who has advocated for cooperation between cities and the federal government on crime, asked what a productive relationship with the Trump administration looks like? An excellent question, Johnson said. First of all, he could start by restoring the over $800 million that was taken away from violence prevention efforts back in April. He continued to detail work with community-led conflict resolution organizations and trained mental health professionals that, in some cases, have circumvented the need for a police officer to turn up at that scene.
A staffer in Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards' office who ran a controversial political action committee that often skewered county leadership has been fired. Vikki Payne, a communications and project manager who worked for Brim-Edwards since she began her term as commissioner in 2023, is no longer employed with the county, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. Payne was terminated on August 4.
Wednesday's budget discussions resurfaced tensions over police funding, particularly after a few councilors threw around the word "defunding" to describe the shift of an extra $2 million from the Portland Police Bureau's budget to the parks bureau. Councilors Angelita Morillo and Candace Avalos chastised their colleagues who used a boogeyman approach to drum up public fear over the move. "I'm not interested in slogans that are just trying to make political tension out of what is a fiscal responsibility," Avalos asserted.
As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolutely autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world's problems.
