Think Out Loud

Since 1995, Portland has funded the independent Regional Arts and Culture Council to provide arts education, advocacy, and administer grant funding to local artists. Recently Commissioner Dan Ryan told RACC the city wants to do that work itself. The city provides over $6 million of RACC’s $7.5 million budget, and will let that contract expire at the end of the year. Darion Jones, Senior Policy Advisor to Commissioner Ryan on Arts, Culture and Equity, and Jeff Hawthorne, Arts Program Manager for the City of Portland join us to talk about what arts funding will look like going forward.

After a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of canoe families from across the Pacific Northwest once again paddled to Seattle, landing at Alki Beach on July 30. Canoe families will spend the next week participating in songs, dances and other protocol ceremonies hosted by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. 

Nika Bartoo-Smith is part of a team at Underscore News that has been covering the journey. She joins to tell us about Sunday’s landing and give us a preview of the upcoming protocol ceremony. 

Youth who are blind or visually impaired face challenges if they want to play sports or even engage in physical activity their sighted peers may take for granted. The Northwest Association for Blind Athletes created Camp Spark to change that. Its free sports camps use games, physical activity, orientation and mobility to help campers develop skills - including leadership, independence, and advocacy. We talk with program manager Kirsten French and Athena Wooters, a Camp Spark counselor.

In response to increasing crime, drug use, graffiti and unsanctioned homeless camping, the city of Portland launched a “90 day reset” to clean up its Central Eastside. The results of the official effort were released recently and included lighting improvements, removing hundreds of camps, nearly 5,000 pounds of trash and 74,000 square feet of graffiti. Clare Briglio is the executive director of the Central Eastside Industrial Council and Central Eastside Together, one of the city’s three enhanced service districts.
When the report was released, she praised the city’s efforts but also said the overall response was “a work in progress,” and that "businesses and residents deserve credit for their patience and passion during this time.” Briglio joins us to share more about the experiences of those in the district during and after the reset, and what she thinks should come next.

Mariachi Tradicion, a band made up of students from Forest Grove High School, has played with the Oregon Symphony, in front of audiences at Pickathon music festival, and will now perform later this month at the Jack London Review. The band was founded seven years ago by Lesslie Nuñez as an afterschool club at the middle school. Now, it is the only band from the Pacific Northwest to attend the International Mariachi Conference in Tucson every year. Nuñez and the band join us for music and conversation.

Band members include:

Marc Fernandez
Xochitl Gonzalez-Viveros 
Carlos Marquez Vargas
Raquel Lopez Andrade
Jesus Contreras Aguilera
Citlalli Tinoco Avalos
Emilio Giron
Dulceluna Cebrera Gomez
Aaron Andrade 
Erik Bonilla-Vallejo 
Ashley Aguilera Hernandez 
Lizzly Izquierdo-Mendoza

Practitioners of transpecies design aim to consider the needs of all species – not just humans – in the built environment. Their buildings often include habitat for plants, animals and even microorganisms, with the goal of reducing biodiversity decline and lessening the impacts of climate change. The University of Oregon is a hub for the movement, and students and faculty recently showcased it with an exhibition at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.

Adrian Parr is the dean of UO’s College of Design. She joins to tell us more about the transpecies design movement.

Earlier this year, Eugene became the first city in Oregon to effectively ban natural gas appliances in new residential construction. Gas utility NW Natural and others pushed back and were able to get the ordinance referred to the November ballot for voters to either affirm or overturn. But recently, the Eugene City Council repealed the ordinance following a federal appeals court ruling that overturned a similar ban in Berkeley, California. The ruling could impact cities across the 9th Circuit, which includes Oregon, Washington and California.

Joining us to explain those impacts is Amy Turner, director of the Cities Climate Law Initiative at Columbia Law School. We’re also joined by Emily Semple, the Eugene city councilor who originally introduced the natural gas ban, to talk about what’s next for the city’s climate change goals.

Since 1995, Portland has funded the independent Regional Arts and Culture Council to provide arts education, advocacy, and administer grant funding to local artists. Last week Commissioner Dan Ryan told RACC the city wants to do that work itself. The city provides over $6 million of RACC’s $7.5 million budget, and will let that contract expire at the end of the year.  Carol Tatch, one of the Co-Executive Directors of RACC,  and Debby Garman, RACC Board Chair, join us to talk about what’s next for RACC, and what they think city arts funding should look like. 

After managing a yearslong, unprecedented  pandemic, hospitals are still facing challenges like reduced staffing and how to keep workers safe. We check in with Cheryl Nester Wolfe, the president and CEO of Salem Health Hospitals and Clinics. She joins us with more on how the health system is faring and what’s top of mind for health care leaders in Oregon.  

Since 2019, the Willamette Riverkeeper has been working with the city of Salem to remove Ludwigia, an invasive aquatic weed, from the Willamette Slough at Minto-Brown Island Park. Ludwigia threatens native plants and wildlife, including habitat for federally protected spring Chinook salmon and winter steelhead. As described in The Salem Reporter, crews are traveling the length of the 87-acre slough to spray herbicide on dense mats of water weeds to open up channels to kayakers and native fish. More than 12,500 native shrubs and trees were planted along the riparian banks this spring to improve habitat and slow the spread of Ludwigia. Vanessa Youngblood is the restoration manager for Willamette Riverkeeper. She joins us with more details on the project as it enters its final year and future restoration work along the river.