From Jun. 29, 2022:

In a joint statement, Commissioners Carmen Rubio and Mingus Mapps, who oversee Parks & Recreation and the Bureau of Environmental Services respectively, said the move was meant to streamline what had been a disjointed system.

The two bureaus “have been working together to strategically align disparate tree planting and tree care responsibilities across both bureaus. That fragmentation has led to inefficient and uncoordinated work,” the commissioners said.

“With support and direction from both of our offices, both bureaus have come to an understanding and scoping of work that we believe will not only be more effective, but will ultimately result in more trees, larger tree canopy, and increased greening of our city,” they said.

…in case we wanted someone to point fingers at.

The other notable difference is that the Friends of Trees program was opt-in. You want a tree, you contact them, they bring you a tree. The city program is actually opt-out, and only eligible in certain designated neighborhoods. So you miss a postcard in the mail and the next thing you know, you’ve got a crew in front of your house digging up your yard.

Locally, I’ve been very happy with Puff Coffee. It’s a small roaster started up by Stumptown founder Duane Sorenson. The dude knows his stuff and I think it shows.

Though, with the closure of the Green Zebra near me I’ve been pretty lazy about it, and I hate to say I’ve been ordering coffee all the way from Philadelphia: https://royalmilecoffee.com. The Ethiopian beans have been excellent, the prices are reasonable, and I don’t have to worry about checking the roasted on dates.

Yama Sushi on Clinton has quickly risen to the top of our ranks. I’m no sushi connoisseur by any means, but I’ve found it to be a combination of great quality, accessible, pleasant ambiance, decent prices, and maybe even a bit excessive selection-wise. Seriously. They come out and hit you with like five different menus right off the bat.

I don’t have any problems with Bamboo, but like many places in Portland, it falls into a category of “good, but overrated”.

Usually around 76/77.

My upstairs used to run about ten degrees hotter until I installed a booster fan in the duct to pull cool basement air up there. I know they’re generally ill-advised for most scenarios, but it works incredibly well for me in summer since it would have been a very expensive proposition to upsize the vent, install a return, or put in a mini-split.