Michael Andersen
@andersem.bsky.social
Believer, skeptic, humanist, typist & dad. Trying to make places fairer as director of cities + towns for @Sightline.org, here in Portland OR. Views here: mine, all mine.
This is my Malaysia/Indonesia/Singapore impression: 👀
Scott Horton@robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 4h agoThe proposed deal now under discussion would give Iran a 5-7% toll for traffic through Hormuz, making the war a massive victory for the Iranians and insuring them a long-term dominant position in the Gulf. It would reflect pretty much an unconditional surrender by Trump to Tehran.
A sentence I would rather never hear, yet here we are: "Global Warming Has Accelerated Significantly". #ClimateChange 🧪 Link: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL118804
I recently learned that despite the rapidly rising number & share of Oregonians over 75, the number & share of Oregonians with ambulatory disabilities has been falling slightly Seems good
Constantine@ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 17h agoFood, man. Food is so much better than it was in 1986. All of it. Poor-people food, restaurant food, fresh food, frozen food. Food is just a hell of a lot better.
Ha! Should have put this, specifically, on my 2026 work plan
Fischer 🛠️🚇@fischer.bsky.social · 18h ago@andersem.bsky.social putting air quotes around "international" in the "international" building code during this discussion is a landmark introduction of that specific discourse to portland city hall
Great point with a corollary: the Boomers won, so we can all stop kicking the dead horse of the Cleavers
Philip N Cohen@philipncohen.com · 2d agoI said: “The 1950s family could not even reproduce itself for one generation. They couldn’t even convince their children that this was the right way to arrange their lives. So it failed immediately.”
“In 2024, the Hillsboro School District lost $128 million due to data center tax abatements.” This is a fair critique, but if you’re not building anything, ain’t no taxes to abate in the first place and schools are even more broke
Like every such article about every generation, the actual situation is that so many of us have tasted the fruits of the garden and now have higher expectations about cocktails
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2d agoPeople in their 20s and 30s are dating less than earlier generations did. The high cost of going out is one of the reasons.
Good time to close your windows, get your air purifier running and dig out those masks.
“It is easy to form a certain opinion of a city when you view it only through a spreadsheet. And that it’s easy to dismiss its people when they don’t leap at the chance to give you millions.” — @billoram.bsky.social
Tom Dundon needs to see Portland at its best. He should start at a Timbers game | Bill Oram
If the new Trail Blazers owner had any interest in understanding the city with which he is at odds, there would have been no better place than Saturday's Timbers game.
oregonlive.com
when life gives you a free 500 million dollars, I think it’s good to take it
Portland: Neighbors Welcome@portlandneighborswelcome.org · 5d agoExciting news: Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has released the Inner Eastside Status and Timeline Report!
Second, "change"/"something new" isn't always something Americans are conceiving of along strict ideological lines. See this question about what dissatisfied Dems say would change their party for the better -- ideological considerations rank last, and some chose both "move left" and "move center."
Today’s column is on the quiet shift from a society where one’s economic standing was mainly determined by income, to one where wealth does more of the talking. This changes incentives, status, beliefs in fairness, and imo helps explain why many feel the system is broken www.ft.com/content/6a35...
We’ve moved from income world to wealth world
Passive wealth gains increasingly matter more than earnings for one’s standing in society
ft.com
The road to housing scarcity is paved with…
William Skudlarek@willskud.bsky.social · 6d agoWashington Building Official Association (WABO): We want to require that when elevators are installed in any multifamily housing (vs. current req. of 4+ story buildings), at least 1 must fit a stretcher. WA State Building Code council: Can you quantify the costs and benefits of this change? WABO:
My stupid kid’s good friend lives across town so I am now driving in rush hour sometimes and Jesus Christ. Is driving in congestion so terrible that decongestion pricing would be a net boon even for the desirability of working downtown as an employee?
🚨 burgerville currently has both walla walla onion rings and marionberry milkshakes
double hall-pass movie for the Andersen household www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnm4...
The Thomas Crown Affair | Official Teaser Trailer
YouTube video by Amazon MGM Studios
youtube.com
The frequency of Youtubers using the phrase "over at" to refer to peers within their niche is the tell that Youtube is just a less efficiently, but more widely, consumed blogosphere
A great movie, a musical no less, that's unaccountably dropped out of the conversation is Hansard's 2006 film ONCE. "Falling Slowly" was the big hit out of it, but its themes of out-of-placeness and migration are, obviously, still pretty relevant. youtu.be/k8mtXwtapX4
Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova - Falling Slowly (Official Video)
YouTube video by GlenHansardVEVO
youtu.be
Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · last wk.Can’t believe Glen Hansard is gone. What an unbelievable tragedy. I loved his and Lisa O’Neill’s rendition of Fairytale of New York at Shane MacGowan’s funeral: m.youtube.com/watch?v=ptay...
The Portland Housing Center has changed its name to "Arrive." It's also expanding its mortgage lending and brokering operations statewide to bring in fresh revenue and to navigate federal CDFI changes: www.oregonlive.com/business/202...
Portland Housing Center becomes Arrive, expands statewide as buyers priced out of city
Arrive, formerly Portland Housing Center, is expanding statewide to help buyers priced out of Portland. It plans to targets the state's rural reaches.
oregonlive.com
Hey Neighbors, Remember to submit your testimony by tomorrow's hearing! HBAP is a project to re-calibrate the city's housing bonuses, and we are advocating for some changes to make it even better and make it possible to build more homes on small sites. Check out our testimony guide!
Portland: Neighbors Welcome@portlandneighborswelcome.org · 2w agoPortland: Neighbors Welcome would like your help submitting comments in support of the Housing Bonus Alignment Project, which is up for a vote in front of the Portland Planning Commission. Register to testify or submit written comment before July 28! portlandneighborswelcome.org/hbap-testimony
“In the same way China flooded the world with cheaper solar panels and electric vehicles — setting de facto industry standards that would help the Chinese lock up global market dominance along the way”
Semafor@semafor.com · last wk.🟡 Token diplomacy: How China is shaping the world’s AI future Beijing is now making its AI models widely available, offering its open-source models at cheaper costs than US rivals, and promising to train countries around the world on how to use it. Read more from J.D. Capelouto:
Never noticed something like this before, from the outer PDX suburb of Sherwood: *maximum* of two ground-floor stairwells allowed per apartment building basically banning courtyard buildings
The argument that we shouldn’t allow industrialists to take risks they might lose money on is weird to me. Did it predate 2008? insideclimatenews.org/news/2307202...
Data Center Forecasts Keep Climbing and So Does Public Opposition. Something Has to Give. - Inside Climate News
AI companies face serious challenges in community acceptance, energy supply and business fundamentals.
insideclimatenews.org
