On April 25th, marchers held the 20th annual 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade from Eastport Plaza Shopping Center to SE Clinton Street. Former U.S. Representative for Oregon’s 3rd congressional district, Earl Blumenauer, and Nancy Chapin were the 2026 Grand Marshals. The procession featured community groups, businesses, elected officials, dancing horses, youth performers, and the diverse cultural flavors that fill 82nd Avenue and East Portland.
Grand Marshals Earl Blumenauer and Nancy Chapin
The parade drew significant crowds along its one-mile route, closing the busy roadway for a few hours on Saturday morning. Sunny skies warmed the morning air, but temperatures remained moderate for the marchers and fans lining the street. Organizers say it has never rained on the parade in its two-decade run.
With the 2026 parade completed, the 82 Roses Community Enrichment Coalition members will begin work on next year’s event, which they expect will continue to grow for another 20 years and feature more participants and enhanced production elements.
82nd Avenue is one of the most important city streets. I’m excited for the activity here to reconfigure it, to make it safer, to make it more efficient, and to help revitalize this important street, this is the number one transit street in the entire city. And the work that’s being done here is going to transform 82nd. It used to be kind of the dividing line. I think 82nd Avenue is going to bring the city together. I’m really excited about what’s happening here. This parade is an expression of that. – Earl Blumenauer
Portland City Councilor Steve Novick wants to amend a 1992 chronic nuisance property ordinance to lessen the threshold for triggering mandated remedies. He is proposing these changes with the intent of reducing the impact on afflicted neighborhoods from human trafficking and gun violence. The City Council will hear first reading on this proposed amendment at the March 18th session held at 6 p.m. this Wednesday.
Former Congressman Earl Blumenauer introduced the first version of Portland’s chronic nuisance property ordinance while serving as a Portland Commissioner. It received several updates in the years following its enactment but has remained relatively unchanged since 1997. The proposed update considers the current list of Nuisance Activities to be too narrow and the timeframe for accumulating violations to be too restrictive for law enforcement to adequately address contemporary instances of harmful behavior. “We’re proposing that instead of having to have three instances in 30 days to initiate this process —which is a lot, a hell of a lot of bad stuff can go on in the location, and you still don’t have three reports in 30 days— we’re proposing it become two in 90 days,” said Novick.
The councilor says this ordinance has never been intended to punish property owners. Instead, it is designed to encourage responsible site operations. “What it means is, it just gives the police a little more leverage to lean on property owners to play ball,” explained Novick. However, enforcement is not without significant consequences if people ignore recurring complaints. “Well, I don’t know if that’s ever happened, but if you can’t work out an agreement, then the city can go to court, which has happened rarely, and the court can order them to take abatement measures. Then, only if they don’t take abatement measures, then the last resort is that they forfeit the property,” Novick said. Ordinance infractions only accumulate for specific activity from a list of 25 defined types that occur within 200 feet of their property. Those activities include assault, Firearm-related crimes, drug crimes, and prostitution.
Additionally, Novick noted that the existing ordinance did not provide sufficient guidance for property owners to demonstrate a good-faith effort to improve conditions. So part of this update is to build that into the legislation. “Washington D.C. came up with a list of abatement measures to be considered. So we’re borrowing from that and saying, ‘here’s a list of things you might be asked to do,’” said Novick. The intent is to ensure people have a clear path to avoid consequences while minimizing the negative impact on the community. As the updates to the chronic nuisance property ordinance developed in committee, City Council members have worked to address business owners’ concerns. “The Asian American Hotel Owners Association’s Taran Patel testified. He said that he was generally supportive of the idea, but was concerned about what if a hotel reports the activity itself? Is that held against them?” recalled Novick. ” We thought that was a reasonable question, so we added an amendment to the law saying that if the property owner reports the activity themselves, then as long as they are cooperating with the police and following up on that subsequently, that doesn’t go on their record as one of the two instances that lead to invoking the nuisance law.”
