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Diablo II: Resurrected will release sometime in 2021.

BlizzCon may have been ushered online because of everything 2020 had to throw at the world, but that doesn't mean there isn't news coming out of the gates at Blizzard this year.

One of the best, worst-kept secrets has been the remastered edition of the iconic Diablo II, complete with the Lord of Destruction expansion. Widely regarded as a genre-defining game, Diablo II set the bar for dungeon crawlers and still holds up pretty well given it hit a lofty 20 years old last year.

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"To be clear, it's not a remake," executive producer Rod Fergusson told CNET. "It's not us trying to reverse engineer it, not trying to build it from the ground up and make it look and sound like Diablo II. This is Diablo II. This is the same core gameplay you know and love."

Except it's in 4K resolution, with brand-new 3D visuals replacing the 2D sprite-based models and with 27 minutes of completely rebuilt cinematics. The sounds and voices you remember are all the same, complemented by brand new sound effects and quality of life enhancements to bring the game firmly into 2021.

It's also playable across all platforms. If you're the type of person who wants to play on the go, you can sneak some game time in on your lunch break on PC, use a Nintendo Switch on your commute home, then boot up your console of choice and continue playing without a hitch.

Principal designer Rob Gallerani told CNET, "[Cross progression] basically has to keep you confined to a certain kind of rule set across everywhere,"

"So, if we were to say, 'Oh look, you know what, inventory management is tricky to do with a controller so let's not worry about that, let's make it a list.' How would we know how you organized your items when you played on your console and then brought it back?"

Thankfully, due to the move to modern Battlenet, characters and gameplay will be hosted on dedicated servers and kept in the cloud, so you can pick it up easily enough.

According to Fergusson, "The actual cross progression side of being able to access the same character for multiple platforms was actually relatively straightforward, the hard part is making sure the experience felt the same across all platforms."

For those seeking a truly authentic Diablo II experience, there will still be a button you can press to toggle the graphics back to the original 2D sprite-based models and shave the new sounds away. But the intention behind Diablo II: Resurrected really seems to be 'the original, but better'.

"The way that we approached the process, at least from the art perspective, was this idea of the 70% nostalgic, 30% new," said Fergusson. "We realised we could go too far and it wouldn't feel like D2 anymore, so embracing that 70% nostalgia means that when you play the game you'll still feel a bit of the clunkiness it's all about that authenticity of what the original game was."

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Diablo II: Resurrected will hit PC, consoles and Nintendo Switch - CNET

Whichcharacters in The Expansecould possibly replace Alex Kamalfor season 6? AsThe Expanse heads into its final stretch, Amazon's ambitious sci-fi extravaganza finds itself in a tricky position. Since debuting in 2015,The Expanse has revolved around the crew of the Rocinante - a mish-mash of races and personalities from across the Sol system, thrown together and thrust into the middle of an interplanetary war. Together, James Holden (Steven Strait), Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), Amos Burton (Wes Chatham) and Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar) have put aside their differences to fight for peace, all while developing a strangelyheartwarming familial bond.

That core quartet remain together throughout theExpanse novel series, but real life circumstances necessitated a change for the live-action TV show. Ahead ofThe Expanse's season 5 premiere (butafter completion of filming), multiple reports emerged accusing Anvar of sexual misconduct and harassment. An internal investigation was carried out byThe Expanse's production company, Alcon Entertainment, and whena sixth and final season was confirmed in late 2020, the announcementstated Alex Kamal would not be returning.The Expanse season 5's final episode abruptly killed off the character.

Related:The Expanse Revealed Season 5's Big Twist In Episode 2

The Expanse will now move forward with the central trio of Holden, Naomi and Amos, but the Rocinante still needs a pilot to replace Alex in season 6, and there are a fewcandidates who could step into that vacancy.

