 I’m dedicating time to meet with District 4 constituents both virtually and in their own neighborhoods — to hear what’s on your mind and to provide information on a variety of issues. Please save these dates:
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Multnomah Neighborhood Association: 7-8:30pm Tuesday, June 9th at Village Grace, 6948 SW Capitol Highway.
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Forest Park Neighborhood Association: 7-8:30pm Tuesday, June 16th at Skyline Memorial Gardens, 4101 NW Skyline Boulevard.
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Ardenwald-Johnson Creek Neighborhood Association: 6:30-8pm Monday, June 22nd at Milwaukie Cafe & Bottle Shop, 9401 SE 32nd Avenue.
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South Portland Neighborhood Association: 7-9pm Wednesday, July 1st at Mirabella, 3550 S Bond Avenue.
 Last week’s District 4 Budget Listening Session at Chapman Elementary School was an opportunity to hear directly from constituents as City Council faces difficult decisions about a record shortfall in the general fund of $160 million+.
I want to thank everyone who came to this event and who is continuing to engage in our budget process. I was especially pleased to see more than 450 responses to my budget survey; I’m reading through every single one of them!
 Last week I met with the Sellwood-Moreland Improvement League (SMILE). We discussed a range of important issues, including the budget process, public safety, and transportation. I’m grateful to everyone who took the time to attend, ask important questions, and stay engaged in our community.
This week I met online with the Ashcreek-Crestwood Neighborhood Association. It was a fruitful conversation that addressed the newly adopted Transportation Utility Fee, Safe Rest Villages, and more. It was great to meet with the neighbors of this community, and we even had a handful of new attendees!
 After 24 long years, women’s professional basketball is officially back in Portland!
Last weekend I joined Mayor Wilson and Portland Fire owners Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal for this milestone moment, which drew the WNBA’s second-largest crowd ever for a home opener: 19,335 people! The halftime show brought even more girl power with Grammy-winning singer Ashanti.
Moda Center draws 1.6 million visitors annually and generates $670 million annually in regional economic impact, including $113 million in direct visitor spending. Nearly 4,500 jobs are tied to arena operations and tourism.
(And the Fire won their second game Tuesday night against the New York Liberty!)
 We are halfway through Portland Regional Bike Month!
As I told BikePortland back in December when we introduced the Transportation Utility Fee, road maintenance is essential for safe biking: “Are you tired of having to get your car realigned, or you’re falling on your nose on your bike when you go into a pothole? It’s not safe.”
This month cyclists are encouraged to join the Bike Month Challenge, log trips, and win prizes. In addition, check out these events in District 4:
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Southwest Portland Sunday Parkways (11am-4pm Sunday, May 17): Enjoy open streets between Gabriel Park, Spring Garden Park, and Multnomah Arts Center!
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City Bike Bus (7:15-9:15am Wednesday, May 27): Join the City of Portland’s Bike Bus for a fun ride, starting across the city and ending at Salmon Street Springs with coffee, treats, and music!
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Breakfast on the Bridges (7-9am Friday, May 29): Enjoy hot coffee and delicious pastries on the Steel Bridge, Tilikum Crossing, or Flanders Crossing — and you can’t beat the views!
 Portland Raging Grannies entertained City Hall this week in recognition of Older Americans Month, which honors the achievements, contributions, and sacrifices of older people. This year’s theme is “Champion Your Health.”
About 11.6% of Portlanders are 65 or older, and this number is expected to jump significantly to 27.2% by 2050. That is why it’s so important for Portland to continue its commitment to age-friendly leadership in housing, caregiving, transportation, public spaces, workforce, and economic vitality.
 Last week I was proud to participate in “Women in Leadership: A Conversation on Trailblazing Politics” at Portland State University’s College of Urban and Public Affairs. My fellow panelists were State Senator Kate Lieber, State Representative Dacia Grayber, and Judge Emily Oberdorfer.
The event was organized by Nu Pi, PSU’s Political Science Honors Society. The students asked engaging questions about barriers to success, imposter syndrome, and the importance of peer-to-peer support.
 Congratulations to Portland Community College on its new Health Technology Building on the Sylvania Campus in the Far Southwest neighborhood! This project, which has been 6+ years in the making, reached the finish line with a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.
Now that this 1960s-era building has been transformed into a state-of-the-art facility, the next generation of healthcare students can be trained in world-class labs and simulation suites. The building also features an all-user locker room as well as improved fitness studios and exercise science spaces.
 This week Portland Housing Bureau Interim Director Michael Buonocore celebrated the groundbreaking of Jamii Court, which will provide 96 families and individuals with stable housing in the West Portland Park neighborhood on Southwest Barbur Boulevard.
Community Partners for Affordable Housing is demolishing the Portland Value Inn and redeveloping the site into a five-story, wood frame building. The residential project is funded in part by the Portland Clean Energy Fund.
 West Portland Park restaurant Kismayo was spotlighted this week for the May edition of “Show Up for Small Business.” It’s an ongoing collaboration that Prosper Portland’s Office of Small Business organizes with Better Portland, Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE), Latino Founders, Portland Metro Chamber, and Built Oregon.
Co-owner Ashwaq Omar (left, with Zina Mohamed) runs the restaurant alongside her five sisters and other relatives. She told The Oregonian that the atmosphere and the menu are inspired by family memories: “My oldest sister … loves feeding us. [Sharing meals is] so important in the Somali culture…. That’s considered the strongest bond that you can have with an individual.”
