Portland Drizzle

Good morning, Portland. Expect showers through most of the day with highs in the low 50s and a southwest wind that means it — classic early March drizzle. The weekend looks drier. Today we're covering a deadly fire at a North Portland Safe Rest Village, TriMet quietly cutting bus service again, and tens of thousands turning out Saturday for the "No Kings" rally on the waterfront. Let's get into it.

A person died Monday evening after a fire consumed their living pod at a North Portland Safe Rest homeless shelter. Staff members at the shelter tried using handheld fire extinguishers to knock down the flames, but the fire was too intense. Fire investigators began a forensic evaluation to find the cause, including examination of the pod's debris and interviews with witnesses. The details here are grim in that particular Portland way — a city-operated shelter, an Urban Alchemy contract, a tiny living pod that staff couldn't save, and a fire marshal sign-off that didn't prevent anything. The investigation is ongoing, but the larger question doesn't require one: if you're going to ask people to live in small boxes, you probably owe them a real shot at getting out of one that's on fire.

TriMet began lowering the frequency of several bus routes this week as it works to close a $300 million annual budget gap. The latest cuts combine several routes and reduce the frequency of others, and bus routes that could eventually be eliminated entirely include Line 97, Line 82, and Line 153. The August reductions are poised to be the biggest round yet — 20 bus routes altered, another 15 eliminated, and a light-rail line that will stop at its halfway point, requiring a transfer to get from Clackamas Town Center to downtown Portland.

TriMet is very sorry about all of this. They said so. The agency is also sorry that inflation drove operating costs up more than 50 percent since 2019, sorry that ridership never fully recovered from COVID, and sorry that a ballot measure may have killed the funding fix lawmakers passed last fall. Portland's transit system isn't collapsing dramatically — it's just becoming slightly less useful every few months until one day you realize you're waiting 45 minutes for a bus on a major corridor at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday. The slow fade is the whole point.

Portland's waterfront was flooded with tens of thousands of people Saturday for the "No Kings Rally and March." The demonstration was the latest in a series that has made Portland — and its protesters, some of whom showed up in inflatable frog costumes — something of a national symbol for resistance to the current moment in Washington. Organizers with Indivisible Oregon said the waterfront in downtown Portland served as the finish line for three different peaceful marches across the city. A third, larger No Kings protest is already planned nationally for March 28.

Portland being Portland, the protests have remained largely peaceful, colorful, and — let's be honest — deeply weird in the best possible way. The city that gave the world the inflatable protest frog is now gearing up for round three. Bring snacks. Bring a poncho. And maybe leave the giant guillotine prop at home this time.

For most of American history, March 4 was Inauguration Day — the date when presidents were sworn in under the original Constitution. On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for his first term, with Southern states already seceding and his address focused on preserving the Union while avoiding immediate hostilities. He didn't quite manage the second part.

Stay dry out there — or at least dryer than yesterday. Today's the wettest day of the week, so if you're heading out for a sandwich (and you absolutely should be, it's Sandwich Week), maybe treat yourself to an indoor one. Grab a waterproof layer, check your TriMet app for the new schedules, and remember: the bus might come less often now, but Portland's capacity for showing up in the rain has never been in question.

See you tomorrow.

— Portland Drizzle