Following Alex's death inThe Expanse's season 5 finale, the show appears to establish Bull as his official successor in the Rocinante's pilot seat. When Holden goes chasing Marco Inaros without his usual crew, it's Bull who offers to drive the bus. Holden warns him that, as a retrofitted Martian gunship, the Roci isn't an easy horse to tame, but Bull allays the captain's fears with a formidable display of piloting skill. During battles with the Zmeya and the 5-ship Free Navy ambush, Bull acquits himself as a highly capable potential replacement for Alex Kamal, and also becomes more amenable to Holden's orders asThe Expanse season 5 progresses. At the start, the duo act coldly towards each other, working together with no small amount of reluctance.In the finale, however, Bullrefrains from referring to Belters as "skinnies"on Holden's order and executesa command to fire on the Chetzemoka, referring to Holden as "captain" while he does so. The death of Fred Johnson leaves Bull at a loose end, and he's shown drinking from Alex's coffee cup inThe Expanse's season 5 finale - almost certainly a visual nod toward his future.

If the Rocinainte needs a familiar face inThe Expanse season 6, there are few characters as established and popular (with the exception of Avasarala, who isn'tbest suited to space travel) as Cara Gee's Camina Drummer. A friend and associate of Fred Johnson, Drummer has long been an advocate of peace between the Inner planets and the Belt, but ultimately came to believe Fred was a littletoo subservient to his friends on Earth. Drummer then struck out alone and reluctantly joined Marco Inaros' Free Navy, but revealed her true colors inThe Expanse's season 5 finale. Camina now has no choice but to join thefight against Marco, and with her own crew split, it makes sense to join the Rocinante crew, givenDrummer's pre-existing friendship with them. Drummeralso admitted to loving Naomi in season 5, which could be an interesting avenue to explore further.

With that said, Drummer appears to have her own storyline going on inThe Expanse's final season. Mirroring Michio Pa's arc from the novels, Drummer could become an ally of Earth's, but as the leader of a Belter faction, not the Rocinante's pilot.

Related:The Expanse's Season 5 Finale Honors A Forgotten Book Character

One of the most important aspects of Alex's future replacement inThe Expanse will be their heritage. The whole point of the Rocinante is to represent Sol's trio of factions - Earth, Mars and the Belt. Since Alex Kamal was the ship's sole Martian, hissuccessormust also hail from the Red Planet, so as to maintain the symbolicsignificance of Holden's crew. Bobbie is already a de facto member of Team Rocinante, having shared adventures with the crew previously, and was particularly close to Alex, givingher a narrative reason to fill his position. As a former Martian marine, it's also feasible that Bobbie is a skilled enough pilot to handle the Roci.

InThe Expanse's season 5 finale, Bobbie appears to get a new job on Luna as a delegate of UN Secretary General Avasarala, but this storyline was likely mapped out before Alex's exit became necessary. Now that the Rocinante and the UN are aligned against Marco Inaros, Bobbie could fulfill her Avasarala duties as part of Holden's crew.

One confirmed addition to the Rocinante crew inThe Expanse season 6 is Clarissa "Peaches" Mao. Holden's former adversary has served her time in jail (or some of it, at least), and is now seeking redemption for her horrific actions inseason 3. Amos wants to give Clarissa that second chance, and helped evacuate her from Earth before chaos descended upon the planet completely. After tricking Holden into letting bygones be bygones, Amos officially announces the addition of Clarissa to the Rocinante crew ahead ofThe Expanse's final season, but while Clarissa is the new fourth member of the crew, she's not necessarily a direct replacement for Alex. Clarissa's skills lie more in engineering and ripping people apart than piloting, and she's about as Martian as the Statue of Liberty.

When Holden and the Rocinante depart from Tycho Station inThe Expanse season 5, Bull isn't the only makeshift addition to the team. Played by George Tchortov, Leveau serves as a loyal aide to Fred Johnson, and can often be found guarding the character in season 5 (poorly, as it turns out). After Fred's death, Leveau jumps aboard the Rocinante as an extra crew member. Very much a background character, it's not clear exactly what Leveau does during his time on the Roci, nor whether he's a proficient pilot.The Expanse also leaves Leveau's future unclear; will he remain on the Rocinante crew, or seek pastures new?

Related:Why The Expanse Shuttle Scene Is One Of Season 5's Best

Rather than adding a bona fide new crew member to the Roci's existing dynamic,The Expanse might choose to focus squarely on Holden, Naomi and Amos. In this scenario, the ship would need a smaller character who could sit in the Roci's driving seat and ferry the gang around without taking the spotlight. Leveau would be ideal for this role - getting Holden and his friendsfrom A to B with minimal fuss.