 May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month — and District 4 is fortunate to be home to Portland Chinatown Museum, Oregon’s first museum about Chinese American history, art, and culture. Last week I stopped by to visit with Executive Director Anna Truxes and Board Secretary Tracy Quan, co-owner of Masu Sushi.
The permanent multimedia exhibit, “Beyond the Gate,” documents how Oregon’s early Chinese immigrants built the nation’s second-largest Chinatown, despite six decades of exclusion laws. The museum’s collection includes replicas of Chinatown’s restaurants, laundromats, and dry goods stores in the early 1900s as well as a 150-foot-cloth dragon given by the government of Taiwan for the dedication of the China Gate in 1987.
 Did you know that Portland’s Cinco de Mayo Fiesta is the largest multicultural festival in Oregon?
The Portland Guadalajara Sister City Association presented the 39th annual event last week at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Since 1983, they have worked to strengthen partnerships and goodwill between the City of Portland and the City of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
This year’s fiesta guests included the internationally acclaimed Mariachi Ciudad de Guadalajara; artisans who traveled from Guadalajara and Tonala, Mexico; and local street artist Mario DeLeon, who was putting the finishing touches on a mural that took him four days to complete!
 District 4 put its best foot forward last weekend at the St. Johns Parade! My staffer Jimmy Radosta snapped some photos during this annual tradition, which dates back to 1963 — the city’s oldest parade entirely driven by volunteers and donations.
Ryan Hashagen, founder of Icicle Tricycles, managing director of Better Block PDX, director of Steel Bridge Skate Coalition, and board member of Old Town Community Association, was spotted rollerblading with the talented performers of Portland Samba.
In addition, Rose Princesses Sophie Lafrenz of Ida B. Wells High School (top) and Anika Rigby of Lincoln High School represented the Rose Festival, which kicks off May 22nd. Queen of Rosaria Ava Rathi, who attends Lincoln, will crown this year’s monarch June 5th.
Summer event season is here! Pioneer Square hosted a launch event last week to encourage Portlanders to come together downtown and explore all that our amazing city has to offer.
When someone attends an event in Portland, they spend almost $40 a person. Last summer downtown Portland hosted 4.1 million visitors. If each visitor spends almost $40, that means $155 million in economic impact.
This year more than 70 events are planned in the central city alone, including:
- Rose Festival
- Bike Summer
- Waterfront Blues Festival
- Juneteenth 8 Seconds Rodeo
- Human Access Project
- Portland Pride
- Portland Criterium
- Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, and Technology
 District 4 is all over the newly released trailer for Laika’s most ambitious handcrafted production to date, Wildwood! Look for Forest Park (where most of the film takes place), Waterfront Park, Benson Bubblers, and Skidmore Fountain.
The made-in-Oregon film, based on a children’s novel by The Decemberists singer Colin Meloy, features a voice cast with Oscar nominees Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, Angela Bassett, and Mahershala Ali.
To fuel foot traffic this summer, dozens of 6-foot crow sculptures inspired by the film will be positioned throughout downtown. At the end of the “Wildwood: Follow the Crows” exhibition, they will be auctioned off to benefit OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.
 Multnomah Athletic Club (MAC) suffered severe damage May 2nd when a vehicle crashed into the clubhouse, killing the driver.
MAC was founded in 1891 and has been at its current location in Goose Hollow since 1911, when President Theodore Roosevelt came to town for the dedication. The club posted a message on social media vowing to reopen as soon as conditions are safe:
“For more than 135 years, MAC has been defined by its resilience. We’ve faced challenging moments before, and each time, this community has come together and found a way forward. That same strength will carry us through this as well….
“We are also deeply grateful to the city and to the local and federal authorities who responded so quickly and professionally. Their work has been critical in helping us move forward.”
 ► Condé Nast Traveler loves Portland! “One of the country’s prettiest cities … it’s long had a thriving alternative-music scene, a free-wheeling cycling culture, and iconic institutions, like Powell’s Books, the world’s largest indie bookstore.” This article mentions District 4 stores (Canoe, Frances May, Woonwinkel, Marie-Marie, Chess Club), hotels (Hoxton, Ritz-Carlton, and Heathman, Portland’s first luxury hotel), music venues (Crystal Ballroom, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall), and restaurants (Bellpine, Madrina Cocina Mexicana) that are worth checking out whether you’re a tourist or a local.
► The City of Roses has joined “a national wave of new children’s museums,” according to The New York Times! “Conceived by a former preschool teacher and children’s cartoon artist, Mike Bennett, the Portland Aquarium opened last June as an animal-free, cartoon-style aquarium. Bennett said he wanted marine science to feel like ‘stepping inside a hand-drawn cartoon.’ … Throughout, visitors encounter illustrations of more than 100 marine species, including sea otters, jellyfish, and great white sharks. Each child receives a guidebook created in collaboration with marine biologists.”
► OPB’s All Things Considered spoke with my former neighbor Greg Higgins, who recently announced a well-earned retirement after more than three decades at the helm of Higgins Restaurant. A longtime leader of the farm-to-table movement, Greg became one of the first few Oregon chefs to win a James Beard Award in 2002. He now serves on the board for the James Beard Public Market, which will keep him busy: “I’m not sure the public totally is aware [that] it’s going to make Portland even a bigger mecca for food people…. I’ll have some kind of role teaching classes or doing some things there at the market. I want to stay active in food because it’s my life.”
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