, they pay a struggling Irish family to act as their front. Fifty years later, the Irish family asks for "their" house back. Moving across the two eras, The Luck of the Irish explores the complex impact of racial integration in Boston and the universal longing for home.

In conversation:
- Callie Crossley, host and executive editor, The Callie Crossley Show
- Kim McLarin, assistant professor of creative writing, Emerson College
- Phillip Martin, senior reporter, 89.7 WGBH Radio
- Kirsten Greenidge, playwright, The Luck of the Irish

Originally broadcast on April 27, 2012

Tonight, with "Riding The T," we continue WGBH News' weeklong focus on the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. Our discussion explores the significance of the MBTA in communities of color. Later in the show, our conversation digs deep into the deluge of racist tweets from Bruins fans towards Joel Ward, the black player from the Washington Capitals who scored the winning goal, thus ending the Bruins march towards the Stanley Cup.

In conversation:
- Latoyia Edwards, anchor, New England Cable News
- Kim McLarin, assistant professor of creative writing, Emerson College
- Phillip Martin, senior reporter, 89.7 WGBH Radio
- Marvin Venay, co-founder of Think Politics and Executive Director of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus

(Originally broadcast May 4, 2012)


Conversations about “hipster racism” are drawing heated commentary across the internet, including questions about who gets to use the n-word and why is there a dearth of black storylines in contemporary television programs – but what is “hipster racism?”


In conversation:
- Callie Crossley, host and executive editor of The Callie Crossley Show, WGBH Radio
- Kim McLarin, assistant professor of creative writing, Emerson College
- Phillip Martin, senior reporter, 89.7 WGBH Radio
- Peniel Joseph, professor of history and co-founder, Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, Tufts University
- Latoya Peterson, owner and editor of Racialicious.com

(Originally broadcast May 11, 2012)

President Obama surprised the world yesterday when his stance on same-sex marriage finished "evolving" and he came out in support of it. Will his position hurt or help his chances at re-election? How will it affect his relationship with black clergy? Will it alter his support in the black community?

Our panelists:
- Callie Crossley, host and executive editor, The Callie Crossley Show
- Kim McLarin, author and assistant professor of creative writing, Emerson College
- Phillip Martin, senior reporter, 89.7 WGBH Radio
- Lionel McPherson, associate professor of philosophy, Tufts University

(June 8, 2012)

The recently published Trotter Review examines political gains made by African American politicians at the beginning of the 21st century. Also, specific essays on why Boston has not elected a black mayor while the city of Denver has done so twice, and how Deval Patrick has served the interests of black communities while not alienating the larger population.

Our panelists:
- Latoyia Edwards, anchor, New England Cable News
- Kim McLarin, assistant professor of writing, literature and publishing, Emerson College
- Phillip Martin, senior reporter, 89.7 WGBH Radio
- Ravi Perry, political science professor
- Kenneth Cooper, editor, The Trotter Review