Alan Kessler
@alankessler.bsky.social
Attorney. Activist. Public records, transit, bikes, and abundant housing.
If anyone out there has gotten text messages from the City of Portland, I'd love to include them in txtifier.com ... hmu
Txtifier
Public Records Archives of Text Messages
txtifier.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:13 PM
If anyone out there has gotten text messages from the City of Portland, I'd love to include them in txtifier.com ... hmu
Reposted by Alan Kessler
the arts fund isn’t authorized to have reserves...In spite of this, the city has accumulated millions of dollars since the arts tax started in 2013. The untapped funds surface as city leaders raise concerns about unspent dollars identified in other city bureaus
www.opb.org/article/2026...
www.opb.org/article/2026...
How Portland’s arts tax let $9M go unused for years
As Portlanders gear up to once again pay their arts tax by April 15, even supporters say the voter-approved charge needs an overhaul.
www.opb.org
February 9, 2026 at 5:21 PM
the arts fund isn’t authorized to have reserves...In spite of this, the city has accumulated millions of dollars since the arts tax started in 2013. The untapped funds surface as city leaders raise concerns about unspent dollars identified in other city bureaus
www.opb.org/article/2026...
www.opb.org/article/2026...
Reposted by Alan Kessler
It's one of the first things I was told as a public employee! It's in the annual trainings! There's no excuse for not knowing or for resisting the request.
Don't want your personal devices to be publicly discoverable, don't use them for the public's business.
Don't want your personal devices to be publicly discoverable, don't use them for the public's business.
February 6, 2026 at 12:37 AM
It's one of the first things I was told as a public employee! It's in the annual trainings! There's no excuse for not knowing or for resisting the request.
Don't want your personal devices to be publicly discoverable, don't use them for the public's business.
Don't want your personal devices to be publicly discoverable, don't use them for the public's business.
Reposted by Alan Kessler
What’s Dan hiding
Received just now:
"It appears that fulfilling this request would only benefit you, not the wider public. Claiming that Dan Ryan has been using his personal cell phone "to avoid scrutiny and likely skirt the City's lobbying laws" appears to be your own opinion and not that of the wider public."
"It appears that fulfilling this request would only benefit you, not the wider public. Claiming that Dan Ryan has been using his personal cell phone "to avoid scrutiny and likely skirt the City's lobbying laws" appears to be your own opinion and not that of the wider public."
February 6, 2026 at 4:24 AM
What’s Dan hiding
The City Attorney doesn’t work for Council. The last Auditor figured that out and fixed it.
According to other city councilors, ethics in who you text is A MASSIVE CONCERN to everyone in Portland that must be thoroughly investigated and talked about at every city council meeting.
???
???
February 6, 2026 at 12:32 AM
The City Attorney doesn’t work for Council. The last Auditor figured that out and fixed it.
Reposted by Alan Kessler
Release the Owendoff files!
Received just now:
"It appears that fulfilling this request would only benefit you, not the wider public. Claiming that Dan Ryan has been using his personal cell phone "to avoid scrutiny and likely skirt the City's lobbying laws" appears to be your own opinion and not that of the wider public."
"It appears that fulfilling this request would only benefit you, not the wider public. Claiming that Dan Ryan has been using his personal cell phone "to avoid scrutiny and likely skirt the City's lobbying laws" appears to be your own opinion and not that of the wider public."
February 5, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Release the Owendoff files!
Reposted by Alan Kessler
If Ryan has been using his personal cell phone for communications impacting how he performs his job as a City Council member, such as discussing measures he will be voting on with people who have a business interest in the measures, it is discoverable under the FOIA, and the law is unambiguous.
Received just now:
"It appears that fulfilling this request would only benefit you, not the wider public. Claiming that Dan Ryan has been using his personal cell phone "to avoid scrutiny and likely skirt the City's lobbying laws" appears to be your own opinion and not that of the wider public."
"It appears that fulfilling this request would only benefit you, not the wider public. Claiming that Dan Ryan has been using his personal cell phone "to avoid scrutiny and likely skirt the City's lobbying laws" appears to be your own opinion and not that of the wider public."