Getting to the rank outsiders, could Admiral Delgado be in for a radical career change inThe Expanse season 6? Played by Michael Irby, Delgado begins season 5 as one of Avasarala's few allies, but when the UN's ruling cabinet convenes, the two friends come to blows. The military-minded Admiral wants to hit the Belt with as much firepower as possible, whereas Avasarala believes hurting civilians will only push more Belters towards Marco Inaros. The moral tug-of-war is won by Avasarala, who soon takes over as Secretary General. While she offers Delgado a job, he seems intent on pursuing Marco on the frontlines of battle, rather than making moves from behind a desk. WhenThe Expanse season 5 ends, it's not entirely clear which path Delgado isplanning to take, but if hereally wants to venture out and personally pull the trigger on Marco, he could do worse than quitting the UN completely and joining the Rocinante as their new pilot. The idea of a former Earth Admiral taking orders from James Holden is a little odd, but Delgado is almost certainly capable of flying ships thanks to his distinguished career.

Although Samantha Rosenberg appeared previously inThe Expanse, her single episode cameois afleeting affair, butthe character has a much larger role in the books, where she's known as Samara. A Belter engineer on Tycho Station, Sam is is probably as hurt by Fred Johnson's death as Bull and Leveau, giving her a motivation to join the Rocinante.The Expanse hasn't revealed enough about Sam to prove whether she's capable of flying a ship or not, but she fits the mold of a Leveau-esque familiar face who couldhelm the Roci without intruding on the existing cast.

More:Biggest Unanswered Questions of The Expanse Season 5

Star Wars: What Happened To Boba Fett's Mentor, Cad Bane?

Craig first began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016, several years after graduating college, and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. Having previously written for various sports and music outlets, Craig's interest soon turned to TV and film, where a steady upbringing of science fiction and comic books finally came into its own.Craig has previously been published on sites such as Den of Geek, and after many coffee-drenched hours hunched over a laptop, part-time evening work eventually turned into a full-time career covering everything from the zombie apocalypse to the Starship Enterprise via the TARDIS. Since joining the Screen Rant fold, Craig has been involved in breaking news stories and mildly controversial ranking lists, but now works predominantly as a features writer. Jim Carrey is Craigs top acting pick and favorite topics include superheroes, anime and the unrecognized genius of the High School Musical trilogy.

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The Expanse: Every Character Who Could Replace Alex In Season 6 - Screen Rant

A circa-1880 wood-sided house with three bedrooms and one bathroom, on a 3,484-square-foot lot

Kingston is a historic city of 23,000 in Ulster County. This quirky little house is about half a mile from Rondout Creek, in the revitalized district near the waterfront. It is a block from Broadway, a major commercial artery that runs through the city, and two miles southeast of the Stockade District, another node of development, with boutiques, galleries, bars and restaurants. The cultural and recreational attractions of Woodstock, N.Y., are about 20 minutes northwest. The George Washington Bridge is about 90 miles south.

Size: 1,508 square feet

Price per square foot: $258

Indoors: Masonry walls exposed in the living room and kitchen suggest that the rear portion of this house is solid stone. (It would also explain why floor plates dont line up.)

The main level has exposed rafters and wood floorboards. The homes single bathroom is to the right of the staircase, just opposite the front door, and includes a tub with a flat, rectangular shower head.

Turning right from the foyer takes you into the living room. At the end, an archway in a stone wall and a couple of steps conduct you down into the kitchen, which has a wall of cabinets with open upper shelving and room for a small breakfast area near a window overlooking a courtyard. Beyond the kitchen is a laundry room and a mechanicals room.

At the top of the stairs is a bedroom with a painted-tile ceiling, a walk-in closet and a windowed niche off to the side. A few steps down is a windowed space that could be another bedroom. It connects to a third room that is currently being used as a studio and has unfinished wood floors and a vaulted ceiling with exposed beams and a storage loft.

Outdoor space: The studio has a new glass door that brings light into the room and steps down to the courtyard, which has a koi pond and a storage shed. The brick driveway parks two cars.