In addition to the self-reporting amendment, the committee removed noise complaints from this ordinance, recognizing that such complaints are inconsistent with the other listed nuisances, which mostly focus on crimes that reduce perceived safety. “We’re removing noise as one of the chronic nuisance criteria at [Councilor] Jamie Dunphy’s request, and it’s not really what we’re worried about anyway,” said Novick. He explained that the city is trying to tackle serious issues where people suffer life-changing harms, including physical abuse and trafficking of people for sex work. Sex trafficking has become particularly apparent along NE 82nd Avenue near Leodis V. McDaniel High School and within certain storefronts advertising massage services that have spread across the region. “It identifies unlawful, non-compliant massage parlors as one of the nuisance activities. That’s a new thing, and because of the law that Representative [Thủy] Trần passed,” explained Novick. House Bill 3819, which Representative Trần co-sponsored, gave new investigatory powers to the State Board of Massage Therapists starting on January 1st, 2026, and increased maximum fine amounts. Now, the board can post a placard on the exterior of a business notifying the public if the massage facility is in violation of ORS 687.021 by using unlicensed practitioners.
Some critics of this type of legislation fear that without lodging spaces available, it will push sex work further into unsafe and exposed environments, including cars and public streets. This same perspective sometimes attributes the increase in pervasive solicitation on city streets to the 2018 passage of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) that shut down many online forums used for connecting buyers and sellers of sex work. Some of those online tools had reportedly made sex work safer by letting sellers check a buyer’s reputation. Since 2018, the nation has seen an increase in street-based sex work, often with associated ancillary crimes occurring around that activity. Novick explained that he heard that perspective from some people, but that counter testimony convinced him that lodging did not provide substantive protections for vulnerable sex workers. “Robin Miller, who’s a survivor and advocate, testified in favor of the proposal several weeks ago,” recalled Novick. “Her experience was that there was nothing safe about being at a motel and was beaten by a supplier [third-party seller of sex] in front of the hotel owner, and the hotel owner didn’t do anything.” That testimony, along with the councilor’s understanding of community needs, has increased his support for this update to Portland’s chronic nuisance property ordinance. “We are concerned about kids walking this gauntlet of sex trafficking,” said Novick. “So you balance interests, and if you think that there’s a community benefit to doing something —and there’s significant numbers of people most affected who think that it’s the right thing to do— I’m willing to go with what I think has the broader community benefit.”
The expressed goal of this update is to further motivate businesses to assist with the problems surrounding their operations. Landowners may not always live in the same neighborhood as their property, but the city says, with this ordinance, that they have a commitment to those communities that should not be discounted. “The underlying question is, does a property owner have some responsibility for what’s going on on their property? I tend to think that they do,” said Novick.
On Thursday, October 17th, TriMet leaders and members of Oregon’s congressional delegation gathered in a warehouse on NE Columbia Boulevard to address attendees. This celebratory event marked the $69 million public investment that will transform a former industrial site into a hub for hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses that will serve 82nd Avenue. Federal funds will help TriMet purchase the organization’s first zero-emissions buses powered by hydrogen and build the support infrastructure needed to operate the environmentally friendly fleet.
The Columbia Operations Facility is a vital component of TriMet’s transition to a zero-emissions bus fleet with a capacity for 250 buses. With a targeted completion date of 2030, the former Caterpillar Power Systems dealership site will play an essential role in meeting state and regional climate goals. The public transportation provider intends to replace its diesel vehicles over the next 15 years as it strives to operate an entirely zero-emissions bus fleet by 2040. In 2022, TriMet switched to renewable diesel for all fixed-route buses and WES vehicles. Earlier this year, they began taking delivery of new battery electric buses.
Conceptual rendering of TriMet’s Columbia Operations Facility
TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr. explained that the transition to zero-emissions technology will significantly impact the region’s climate goals due to the region’s sizable transit usage. “Where home to more than 1.6 million people. Our region is the 23rd largest metro area in the country and the 13th highest transit ridership,” said Desue. “As Oregon’s largest consumer of diesel, TriMet’s switch to renewable diesel made the state’s transportation industry greener. And now, with TriMet adding hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses to our zero emissions bus fleet, we will help create demand for green hydrogen hubs here in the Pacific Northwest.”
Eighty-second Avenue will become an early user of the hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses as TriMet works to convert its highest ridership, line 72, to a faster system. “The federal funding we’ve received will also help purchase TriMet’s first hydrogen-powered buses that will run along our future FX or Frequent Express bus rapid transit line, which will be coming at 82nd Avenue in the years ahead. These buses will be powered by cutting-edge hydrogen technology that will emit zero pollution into the communities that we serve,” explained Desue.
