news in Northwest District, Northwest (NW) Portland...

AFS Intercultural Programs is looking for families to host foreign exchange students arriving in Portland this August from across the globe. These students have been selected by the U.S. State Department Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs to be ambassadors for their countries, to attend a local high school, share their culture, and help change the world. Hailing from countries of the former Soviet Union, more...

This is the third installment in our series exploring Portland's land use issues. For tips, resources and a general overview of land use basics, please see our first story. For more information on reading land use notices and interpreting zoning codes, please check out our second story. Flip a coin 100 times, and 50 times it’ll come up heads. Those are good odds. So, if someone gives you 20-1 odds, how more...

As mandated by the federal government, the Portland Water Bureau sent out its 2012 Drinking Water Quality Report today. The report summarizes water quality testing results for the year 2011. The reports are due to customers by July 1st of each year. “This information is extremely important,” said Water Bureau Administrator David Shaff. “I urge everyone to take a minute to read this report and more...

Do you remember a favorite summer job? Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith does. “One of my first summer jobs was as a tutoring coordinator at Oregon State University,” Smith says. “I will never forget that experience, which really helped me to become a better communicator and instilled in me the importance of responsibility.” Whether it is working in a retail store or restaurant, more...

[Editor's note:If you're an NN community member you can add patios that you'd like to visit to your to-do list.Business names in our articles link to business pages in ourlocally owned business directory. Find theTo-Do iconand give it a click. After adding a bunch of local businesses to yourlist, visit your dashboard to share your selections with friends or as a reminder when you're ready to get out more...

There are some lifestyle choices that might seem more “Portlandish” than others. Riding around town on a fixed-gear bicycle, for example, or getting together with friends to drink handcrafted, limited-release, imperial microbrews. Although supplementing one’s diet with homegrown food is not unique to Portland, this list would not be complete without the inclusion of gardening. Think about the last more...

This is the second article in a series (read the first article) about how landlords and their present and potential commercial tenants can work together to create vibrant, livable neighborhoods. As a topic, the relationships between landlords and their tenants is a dicey one, because neither lessor nor lessee seem interested in speaking about it publicly. If there’s any grumbling, it's often whispered to more...

This is the final installment in a series about the steps small business owners need to take before hiring their first employee. If you’ve already taken a hard look at your business and determined the right time to hire your first employee as well as figured the value your time, you’ve done the heavy lifting. "For a sole proprietor or someone who has a boutique, there's really not a lot more...

This is the second article in a series about neighborhood branding. In the first article we explored outsiders’ perceptions of your neighborhood and began to think about how we can change misperceptions. We will now continue to dig deeper into the process of changing the perception of your neighborhood. Potentially dubbed the "Independent Republic of St. Johns" or the "Best Little Town in more...

PORTLAND OR – The Oregon Health Authority Public Health Division Drinking Water Program (OHA) today denied the Portland Water Bureau’s request for an adjustment to its regulatory schedule to replace the uncovered drinking water reservoirs at Mt. Tabor and Washington parks. The decision by OHA means that Portland’s existing regulatory schedule to end the use of the uncovered reservoirs by December more...