Taxes: $5,749 ($5,102, if the house is used as a primary residence)

Contact: Mercedes Ross, Coldwell Banker Village Green Realty, 845-750-1133; coldwellbanker.com

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.

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What $400,000 Buys You in Ohio, Illinois and New York - The New York Times

Steve Bannon said he thought Donald Trump had dementia and launched a covert plan to remove him as president through the 25th Amendment, according to a new book by the veteran TV producer Isa Rosen.

Rosen shared the revelation while discussing his memoir based on his work on CBS' iconic news show 60 Minutes called Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes at 60 Minutes,' on Skullduggery,a Yahoo News podcast.

In the memoir, released this week, he wrote that Bannon believed Trump "was suffering from early-stage dementia and that there was a real possibility he would be removed from office by the 25th Amendment."

The 25th Amendment exists for when the president is incapable of carrying out his duties.

Bannon, a former Executive Chairman of the hard-right Breitbart News, was Chief Executive Officer of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. He served as White House Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to the President until Trump fired him in 2017, less than seven months after the inauguration.

Rosen told podcast hosts Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman that Trump "turned on Bannon" after he appeared on a Time magazine cover in February 2017, weeks after the president was sworn in.

Calling it a"conspiracy" in his book, the award-winning TV producer added: "Bannon realized that Trump was repeating the same stories over and over again and Bannon kept saying this and he wanted to do something about it."

Bannon even visited Republican super donor Robert Mercer's home and tried to recruit him to the plot, said Rosen.

"Now, the secret was that Bannon crazily thought that he could be president," said Rosen."He would have been very happy to see Trump disappear from the scenes, either through the 25th Amendment, resigning for whatever reason, and he would step in and fill the gulf and carry the mantle of the Trump followers. But he was delusional about it."

Rosen also includes a text that Bannon sent him in his book, which reads: "You need to do the 25th Amendment piece... BTW brother I never steer u wrong."

Rosen told Skullduggery that Bannon was a "big talker" and a gossip. He would often drop in for casual chats at the White House and said he had a "therapist" role with Bannon. He described, "loitering in the chief of staff's office, drinking Diet Cokes and he would kind of download to me on stories."

Bannon's tenure came to an abrupt end following reports of power struggles with Jared Kushner, Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law, as well as various other high-level White House staffers.

Trump had also become tired of him constantly taking credit for winning the election and their relationship fractured.

Bannon responded to Rosen's claims himself during his own 'War Room' podcast. He said: "This is another reporter trying to be a grifter and... complete, total fantasy."

He did hint of White Hosue whispers about invoking the 25th Amendment, implicating other former senior members of the Trump administration.

"If you want to find out whoever said about the 25th Amendment go and talk to "anonymous" and talk about John Kelly (the White House chief of staff from 2017-2019) and talk to Jim Mattis (the secretary of defense 2017-2018) and talk to the cabinet members," said Bannon.

Bannon and Trump have since patched up their differences. The former President pardoned Bannonjust days before leaving office after he was charged with defrauding Trump's political supporters amid a private effort to build a Mexican border wall.

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Steve Bannon believed Trump had dementia and plotted to remove him as president, according to new book - Business Insider

Last November, California passed Proposition 22, which made it so that companies like Uber and Lyft could classify their workers as contractors instead of employees, avoiding the obligation to give them benefits. Bloomberg has written a great report about how this type of change replacing regular employees with contractors could be coming to many other industries across the nation, which could affect millions of workers.

While the law was pushed for by ride-share companies, the article talks about the effects already being seen in other industries, like how grocery delivery workers are being fired and replaced by on-demand DoorDash workers. It also details an op-ed by an Uber investor, talking about how Prop 22 could be used to replace employees with contract workers in various industries, from nursing to agriculture.

Companies moving their workers to independent contract employment, instead of traditional employment, helps them keep their labor costs low. Contract employees arent entitled to benefits like health insurance, overtime pay, etc. The companies also dont have to pay employees for time that theyre on the clock but not carrying out their job duties if a grocery delivery employee is waiting for an order to come in, the company still has to pay for them to be there, which is not the case if that person works for DoorDash.

