Get your week off to a great start: don't forget to pick up your FREE 8-ounce cup of french press coffee today between 9 and 10 a.m at your local Stumptown Cafe. One per customer, no refills. Visit the Stumptown website to find the location nearest you.  Best of all, this will happen every Monday through April 13, the week of Tax Day (April 15). Thanks, Stumptown! Monday mornings never looked so good... photo: more...

Somehow, despite all the gray days we've seen recently, spring has sprung! Well, it's trying to, anyways. Today's City Snaps highlight how various Portland photographers are documenting the season cycle. Since next week's weather forecast doesn't include any sun—boo hiss—I thought these photos might brighten your day. They certainly made me feel better. Enjoy!  going green by more...

Our thanks to Piedmont neighbor Shaun Sullens for this information... North Portland needs your ideas! Sunday Parkways is coming to the North and we want you to be a part of the planning! The Piedmont Neighborhood Association is organizing a brain-storming gathering to decide how to best represent North Portland at Peninsula Park and the Bryant Street Foot Bridge during Sunday Parkways on June 21st, 2009. Sunday Parkways more...

Fresh from our inbox...Yesterday, Metro launched an online build-a-system tool and questionnaire as part of the prioritization process for the High Capacity Transit System Plan. The plan will guide the region's investments in high capacity transit - light rail, commuter rail, bus rapid transit or rapid streetcar. The tool and questionnaire are available through April 24 at www.oregonmetro.gov/goingplaces.The build-a-system tool allows more...

I am so excited to boast that the Portland Water Bureau won first place in the American Water Works Association/Pacific Northwest Chapter (AWWA/PNWS) tasting contest this year! That's right - your drinking water, #1!!!This is the bureau's second win in the last four years. We had some great competitors this year including the City of Tigard, Wilsonville, the City of Carlton and the City of Salem.Why does Portland's water taste so more...

Economic relief comes in all sorts of packages. On March 24, it'll come in a cone. Here's how helping others will help you score a sweet deal at your local Ben & Jerry's scoop shop: simply donate a non-perishable food item and receive a scoop for $1! All donations will be supplied to a local food bank. Yes, we can! Participating Scoop Shops: Pearl District, 301 NW 10th Avenue Uptown Shopping more...

And you thought Monday sucked. Nope! Get your FREE 8-ounce cup of french press coffee today between 9 and 10 a.m at all four Stumptown Cafes. One per customer, no refills. Visit the Stumptown website to find the location nearest you. Best of all, this will happen every Monday through April 13, the week of Tax Day (April 15). Thanks, Stumptown! And, thanks to Willamette Week for the tip. photo: Kenn Wilson more...

Chickens have pecked and scratched their way into my consciousness. I was aware that city folk were keeping chickens—a phenoma known as urban chicken keeping—but, it wasn't until I encountered some of the most fantastical un-chicken looking chickens, that I began asking "What the cluck?" As a college student in Arkansas, the chickens bore the collective name of Tyson and formed a sea of white in massive more...

So, when searching for a wedding photographer for our wedding last summer, my husband and I really had only two tiny little requirements:1) Their photography had to be kick-ass2) We had to love them.. the photographersI know we all want #1 when searching for a wedding photographer, but why #2, you ask? Well, simply put, my family is complicated, and weddings are complicated and we needed people who could understand us, be more...

This just in from the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability...Neighborhood, community and nonprofit groups that are committed to recycling and waste prevention can apply for a grant from the City of Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.Groups have the opportunity to support or expand green efforts through the grant. Examples of eligible waste prevention and recycling projects include purchasing durable dishes for offices or more...