Lloyd Center: demolished on a promise
Portland's dead mall is coming down for up to 5,141 homes — but the approval requires zero affordable units and no ice rink, and the city is building fewer homes than any year since 2009. Both sides, the fine print, and an interactive look at whether the homes actually get built.
Read the deep-dive5,141
homes promised — zero of them required
Is Oregon serious about its own economy?
Governor Kotek's Prosperity Council wants to blow up Business Oregon and build a Department of Commerce. The case against the agency — and the asterisks the headline numbers hide — with the scorecard, the $1B decoded, the front door no CEO would use, and a four-state field test on whether a reorg actually works.
Read the deep-dive1,200 → 800
where the job target moved after years of missing it
The hidden contradictions in Portland's growth politics
Portland wants affordability, climate infill, stable neighborhoods, tenant protections, progressive taxes, and enough homes for the next generation. This deep dive shows where those goals collide, who benefits, who pays, and what changes when you move the levers.
Read the deep-dive120,560
homes Portland must plan for by 2045
Who actually runs Portland?
Portland's biggest fights often happen because power is spread across the city, county, Metro, state, transit, schools, hospitals, providers, and funders. This is the map of who owns what - and the Street-to-Stability system Civic Lab is building first.
Read the deep-dive9
major layers of civic power
The pension on your property tax bill
Portland owes billions in police and fire pensions and saved almost none of it. What FPDR costs you, who receives it, and how it could be fixed — with calculators and an interactive reform simulator.
Read the deep-dive$3.91B
promised, less than 1% saved
Mass timber: Oregon's big housing bet
Can building homes out of wood in factories help fix the housing shortage? What mass timber is, what it's good for, how much housing it can provide and at what cost — with a factory-cost calculator, the success stories, and the long graveyard of failures.
Read the deep-dive491,347
homes Oregon needs in 20 years
Why Portland can't end homelessness
Portland spends more than ever and it keeps growing. The math that explains why — the inflow/outflow simulator, who's actually homeless, the true cost of doing nothing, why nobody can see the beds, and what would actually work.
Read the deep-dive+~400
net added to the list every month
More deep-dives coming — housing, public safety spending, and climate. Suggest a topic.