Weve already seen ride-share companies talking about taking Prop 22-like legislation nationwide, and Bloomberg digs into how Uber has plenty of contacts in the Biden administration.

The article also casts some doubt on the idea that unions will be able to stem the tide. It goes into the dilemma labor leaders are facing: do they work with companies to make sure contract workers are getting an okay deal, or do they work against them and possibly lose everything?

Now Uber, after successfully reshaping culture and politics to accommodate its business model, is bending unions, too. Labor groups have to take seriously the prospect that if they dont come to the table, the companies will write the laws themselves, as they did with Prop 22.

While the future may be uncertain for millions of workers, its a good idea to stay informed on what it could look like, so that workers can be prepared if and when similar legislation starts popping up around the country. The Bloomberg article is a great place to start.

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Go read this article about how Prop 22 may have opened the gates for the gig economy - The Verge

When Wendell Brooks stepped down as managing partner and head of Intel Capital last August, Anthony Lin was named to replace him on an interim basis. At the time, it wasnt clear if he would be given the role permanently, but today, six months later, the answer is known.

In a letter to the firms portfolio CEOs published on the company website, Lin mentioned, almost casually, that he had taken on the two roles on a permanent basis. Personally, I want to share that I have been appointed to managing partner and head of Intel Capital. I have been a member of the investment committee for the past several years and am humbly awed by the talent of our entrepreneurs and our team, he wrote.

Lin takes over in a time of turmoil for Intel as the company struggles to regain its place in the semiconductor business that it dominated for decades. Meanwhile, Intel itself has a new CEO with Pat Gelsinger returning in January from VMware to lead the organization.

As the corporate investment arm of Intel, it looks for companies that can help the parent company understand where to invest resources in the future. If that is its goal, perhaps it hasnt done a great job, as Intel has lost some of its edge when it comes to innovation.

Lin, who was formerly head of mergers and acquisitions and international investing at the firm, can use the power of the firms investment dollars to try to help point the parent company in the right direction and help find new ways to build innovative solutions on the Intel platform.

Lin acknowledged how challenging 2020 was for everyone, and his company was no exception, but the firm invested in 75 startups, including 35 new deals and 40 deals involving companies in which it had previously invested. It has also made a commitment to invest in companies with more diverse founders. To that end, 30% of new venture-stage dollars went to startups led by diverse leaders, according to Lin.

Whats more, the company made a five-year commitment that 15% of all its deals would go to companies with Black founders. It made some progress toward that goal, but there is still a ways to go. At the end of 2020, 9% of our new venture deals and 15% of our venture dollars committed were in companies led by Black founders. We know there is more progress to be made and we will continue to encourage, foster and invest in diverse and inclusive teams, he wrote.

Lin faces a big challenge ahead as he takes over, and he needs to use the firms investment might to help Gelsinger advance the goals of the broader firm, while making sound investments.

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Anthony Lin named permanent managing partner and head of Intel Capital - TechCrunch

Plex this week began testing TV app integration on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, as spotted by MacRumors readers Casey Bailey and Will Sigmon. The feature is available in the latest beta version of the Plex app through TestFlight.

Plex is a popular media player that in recent years has introduced a growing library of free, ad-supported TV shows, movies, and other content from providers such as Warner Bros., Crackle, Lionsgate, MGM, and Legendary Entertainment. It is only this on-demand content that will be integrated in the TV app, and not a user's personal library of locally stored content, according to a Reddit user identifying as a Plex employee.

"This feature will only work with our free on demand movies and TV shows," the employee said. "We'd love to integrate personal media as well but that's not technically possible for a couple reasons. To make this work we provide Apple with a list of content we have available for streaming. As detailed in our privacy policy, we don't know what content our users have in their personal media libraries."

Update: This article has been updated with clarification from a Plex employee that TV app integration will be limited to Plex's free, ad-supported video content from partners like Warner Bros., Crackle, and Lionsgate.

Originally posted here:
Plex Testing TV App Integration Across iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV - MacRumors

Google is reorganizing its responsible AI teams in the wake of Timnit Gebrus firing. The ethical AI team will now roll up to Marian Croak, a prominent Black executive in the engineering department. Croak will also oversee employees focused on engineering fairness products, according to Bloomberg. She will report to Jeff Dean, who leads the companys AI efforts.

