Devin Boone

writer & reporter, formerly @kpcc @kjzz @fronterasdesk, now on substack with an illustrated column about housing & houselessness ↓

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

I was curious about the Teen Parent Centers included in plans for Cleveland & Jefferson--both 2,500 sq ft w/ infant, crawler, toddler, & breastfeeding rooms--so I filed a public records request w/ PPS. Here are the #s it sent me. How do these #s in any way justify a demand? @christysplitt @BrimJulia

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

suggestions to reduce costs in the @PPSBond :
• build Jefferson to hold 800-900 students, not 1,700 (right now enrollment is around 500)
• cut one or both of the 2,500 sq ft teen parent centers. right now, PPS has 2 teen parent social workers, 2 teen parent at-home instructors & a teen parent career educator. that's a lot of support (which is great!), but teen pregnancy is on the decline & there aren't that many teen parents in PPS to begin with.
• take cornerstone's advice & get the "general conditions" reduced if not halved w/ all three contractors assigned to a PPS high school. if they can't reduce them, hire the contractor whose general conditions for beaverton's high school was approximately half of what the PPS contractors are charging.

there! knocked off hundreds of millions of $. 💰 should i run for school board?

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

It WAS part of the 2020 bond, but that price would've meant students had to be bussed 11 miles away to Marshall for 3 years of construction & there was major pushback from Jefferson parents abt this. The $460 million-ish price tag lets students stay on campus. But the bigger questions are: Why is PPS building Jeff for 1,700 capacity when right now there are less than 500 students there? (The highest enrollment it's had in the last 25 years was 916 in 1998.) Does PPS REALLY need two Teen Parent centers (one at Jeff & one at Cleveland) plus full health centers at all three schools? I like the idea of all electric high schools & mass timber construction instead of concrete & steel, but those decisions add to the very high cost and it's hard to justify when so many elementary & middle schools in PPS really truly need basic safety upgrades (seismic, HVAC etc.) I am making a video abt this on my substack next week! → https://t.co/axjNkKc4Hn

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

new from me! 🙋🏻‍♀️ goldicops: was the police response to the community free store and its associated conflicts too much, too little, or just right? results from poll very interesting so far ↓

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

@shanedkavanaugh how does craig gervais have enough hours in the day to be a full time cop AND work so much overtime that he got paid $186,279 just for OT? genuine question

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

recently, i saw @portlandhousing post the good news that they'd just closed on the biggest affordable housing project they've ever funded! then i saw the replies from @pdxhopeful etc. FURIOUS that each unit would cost $610k+ to build. i set out to find out why this is ↓ https://t.co/XIC6mZz6Ll

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

@PdxHopeful @PortlandHousing @BRIDGEhousing @Holst_Arch @thebiggreenw Hi @pdxhopeful @JustAmyMcC @Moke1966758 @donsinger17 @slimjim33_33 @DonSinger17! I was so curious/inspired by the questions raised in this thread that I wrote a whole story about it. Read it here: https://t.co/DDsNh37uz3

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

@benmaritz Highly recommend Orwell's "Looking Back on the Spanish War" --only 22 pages & so good 💯

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

Hi Andy, I interviewed 50 voters/non-voters about this last election under the reforms & pretty much all of them said they were overwhelmed--but the overwhelm was more about the # of candidates who ran, not about RCV. (so the result of increasing the council to 12, eliminating primaries etc.) More: https://t.co/QiN986pSbF

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

@tarafaul503 Thank you for the work you're doing! ❤️ So hoping Ariel and her sister reconnect, and that she gets indoors soon.

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

Hi! Did you read the editorial? It expressly mentions the huge # of candidates ("the dizzying array of potential choices") who ran as a reason for low engagement. I interviewed 50 voters/non-voters abt this--most said the overwhelm was due to # of candidates, not RCV. https://t.co/QscQeCbZce

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

@alexgs @helenjung Hello! I spoke w/ 50 eligible voters about RCV & the massive # of candidates who ran this year & found that the overwhelm voters felt was not so much about RCV, but about the # of candidates. Perhaps we shouldn't have eliminated primaries? Story: https://t.co/RQsmY4nTBJ

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

A pure & total delight to interview @Hayes4Portland 's cousin-in-laws Juma & Angie Whatley about #RCV + the massive # of candidates who ran for city council this year. I spoke w/ 50 voters/non-voters in total. Story: https://t.co/RQsmY4nTBJ

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

@thadfisco hello! i think i might--his name is Pete, he used to work for xtreme communications, wiring buildings etc. where should i tell him to apply?

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

My favorite response was from Bridget, center👇🏼
read the rest & subscribe please: https://t.co/TSg6IukQqT

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

I spoke with nearly 50 eligible voters in District 1--where a mere 39% were involved in electing their city council reps--about RCV, the huge # of candidates who ran, and why they voted or didn't. Here are my findings: /1 https://t.co/TSg6IukQqT

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

The city spent $675k to educate hard-to-reach voters, $210k of which went to orgs like @apanocuf, @ULPDX . Some orgs did 🚪to🚪outreach, but a lot was holding/tabling at community events non-voters are v. unlikely to be at. Most non-engaged voters are non-engaged in gen. /4

[Devin Boone @_bydevin]

Introducing THE BIG IDEA, a new series of short videos w/ just 1 candidate talking about 1 idea. Meant to help overwhelmed voters learn abt candidates in digestible, accessible way. Ep. 1: @JonWalkerpdx whose idea is basically no more new, big ideas❌but to focus on implementation 🤹