Event Speakers. Left to right: TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr., U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer, and U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici
As a longtime advocate for improving 82nd Avenue, U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer’s remarks focused on the opportunities these investments will bring to a transforming district. He noted the road’s history as a freight and private vehicle conduit has caused harm to the surrounding communities, but this project can make needed repairs. “Legacy highways have played a critical role in Oregon and around the country but no longer serve that purpose. They don’t work well, they’re dangerous, and they don’t invite development,” said Blumenauer. “I think we have an opportunity to transform a street that divides the region into a corridor that’s going to unite us.”
Event Speakers. Left to right: TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr., U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici, and U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer
Funds for TriMet’s Columbia operation facility upgrades and the hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses come from multiple sources. A U.S. Department of Transportation grant from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program provided $25 million, with another $5 million from community-initiated programs and the federal budget. However, a $39 million Federal Transit Administration contribution from its Low or No Emission Grant Program provided the bulk of the $69 million public investment. U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici celebrated the joint effort of the Oregon Congressional Delegation in obtaining this level of federal funding for a regional transportation project. “I understand and appreciate that it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide resources when projects are so big and so critical, and the local jurisdictions just can’t do it on their own. So that’s part of our role,” said Bonamici.
Conceptual rendering of TriMet’s Columbia Operations Facility
Closing remarks at the event recognized the enormous collection of people who contributed to this milestone and celebrated the green jobs created by this project at the Columbia facility. “We will train more operators, more mechanics at this location. This site will support hundreds of family wage union jobs,” exclaimed Desue. The site will look significantly different as new buildings replace the industrial landscape with environmentally supportive infrastructure that can improve communities across the Portland Metro area. Already, road users are seeing crews building new sidewalks, traffic signals, and road improvements in front of the TriMet facility at 4421 NE Columbia Boulevard. As TriMet readies for a hydrogen-powered future, work will continue on the NE Columbia Boulevard facility and eventually along 82nd Avenue.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account for monthly support or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
On September 6th, Government officials and honored community members gathered in front of Erv Lind Field (Normandale Field) to celebrate its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. This community stadium at NE 57th Ave and Hassalo Street is the only sports facility in Oregon constructed primarily for a women’s sports league team. It served for decades as a gathering space for LGBTQ+ Portlanders during an oppressive period of the City’s history.
The event occurred in the stadium seating area surrounded by the annotated pictures of athletic achievement displayed in “Portland’s Hall of Fame and Honor.” Players with the Rose City Softball Association, Oregon’s largest LGBTQ+ sports organization, provided a backdrop to the scheduled speakers, with the Amateur Softball Association’s six-foot-tall World Champions trophy flanking the podium. The Erv Lind Florists won the national women’s softball championship in 1964, bringing the prize to the home field used by the team since 1948.
Left to right: Portland City Commissioner Carmen Rubio, Kristen Minor, U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer, Fern Wilgus, Oregon First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson, Portland City Commissioner Dan Ryan, and Tim Bias
The story of the field extends beyond its contribution to gender-inclusive athletic achievements. This location also served as one of the earliest and longest-lasting gathering spaces for LGBTQ+ Portlanders when the City was intolerant of known LGBTQ+ venues and community members. U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer noted that hidden history and the importance of surfacing its significance to the City and nation. “I grew up in Portland, and there’s a back story here that I wasn’t aware of as a kid in this neighborhood,” said Blumenauer. “I’m so pleased that we are making this recognition clear. We’ll have plaques that people can see and savor this significant permanent part of Portland’s history, celebrating it all in its rich diversity. As I’m winding down, with 114 days left until I’m a civilian, it’s been delightful to see the progress we’ve made in terms of historic preservation. We are a national leader in recognizing historic contributions of the LGBTQ community.”
U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer
Oregon First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson expanded on the State’s leadership in recognizing places that supported LGBTQ+ communities. “I’m honored to be here to celebrate the addition of these landmarks to the National Historic Registry and want to thank everybody who made this reality. It brings me incredible joy not only to be Oregon’s First Lady but to be a part of our State’s first LGBT First Family. There was a time in my life where I never thought I would have the choice to be married, yet because of the work of so many people that came before me, I am blessed to be married to one of the first out Lesbian governors in the country. Who also plays a little softball. With the addition of the Erv Lind Field and Crystal Hotel, Portland becomes the proud home to 3 of 30 sites of Queer significance on the National Historic Registry. 10% of the nation’s significant gay historic landmarks are right here in Portland,” said Kotek Wilson. “The contributions from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, nonbinary, and queer community cannot be overstated. From fierce advocacy to rich cultural history. Once again, Oregon is leading the way in protecting underrepresented groups, and [Gov.] Tina [Kotek] and I are so proud to be a part of that.”