February 6, 2026 at 12:01 AM
If Ryan has been using his personal cell phone for communications impacting how he performs his job as a City Council member, such as discussing measures he will be voting on with people who have a business interest in the measures, it is discoverable under the FOIA, and the law is unambiguous.
Reposted by Alan Kessler
Received just now:
"It appears that fulfilling this request would only benefit you, not the wider public. Claiming that Dan Ryan has been using his personal cell phone "to avoid scrutiny and likely skirt the City's lobbying laws" appears to be your own opinion and not that of the wider public."
"It appears that fulfilling this request would only benefit you, not the wider public. Claiming that Dan Ryan has been using his personal cell phone "to avoid scrutiny and likely skirt the City's lobbying laws" appears to be your own opinion and not that of the wider public."
February 5, 2026 at 9:44 PM
Received just now:
"It appears that fulfilling this request would only benefit you, not the wider public. Claiming that Dan Ryan has been using his personal cell phone "to avoid scrutiny and likely skirt the City's lobbying laws" appears to be your own opinion and not that of the wider public."
"It appears that fulfilling this request would only benefit you, not the wider public. Claiming that Dan Ryan has been using his personal cell phone "to avoid scrutiny and likely skirt the City's lobbying laws" appears to be your own opinion and not that of the wider public."
Reposted by Alan Kessler
Maybe that’s why they attack colleges so much. It’s where they remember feeling humiliated for their bad opinions
February 5, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Maybe that’s why they attack colleges so much. It’s where they remember feeling humiliated for their bad opinions
I wonder if Lady Gaga will want her foreword taken out of this dude’s book.
www.wweek.com/news/2026/02...
www.wweek.com/news/2026/02...
Prominent Portland Psychiatrist Corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein, Emails Show
Documents released by the federal government show that the notorious sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein was in correspondence from 2015 to 2017 with a Portlander: Dr. Paul Conti, a nationally prominent psyc...
www.wweek.com
February 4, 2026 at 6:27 AM
I wonder if Lady Gaga will want her foreword taken out of this dude’s book.
www.wweek.com/news/2026/02...
www.wweek.com/news/2026/02...
Reposted by Alan Kessler
As a side note, it’s funny to see so many of these emails with thirsty academics repeatedly enact Marx’s bit in the 1844 Manuscripts about the power of money. “Oh Mr Epstein, your house in New York is enormous and, unrelatedly, your questions at dinner were so intelligent, so insightful, so deep.”
![That which is for me through the medium of money - that for which I can pay (i.e., which money can buy) - that am I myself, the possessor of the money. The extent of the power of money is the extent of my power. Money's properties are my - the possessor's - properties and essential powers. Thus, what I am and am capable of is by no means determined by my individuality. I am ugly, but I can buy for myself the most beautiful of women.
Therefore I am not ugly, for the effect of ugliness - its deterrent power - is nullified by money. I, according to my individual characteristics, am lame, but money furnishes me with twenty-four feet.
Therefore I am not lame. I am bad, dishonest, unscrupulous, stupid; but money is honoured, and hence its possessor. Money is the supreme good, therefore its possessor is good. Money, besides, saves me the trouble of being dishonest: I am therefore presumed honest. I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has [In the manuscript: is. - Ed.] power over the clever not more clever than the clever? Do not I, who thanks to money am capable of all that the human heart longs for, possess all human capacities? Does not my money, therefore, transform all my incapacities into their contrary?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:myqic77tkmdhmaufgkvj43hr/bafkreidpuxbx764xh7vobavcnvs3v2lo5fnfi6dukfrmk3ygxmseznkyxi@jpeg)
January 31, 2026 at 4:05 PM
As a side note, it’s funny to see so many of these emails with thirsty academics repeatedly enact Marx’s bit in the 1844 Manuscripts about the power of money. “Oh Mr Epstein, your house in New York is enormous and, unrelatedly, your questions at dinner were so intelligent, so insightful, so deep.”
