PORTLAND DRIZZLE

🌸Happy first day of spring! Expect a mild but moody Friday, highs around 59°F with a 35% shot of rain sneaking in by afternoon. The PCC strike limps into its second week with no deal in sight. The cherry blossoms are in bloom at the waterfront.

Tucker Santillanes was a Gresham junior playing defense against David Douglas last fall when a routine tackle went wrong — his head snapped back, injuring his spinal cord. What followed was emergency surgery, 69 days of inpatient rehab, and a pile of medical bills. The school he got hurt playing against responded by making him the focus of their annual Scots Angels fundraiser. On Monday, David Douglas presented Tucker with a $30,000 check — the largest single-campaign total in the program's 20-year history. The rivalry can wait.

Portland renamed 39th Avenue after César Chávez in 2009, following years of advocacy from the Latino community. Now city officials are weighing whether to rename it again. A New York Times investigation detailed multiple allegations that Chávez sexually abused women while leading the United Farm Workers in the 1970s — two of whom were 13 and 15 at the time. City Councilor Candace Avalos said she's already exploring the process and floated Dolores Huerta — a fellow labor activist and one of the women named in the Times piece — as a replacement honoree. Mayor Wilson says he's open to the conversation, as long as it's community-driven. Renaming the street would require either 2,500 resident signatures or sign-off from 75% of property owners along the seven-mile corridor. None of this is simple. None of it is fast. The sign, for now, stays up.

Portland is about to spend an enormous pile of public money on a basketball arena, and the city council technically hasn't voted on any of it yet. State lawmakers approved a $365 million subsidy to renovate Moda Center in the final hours of the short legislative session, with the city on the hook for another $120 million up front and hundreds of millions more over 20 years. The deal requires prospective new owner Tom Dundon to sign a 20-year lease — but Dundon himself has contributed exactly nothing to the renovation cost. At least one city councilor is publicly skeptical about raiding the Portland Clean Energy Fund — a climate and equity program — to help pay for a stadium renovation, calling for a transparent public process. Portlanders, meanwhile, are doing math.

Reddit user u/godigahole posted this beautiful photo today here

On March 20, 1947, the sternwheeler Georgie Burton made its final run on the Willamette, closing a chapter on the riverboat era that had defined Portland commerce for nearly a century.

It's the first day of spring, which in Portland means you get to experience all four seasons before lunch. Layer up for that 35% rain chance — the tulips in Woodburn don't care, and neither should you. Have a good weekend. by Michael Simpson Contact: [email protected]