The ethical AI team was not aware of the reorganization until news broke Wednesday night.

In a blog post confirming Croaks appointment, Google said the executive will be leading a new center of expertise on responsible AI within Google Research.

The change is an attempt to stabilize the department, which has been in turmoil for months, Bloomberg reports. In December, Timnit Gebru, co-lead of the ethical AI team, announced shed been abruptly fired. The following month, the company began investigating her counterpart Margaret Mitchell, who had been using a script to go through her emails to look for examples of discrimination against Gebru. Mitchell now says shes been locked out of her corporate accounts for more than five weeks.

Prior to her dismissal, Gebru had been trying to publish a paper on the dangers of large language processing models. Megan Kacholia, vice president of Google Research, asked her to retract the paper. Gebru pushed back, saying the company needed to be more transparent about the publication process. Shortly afterward, she was fired.

The ethical AI team published a six-page letter in the wake of Gebrus termination, calling on Kacholia to be replaced. We have lost confidence in Megan Kacholia and we call for her to be removed from our reporting chain, the letter read.

Now, the team may be getting its wish. As part of the reorganization, Kacholia will no longer lead the ethical AI researchers, according to Bloomberg. Its not clear what this means for Margaret Mitchell, who is still being investigated by the company.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge.

Update February 18th, 1:38PM EST: This article has been updated to include a blog post from Google.

Originally posted here:
Google is restructuring its AI teams after Timnit Gebrus firing - The Verge

Apple today informed developers that "health pass" apps can only be submitted by developers that are working with recognized public health authorities.

Apple says that to make sure these apps are responsibly handling sensitive data and providing reliable functionality, they're being limited to developers work with test kit manufacturers, laboratories, and healthcare providers.

With the recent release of COVID-19 vaccines, we've seen an increase in apps that generate health passes used to enter buildings and access in-person services based on testing and vaccination records. To ensure these apps responsibly handle sensitive data and provide reliable functionality, they must be submitted by developers working with entities recognized by public health authorities, such as test kit manufacturers, laboratories, or healthcare providers. As with other apps related to COVID-19, we also accept apps submitted directly by government, medical, and other credentialed institutions.

Apple has been restricting COVID 19-related apps since March. Apps providing data on COVID must be submitted by developers working with recognized entities such as government organizations, health-focused NGOs, companies deeply credentialed in health issues, and medical or educational institutions. Apple does not allow COVID 19-themed entertainment or game apps, nor any other app not submitted by a qualified developer.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

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Apple Says COVID 'Health Pass' Apps Are Limited to Developers Working With Public Health Authorities - MacRumors

Across the country, particularly in Portland and Oregon, elected officials have tried to ward off evictions and foreclosures during the COVID-19 pandemicsometimes by banning them outright.

But in one low-income community in East Portland, the holes in several layers in the social safety net became evident when a letter arrived in mailboxes.

Last October, residents of 11 homes in a mobile home park along Southeast Powell Boulevard received notice they'd have to move out. The owner of Kelly Butte Place, on Southeast 112th Avenue, wanted to redevelop the property.

For Beverly Smith, 74, the bad news seemed to defy logic. First, the notice arrived in the middle of a pandemic and amid a thicket of new rules designed to prevent people from being displaced.

Second, Smith and her husband, Philip, own their home.

"We're looking for somebody to assist us. We need help, that's what it boils down to," Beverly Smith says. "They've got all these plans about how they're shuffling us around like domino chips."

Manufactured home parks offer a form of homeownership often within reach of low-income buyersbut it means owning only the structure, not the land under it. So it's housing that comes with the added insecurity of losing an investment if the homes, sometimes old, can't be moved or the cost of moving, sometimes upward of $40,000, proves prohibitive.

The state has long recognized the need to protect mobile home park residents, requiring long notice periods before closure. In August 2018, Portland took the added step of zoning existing locations specifically as mobile home parks, so that they could not be closed and rezoned without significant review.

The difference for Kelly Butte Place was that the owner, Adam Hoesly, had applied to redevelop the property less than two months before the city changed the zoning.

Hoesly sought to build 26 "affordable" single-family homes. To do this, he'd likely have to demolish any homes that the owners left behind.