A bajillion PPB and unmarked at division and se 35th. What’s going on?
January 22, 2026 at 10:44 PM
A bajillion PPB and unmarked at division and se 35th. What’s going on?
Reposted by Alan Kessler
Why didn't he address this in his statement? District 2 deserves a city councilor who represents us and our interests, not one who takes orders from those comfortable with the dehumanizing rhetoric revealed in these Owendoff chats. District 2 deserves transparency. Where is our apology? 4/4
January 22, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Why didn't he address this in his statement? District 2 deserves a city councilor who represents us and our interests, not one who takes orders from those comfortable with the dehumanizing rhetoric revealed in these Owendoff chats. District 2 deserves transparency. Where is our apology? 4/4
The mayor’s policy will really bear fruit in 15 years, when one of those who “failed to appear” in court is arrested in front of their children on a bench warrant during a minor traffic stop.
Since the city's new camping rule went into effect, data shows 20 people have been charged, but court delays and missed court appearances have kept the citations from advancing. In all cases, those charged with the crime have been released back into the public. No one has spent time in jail.
No one has been convicted of violating Portland’s public camping ban, records show
Last December, people experiencing homelessness began facing citations for violating a public camping ban. Court data reviewed by OPB finds that, in the first two months of enforcement, no one has been convicted for violating the camping ban.
www.opb.org
January 21, 2026 at 4:28 PM
The mayor’s policy will really bear fruit in 15 years, when one of those who “failed to appear” in court is arrested in front of their children on a bench warrant during a minor traffic stop.
Reposted by Alan Kessler
For out-of-towners, Lyin’ Dan Ryan won his seat on the old City Commission in a 2020 special election by promising to help Commissioner Hardesty defund the police. Soon as he won, he pulled a 180° and provided the decisive vote against defunding. He then touted that vote in the 2024 election
January 15, 2026 at 5:39 AM
For out-of-towners, Lyin’ Dan Ryan won his seat on the old City Commission in a 2020 special election by promising to help Commissioner Hardesty defund the police. Soon as he won, he pulled a 180° and provided the decisive vote against defunding. He then touted that vote in the 2024 election
More lube next time?
January 14, 2026 at 7:37 PM
More lube next time?
Just the City of Portland's attorneys continuing to fight for the right to livestream protesters so they (and presumably feds) can watch from their hidey holes.
embed.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
embed.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
REPLY BRIEF OF PETITIONER ON REVIEW CITY OF PORTLAND | DocumentCloud
embed.documentcloud.org
January 9, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Just the City of Portland's attorneys continuing to fight for the right to livestream protesters so they (and presumably feds) can watch from their hidey holes.
embed.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
embed.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
Reposted by Alan Kessler
When you think of a New England downtown, you probably don’t think about a parking lot.
But maybe you should. According to analysis done by CT Parking Reform, 29% of the land in CT's charming downtowns is devoted to storing cars.
We can change this. Get involved at the link in bio.
But maybe you should. According to analysis done by CT Parking Reform, 29% of the land in CT's charming downtowns is devoted to storing cars.
We can change this. Get involved at the link in bio.
December 22, 2025 at 10:52 PM
When you think of a New England downtown, you probably don’t think about a parking lot.
But maybe you should. According to analysis done by CT Parking Reform, 29% of the land in CT's charming downtowns is devoted to storing cars.
We can change this. Get involved at the link in bio.
But maybe you should. According to analysis done by CT Parking Reform, 29% of the land in CT's charming downtowns is devoted to storing cars.
We can change this. Get involved at the link in bio.
Reposted by Alan Kessler
I had no idea he was still alive yesterday.
In Memoriam:
Cheney Haunted By People He Didn't Manage To Kill In Iraq War
Cheney Haunted By People He Didn't Manage To Kill In Iraq War
November 4, 2025 at 5:43 PM
I had no idea he was still alive yesterday.
Does Rene have an alibi?
October 26, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Does Rene have an alibi?