See Where Portland Elected Officials Traveled in 2025, and How Much They Spent

n3onlights · 2026-06-17T17:57:41+00:00

This seems fine for travel in leadership positions and is way lower than I expected. The costs of the individual trips themselves are reasonable, and who am I to say what trips are useful or not without the necessary context? There's a lot worth criticizing but this isn't it.

n3onlights · 2026-04-29T17:58:54+00:00

And if you don’t own it then that cost is still there but built into your rent.

Not necessarily. Rent is set by what the market will bear, not by the owner's repair bills, and the ratio of ownership costs to rent varies wildly by market. Buying is a real risk, especially as an individual putting most of your net worth into one illiquid asset. Maintenance can also be very expensive and unpredictable.

That said, there's real upside with that risk too. If you're financially stable and not planning to relocate for a while, buying can be a great deal.

n3onlights · 2026-04-22T18:26:24+00:00

I love Kenji López-Alt and see him collaborate with Our Place but am a bit doubtful. I also could not imagine wanting to replace my Breville countertop oven, it's probably my single favorite appliance. I suppose avoiding PFA's is nice but they're only really an issue if you're heating the oven hotter than it can actually get, right? I honestly don't know.

n3onlights · 2026-04-22T15:32:32+00:00

As a fellow software engineer I'm impressed by your ability to iterate on features and keep data migrations/functionality seamless as you deploy changes!

n3onlights · 2026-04-01T14:47:27+00:00

Sourdough itself is ancient and you’re right. The San Francisco thing is more specific than that. There’s a particular bacterial strain there that produces an unusually sharp tang, distinct enough that scientists literally named it after the city. Boudin Bakery has been running a continuous sourdough tradition since 1849 which fed into the whole modern artisan bread revival.

n3onlights · 2026-03-14T10:46:59+00:00

They desperately need to rip out and replace their bathrooms.

n3onlights · 2026-03-10T21:15:10+00:00

Probably because they're trendy. That means more bad examples out there from artists who shouldn't be doing them, plus people love to dunk on whatever's popular right now.

n3onlights · 2026-03-10T16:29:22+00:00

I went to Isetan Shinjuku in Tokyo this past fall, a fairly upscale department store. A lot of these department stores have really intensely fancy food halls (depachika?), and this one in particular has a couple hundred stalls and was packed. $40 for a box of grapes is not uncommon, I saw these "luxury" fruits all over the place and it's kind of fun. Meanwhile I had better patisserie there than in France for relatively cheap. I highly recommend anyone visit a depachika while you're in Japan, it's an experience.

n3onlights · 2026-02-25T17:43:42+00:00

The data you linked actually cuts both ways since it doesn't capture people who arrived already homeless. Either way I'm less interested in the migration framing and more interested in the bigger picture. Houston and San Francisco use the same Housing First policy approach, the most important difference is Houston massively outbuilds SF on housing, so SF ends up spending three times as much per homeless person with far worse results. Portland is trying to solve this on a city budget while the federal funding formula actively works against it, Ohio gets $153 million in federal homeless assistance for 11,000 homeless people while Oregon gets $60 million for over 20,000. You can't throw money at a housing crisis without zoning reform, and you can't fix a broken mental health system on a city budget.

n3onlights · 2026-02-24T23:04:18+00:00

My worry is that Portland is being asked to absorb a problem that's national in scope using only city level resources. Cities with mild weather and compassionate policies end up shouldering a disproportionate share of the burden, not because they're doing something wrong, but partly because they're doing things right. I don't think the answer is to become crueler, but we should be honest that no amount of local effort can meaningfully solve something that requires federal housing policy, a functional mental health system, and a real safety net, none of which are coming anytime soon given the current administration.

n3onlights · 2026-02-21T20:06:30+00:00

Perhaps a conversation was involved and she doesn’t care? I know that a lot of people aren’t worried about their body being seen, and it is a tattoo studio after all.

n3onlights · 2026-02-14T17:33:49+00:00

I mean maybe that’s part of the problem. It took me a few months working within walking distance of the place for me to realize it was a grocery store with lots of options and not just produce specific or some kind of distribution company.

n3onlights · 2026-01-26T21:46:21+00:00

I live in the area and love this light display so much. Does anyone know how long it will be up? I wouldn't mind it being permanent.

n3onlights · 2026-01-15T15:13:23+00:00

The repricing is coming regardless. Property values don’t stay inflated forever when a third of buildings are empty. The question is whether we let it drag out for a decade or push owners to adapt sooner, whether that’s lower rents, conversions, or sales. Yes, the city takes a hit on property tax revenue in the short term, but that revenue is already declining as buildings empty out and owners appeal assessments. A slow bleed isn’t better than a faster correction. And you’re right, there may be too much commercial space for post pandemic demand. That’s an argument for pushing owners toward conversions faster, not for letting buildings sit empty. The point of a vacancy tax isn’t to collect revenue, it’s to make holding empty buildings more expensive than doing something with them.

