Portland Drizzle

Look outside. Go ahead. No, really — look. Is that sun? February is pulling its annual "psyche, just kidding about winter" routine, and honestly we're here for it. Expect a mild and mostly dry Friday with a high around 51°F. Highs will climb into the 60s by early next week.

Now, the news.

Today: Portland's teachers are ready to walk, the city just rezoned its way toward more affordable housing, and Netflix is about to drag the old Jail Blazers back into the national conversation — just in time for the current Blazers to remind us that history rhymes. Let's get into it.

In a city where consensus can be as rare as a dry February, Portland's new City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the Affordable Housing Opportunities Project — a set of targeted zoning changes affecting 19 properties owned by nonprofit partners and public agencies. The changes are designed to unlock housing capacity that's currently blocked by outdated zoning designations, removing the kind of bureaucratic barriers that have long made affordable development feel like a Kafkaesque obstacle course. It won't build a single unit by itself, but it clears the path for nonprofits and public agencies to do what they've been trying to do for years. In a housing crisis this deep, unanimous is a word worth savoring.

Just when you thought the Trail Blazers had enough on their plate — a head coach on administrative leave facing federal money laundering charges, a roster in mid-rebuild — Netflix announced this week that the old "Jail Blazers" era is getting the full Untold documentary treatment. Premiering April 14th, the film will feature firsthand accounts from Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire, and Bonzi Wells, offering what Netflix is calling "an unfiltered look at a team caught between brilliance and notoriety." The "Jail Blazers" label — first coined by Willamette Week in 1996 — became national shorthand for the early-2000s Blazers squad whose off-court chaos eventually overshadowed their considerable on-court talent. Players and commentators have increasingly pushed back on the narrative in recent years, arguing it was racialized and overblown. The documentary lands at a strange moment for the franchise, which seems to be relitigating its own history in real time.

Portland Community College — Oregon's largest higher education institution — is careening toward its first-ever strike, and the vote count alone tells the whole story. Both the faculty union and the classified employees union authorized the work stoppage this week by identical margins: 94%. That's not a negotiating tactic, that's a declaration. The two unions, representing a combined 2,300 workers, have been in contract talks for more than ten months with little to show for it. The sticking points are wages and healthcare — you know, the basics. The proposed raises from the administration reportedly hovered near 0.35% annually. No, that zero is not a typo. A strike could happen as early as March 10, which would be a first in PCC's history and a significant disruption for tens of thousands of students across multiple campuses. Both sides are currently in a mandatory 30-day cooling-off period. The temperature, however, is anything but cool.

On February 27, 1851, a young merchant named William Sargent Ladd — who would go on to become one of Portland's most influential business figures and eventually the city's mayor — set out from the East Coast headed for Oregon, beginning a journey that would shape the commercial foundation of the city for decades.

The sun is out, the rain is taking a long weekend, and spring is doing its best impression of arriving on time. Whether you're heading out to catch some comedy, watch queens slay at bingo, or just take a walk without getting soaked for once — you can probably leave the umbrella at home today. But keep it near the door. This is still Portland.