At last month's meeting of the Lents Neighborhood Association, Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard told a less than enthusiastic audience that "Having a Triple A baseball stadium would be the best thing we could ever have happen in Lents." While criticism of the stadium deal grows - including official rejection by the Portland Parks Board - Leonard remains unmoved in his belief that "downtown" interests, not neighborhood residents, are behind the opposition.

But what do the residents of Lents really think? The Lents deal has triggered deep-seated concerns about livability, affordable housing, economic development, historic preservation and how much voice citizens have with City Hall. Dave Mazza talks with Lents residents Kathleen Juergens de Ponce and Nick Christensen, organizers of Friends of Lents Park, about what their neighbors are concerned about and what they really think about Randy Leonard's desire to play ball in Lents. He also talks with Damien Chakwin, chair of the Lents Neighborhood Association and a supporter of the stadium proposal. 

Last December, working people around the world celebrated the victory of the Republic Window and Door Factory workers, members of United Electrical workers, who occupied their factory for six days and won their struggle to hold Bank of America accountable to pay them the money they were owed at the closing of their factory.  Today on Labor Radio we hear about two more factory worker struggles out of Illinois, the Hartmarx suit factory workers in Chicago, members of Workers United, and the Quad City Die Casting factory workers, members of United Electrical Workers.  In both of the struggles this spring, the opponent is not Bank of America but its class comrade Wells Fargo.  Are banks the new bosses?  And why all this militancy out of Illinois?  

The Economic Stimulus Package passed at the beginning of the Obama administration gets a mixed review by Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute in this interview with the Old Mole's Bill Resnick.  Listen for the full picture.  You can read Shierholz's  report on jobs here.    

In Salem, workers at the CherryLift company could go on strike at any moment.

Due to unscrupulous business practices, the Amalgamated Transit Union who represents CherryLift no longer trusts the company’s employer OHAS.

Peter Shoaf talked to Jonathan Hunt, President of the ATU:

Trimet has proposed twenty-three million dollars in cuts this year.

The announcement provoked a protest by the newly-formed Trimet Riders Union yesterday, at the newly-built ‘Portland Bus Mall’ on 5^th and 6^th avenues.

KBOO’s david nochumson spoke with Al bradbury with the transit riders union about the cuts.

The ‘right to repair’ bill currently being considered by the US Congress has become a point of contention between car manufacturers and civil liberties advocates. The bill would allow local mechanics and garages to perform repairs on cars with computers, which are currently considered the ‘intellectual property’ of the car manufacturer.

Fred Von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that the bill should be extended to include not just cars, but all electronics and computer equipment:

That was Fred Von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, speaking on the ‘Right to Repair’ bill, which is currently in Committee in the US House of Representatives.

Fired workers from the Laurelhurst Village nursing home held a community forum Tuesday night to discuss the management’s anti-union activities, and asking for community support.