Oregon First Lady Aimee Kotek Wilson
Fern Wilgus spoke at the ceremony, representing the many softball players who relied on the community around Erv Lind Field to help them express themselves in a restrictive society. She shared decades of stories about players’ accomplishments and dedication to the second families created around the game. Wilgus explained that while telling her stories, she would still honor the trust that had developed among the softball players of her time, even decades later. “Some of these names are going to be full names because they have passed, and I hope I don’t have thunder hitting me, and some of the names are going to be just first names because a lot of people have not yet come out for one reason or another. I did as soon as I got home and out of the military because I was free at last,” explained Wilgus. She also acknowledged that the league was not fully accepting of people’s true selves with rules that required players to dress feminine and, to Wilgus’s heartfelt disapointment, prevented people of color from participating. However, looking back at the transformation and support enabled by Erv Lind Field and the softball players drawn to that place, Fern Wilgus feels her dreams were realized.
Fern Wilgus
Portland City Commissioner Carmen Rubio helped usher in this recognition with a funding package focused on equitable historic preservation. “With those resources, the staff at the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, specifically Cayla McGrail, have spent years working to document LGBTQIA+ historic sites across Portland. Erv Lind Field is more than deserving of that designation,” said Rubio. “Immediately after the inauguration, 44,000 fans came to this field to watch the Amateur Softball Association World Championship women’s softball tournament in 1948. In the years after its inauguration, this field became a place of camaraderie and community for softball players and fans alike.” Portland Parks and Recreation Director Adena Long noted the contribution of historian Kristen Minor in preparing the National Register nomination, along with the contribution of Parks staff Brett Horner and Marty Stockton.
Portland City Commissioner Carmen Rubio
Portland Commissioner Dan Ryan summarized with humor and excitement the importance of landmarks like Erv Lind Field, which have shaped Portland into the more accepting community it has become. “Just this week, under the category of, ‘No kidding,’ there was an article that said this City has the most lesbian couples of any city in the nation. As a safe and welcoming place for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women, Erv Lind Field opened the door to this City that we have today,” said Ryan.
Commissioner Carmen Rubio is running for Portland Mayor and Commissioner Dan Ryan is running for Portland City Council in District 2. Montavilla News does not endorse candidates, ballot measures, or government initiatives.
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account or you can pay for a full year directly online. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscriber or sponsor. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
TriMet’s 82nd Avenue Transit Project will receive a $630,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration, supplying early funding for the public transit organization’s efforts to bring FX™ rapid bus service to 82nd Avenue. Members of the Oregon Congressional delegation announced this influx of project seed money two weeks after a July 7th bus tour of 82nd Avenue by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Congressman Earl Blumenauer, and Senator Jeff Merkley.
TriMet is exploring options to create faster bus service along a portion of the 72 line. This service would adopt many features currently used along SE Division Street’s FX™ 2 line that opened in September 2022. “Through dedicated federal support, TriMet and our regional partners have the opportunity to transform 82nd into a safe, vibrant, thriving corridor, featuring faster, more reliable transit mirrored after our TriMet FX™ service on Division Street,” said TriMet General Manager Sam Desue Jr. Converting the 72 bus line to FX™ service on 82nd Avenue will require the removal of stops, construction of near level boarding platforms, and the use of dedicated Business Access and Transit(BAT) lanes in certain sections of the line. These enhancements would speed up travel time on the region’s most used TriMet bus line.
Creation of TriMet FX™ service on 82nd Avenue is in the early exploration phase, with many attributes still under consideration. The awarded grant is part of the Federal Transit Administration’s Areas of Persistent Poverty (AOPP) program. It likely represents an insignificant amount compared to the yet unknown cost of the total project. By comparison, the Division Transit Project that constructed the FX™ 2 bus service cost just under $175 million. TriMet will use the funding received in this grant to improve transit safety and access on 82nd Avenue, analyze the use of zero-emissions buses, and assess additional infrastructure enhancements to support high-capacity transit service throughout the corridor. Receiving the grant money does not guarantee that significant transit improvements will occur on 82nd Avenue, but it does fund additional planning and signals Federal interest in this project. Federal contributions supplied over half the funding used in the Division Transit Project, and this 82nd Avenue endeavor will likely require similar support at the national level.