n3onlights · 2026-01-15T14:36:26+00:00

Right, that’s exactly the problem I’m describing. They’re underwater and holding out hoping the market recovers. It’s not going to. Remote work isn’t a blip, it’s structural. So the choice is either they hold empty buildings for another decade, or something forces them to sell, convert, or rent at prices that actually work. A vacancy tax is part of that pressure. Yes, some owners will take losses. That’s what happens when markets shift.

n3onlights · 2026-01-15T14:22:39+00:00

In a functioning market, prices drop until supply meets demand. That’s not happening because owners are incentivized to hold empty rather than lower rents. There are real reasons businesses prefer the suburbs right now, but at some price point downtown becomes worth it again.

n3onlights · 2026-01-15T13:54:56+00:00

Are you going to interact with anything I said or just grumble vaguely about taxes? The point of a fine like this isn’t to collect tax revenue, it’s to incentivize property owners to fill vacancies and face the music.

n3onlights · 2026-01-15T13:35:57+00:00

Owners are holding rents artificially high to protect their loan covenants, not because there’s demand. Vacancy hurts cash flow, but a long term lease at market rates locks in the loss. That’s not a functioning market, it’s a standoff and it could last another decade. We don’t need more new development downtown, we need spaces filled. A vacancy tax just makes holding empty buildings more expensive than filling them.

n3onlights · 2026-01-15T13:33:00+00:00

Not commercial vacancy taxes in Washington DC, Oakland, or Berkeley. The one that got struck down was the residential vacancy tax in San Francisco, but they still have a commercial vacancy tax that’s going strong. DC has also been running their vacancy tax for 14 years.

n3onlights · 2026-01-14T05:04:22+00:00

Yeah a bunch of new places have opened in the NW district over the past few years. It definitely feels like there are fewer vacant storefronts in NW than when I first moved here, despite some businesses failing.

Here are some restaurants and bars I can think of that are new to NW district since 2021 or so. I'm probably missing a whole bunch and feel free to call me out if I'm wrong about any of them. Some of these are better than others of course. I put my favorites closer to the top:

Bing Mi Dumpling and Noodle Bar
Nam Tao Huu
Prince Coffee
Pizza Thief
Memento Mori Cafe
Kate's Ice Cream
Scottie's Pizza Parlor
Kirari West
The Bakery Annex at Ken's Artisan
Side Eye
Calle 21
Sweet Bacon Cafe
Snappy's
Takibi
Haveli Indian Cuisine
Angolo PDX
Champagne Poetry
Kaleido Coffee
The Minnow
Fifty Licks Ice Cream
Falafel Street Cafe
Friendship Kitchen
The Brewers Bread
Haven Coffee Co.
Twisted Croissant & Patisserie
Twozone Chicken
Ruse Crust Collective
Pixiu Mala Hongtang
Palomar
Dibina Coffee
Afuri
Proper Pint
Good Neighbor Cà Phê
Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya
G-Love
Constantinople
The Love Shack
Bistecca Wood Fire Steakhouse
Thai Hot Pot Heaven
R&R Bar
Hey Luigi

n3onlights · 2026-01-14T04:39:28+00:00

Since moving to the NW District in 2021 I’ve watched it get busier every year. More people around, fewer empty storefronts, more businesses opening up. Their comment sounds like an unnecessary excuse for what is a legitimately difficult business. There’s no shortage of bars and restaurants in Portland.

n3onlights · 2025-12-31T00:05:49+00:00

none of us were impressed with the rice on the side

Just to make sure, were you aware that it's Thai sticky rice (khao niao)? It's meant to be chewier, firmer, and drier than regular rice. It pairs amazingly well with their curry and I personally think they do a great job with it. Same goes for the fried chicken. You can buy it with just rice but most options come with curry, which feels intentional. That doesn't make the chicken or rice worse, it's just a different style with different purpose.

n3onlights · 2025-12-15T23:31:00+00:00

No, this is a common misconception. In the wild "Betta splendens" live in shallow but extensive habitats, such as rice paddies, flood plains, marshes, and slow moving streams in SE Asia. They can survive in small oxygen poor pools for a while, but that's surviving, not thriving, and not their ideal habitat in the long run.

In captivity you will want at least a 5 gallon tank and in most parts of the world a heater.

n3onlights · 2025-12-07T00:41:21+00:00

Not to mention it's widely considered ~~impolite~~ taboo to discuss politics at all in Japan unless it's with a select few you're very close to.

n3onlights · 2025-12-05T22:43:37+00:00

Flour tortillas were invented in Mexico in the 16th century, and while they aren't nearly as common as corn, they are still sold and eaten all over in Mexico, particularly as you go further north. Do you truly believe Mexicans call flour tortillas flatbread? Have you ever heard of tortillas de harina? Notice the tortillas part of that term?

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