He tells WW he plans to move forward. "As it currently stands, tenants have been given more than a years notice as well as relocation fees to aid in their transition," Hoesly says. "The plan is to replace the 11 mobile homes with 26 affordable homes, as defined by the City of Portland."

If the Kelly Butte development were to proceed, it would do exactly what the Portland City Council is actively working to avoid, says Cameron Herrington, a program manager with the nonprofit Living Cully, which helped advocate for the mobile home park ordinance. "It's blatantly against the spirit of what the City Council was trying to do."

Tenants rights advocate Margot Black has been organizing the residents of Kelly Butte Place throughout the winter.

"The city knew in 2018 that these tenants were going to be displaced and did nothing," Black says. "They had no plan."

It was only after inquiries by WW that the city canceled the permits to redevelop Kelly Butte Place.

On Jan. 19, Matt Tschabold, policy and planning manager with the Portland Housing Bureau, told two residents who addressed the bureau's Rental Services Commission that since permit applications were submitted before the ordinance went into effect, it could still be approved.

"A property owner is subject to the land use and zoning code that is in effect when they submit an application, and unfortunately the city does not have the discretion to change that state law," Tschabold said at the January commission meeting. "Their application is subject to the laws that were in effect when they submitted that application."

WW contacted City Commissioner Dan Ryan's office on Feb. 8 and the Portland Bureau of Development Services on Feb. 10, inquiring whether the city would in fact approve the application. (Ryan oversees BDS as well as the Housing Bureau.)

On Feb. 14, David Kuhnhausen, BDS's permitting services manager, told WW the permits had been canceled, saying the property owner had failed to request the necessary permit extensions to keep the application valid.

"The permits were canceled on Feb. 8, 2021," Kuhnhausen wrote to WW. "Any future development permits at this site will be reviewed to comply with current zoning regulations."

The permits expired more than seven months ago, on June 30. It's not clear why the permits weren't canceled then.

Hoesly says he received no notice the permits had expired. "The city at times has an antiquated system for alerting the status of permits and I was not notified that the permit had expired in June until late last week," he says.

The permit cancellation is good news for Lucenda and Joe Brisack, who bought the home they share with their 8-year-old daughter on Dec. 30, 2018. That was nearly six months after the application for redevelopment was submitted.

"It's the worst feeling in the world that someone looked into our face, knowing that we were giving every cent we had to buy this place to give our daughter a home and stability, and they never said anything," Lucenda Brisack says.

In this small cul-de-sac, with bright, pastel-colored homes and neatly decorated front porches, resides a tight-knit community that considers itself a family. When residents received letters telling them the mobile home park, developed in 1997, would close and they had to be off the property by Oct. 20, 2021, community members feared for their futures but decided to put up a fight by writing letters to public officials and testifying at the Rental Services Commission meeting.

Black, the tenants rights organizer, says the city's decision to cancel the permits is significant but the owner could still kick residents off the land even if he can't redevelop the property.

"The city knows when displacement occurs or is about to," Black adds. "It needs to start providing meaningful and proactive resources to prevent and mitigate it."

Most of the residents could not afford to relocate their homes. Sandra Lovingier bought hers in 2009 and wrote in a handwritten letter to WW that she's confident she'd end up homeless if she had to vacate the property since she can no longer work because she has multiple sclerosis.

"I put all my retirement money into buying my home," she wrote. "I've invested every dime to make this my forever home."

Families still paying off their homes will have to continue paying their mortgages regardless of whether they can afford to move them.

Collectively, the residents offered the landowner $1.1 million to buy the land themselves but never received a response, Beverly Smith says.

"It's really frustrating to be blatantly treated like you don't matter," Smith says. "The city is supposed to be empathetic to the homeless. They're everywhere in this city. If they're having difficulty, what's going to happen to us? We're seniors."

Correction: Thisstory initially used the nameKelly Butte Park to refer to the mobile home park. While the park is referred to by several names in documents, it is registered with the stateas Kelly Butte Place. WW regrets the error.

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Residents of an East Portland Mobile Home Park Were Told to Get Lost, in the Middle of a Pandemic - Willamette Week