Image courtesy PBOT
People interested in following transportation projects and other improvements planned for 82nd Avenue should subscribe to updates from the Building a Better 82nd Portland run site and the Metro-hosted 82nd Avenue transit project site. Interested participants can also attend Building a Better 82nd Workshops. The next one occurs tonight, Thursday, July 20th, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) offices at 8188 SE Division Street.
By
Jacob Loeb
Disclosure: The author of this article serves on the Building a Better 82nd Community Advisory Groupand the 82nd Avenue Business Association board
Promotion: Help keep independent news accessible to the community. Montavilla News has a Patreon account. We invite those who can contribute to this local news source to consider becoming paid subscribers or sponsors. We will always remain free to read regardless of subscription.
Today, three elected officials toured SE 82nd Ave to highlight proposed safety investments coming to the roadway. Thanks to United States Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), the recently passed US House infrastructure package contains $5 million for 82nd Ave safety improvements. These federal dollars will join $185 million in State and City funds previously committed to 82nd Ave improvements as part of the jurisdictional transfer of the State-owned highway to the City of Portland.
State Representative Khanh Pham and Portland City Commissioner JoAnn Hardesty joined Rep. Blumenauer on the July 9th walk from SE Hawthorne Blvd to the APANO offices on SE Division Street. Positioned on the sidewalks of 82nd Ave, members of the procession observed the failing infrastructure and talked about future repairs.
Along the journey, Comm. Hardesty and others address the concern that gentrification often follows transit improvement projects. The group agreed that 82nd Ave projects need to consider their impact on existing residents and businesses to minimize displacement. Preventing community upheaval was a concern echoed later by Rep. Blumenauer at the press conference that followed today’s tour. “There is a significant amount of wealth to be generated by doing it right, but we have to do it… so it doesn’t displace and drive people away.” He called for projects to “reinforce the elements of community” and kickstart developments that serve all income levels.
At the press conference, the speakers celebrated the infrastructure improvements coming to the roadway. Better lighting and enhanced crosswalks will provide residents near this street the same safety other Portlanders have within their neighborhoods. These upgrades join public transportation developments designed to make living along 82nd Ave feasible.
These infrastructure improvements make the area suitable for more density housing projects that use the untaped real estate above commercial spaces. Rep. Pham expressed dismay at the number of “Mega Storage Units” being created along the roadway. Rep. Blumenauer agreed that those facilities negatively affect community-building efforts. He explained that Self Storage businesses allow companies to hold onto land and generate some profit while they wait for the value of the property to rise, creating “black holes in the community.”
Rep. Blumenauer is a longtime believer in East Portland’s potential. Years ago, he aggressively pressed for PCC’s to expand into the Southeast, with the desire to create social destinations. Much of 82nd Ave’s transportation move people through the area instead of bringing people in. “82nd Ave is the highest volume of transit in the city [and] it has been a lost opportunity for as long as I remember,” Rep. Blumenauer recalled. Fortunately, investments coming to the highway will create the safe spaces people need to live, walk, and build their community.
Early next year, 82nd Ave will become part of Portland’s network of roads and begin receiving upgrades to make the street safe and modern. Last month, the Oregon legislature approved $80 million in funds that will partially pay for 82nd Ave’s transfer to the Portland Bureau of Transportation. It was one of the last obstacles to overcome ahead of next year’s jurisdictional transfer.
Rep. Blumenauer praised the work of Rep. Pham and Comm. Hardesty on their efforts to move the decades-long transfer process near completion. It required countless hours of negotiations before State and City staff agreed to the terms of transfer. However, the agreement would have stalled if not for an influx of federal recovery funding. Years of work needed to coincide with the right timing for infrastructure investments. Today’s events represented an acknowledgment that supporters won the fight for change on 82nd Ave. Now, efforts will shift to enacting projects that build up the community without pushing people out.
Neighborhood news site focused on buildings and changing businesses
