The City is using the old parking meters to collect spare change for the homeless. Outgoing commissioner Jim Francesconi was on KOIN promoting the program. The money will go to Sisters of the Road CafĂ, New Avenues for Youth, Outside In and Transition Projects. (no luck finding any other info about this program online)
City Commissioner Erik Sten rallied 18 elected officials to sign a letter opposing the Texas Pacific Group’s proposed purchase of Portland General Electric. The letter (PDF download) quotes Erik Sten saying “Their stated goal is to sell it as quickly as they can meet their financial goals. While there is nothing ethically wrong with that approach, it is in direct conflict with the interests of Oregon businesses and families.”
See below for a list of the elected officials and links for more info.
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PEOPLE!!!
When will you understand? It doesn’t sound like anyone was hot to do this before, what makes you think it’s a good idea now?
OK, some folks are totally for it. Why, I still can’t figure out. And since the MLB wants it to be 100% government cash up front, why doesn’t PDX give a resounding FU to the MLB? (Sorry, the opportunity for all those acronyms was one I couldn’t pass up.) I mean, didn’t the Rose Garden just go bankrupt or something? (I can’t seem to find an article that lays it out.) Clearly we only barely tolerate the one pro team we have, what makes someone think another one is a reasonable idea? Even if your argument is that it’s a different sport, it doesn’t matter; all of baseball is suffering from at least as serious an image problem as the Blazers are. So supposing DC bails on this, first of all, why should we take their sloppy seconds, and second of all, don’t we have anything better to do with the millions of dollars the MLB will no doubt attempt to extort? I mean honestly!
Oh yeah, what was I thinking? They’ll just tack on the “aren’t you glad you live in Portland so’s you can pay for the new baseball stadium?” tax. So between that and the “since you live in Multnomah county and you might get some money back on your taxes since you’re a homeowner, we think we’d like a cut” tax, I’m not sure I will be able to live in Portland for much longer.
Especially during Christmas. See, I used to live out in Eastern Oregon, and I shopped at Bi-Mart all the time. It was just the way it was, there wasn’t a single Wal-Mart out that direction until I was in college, let alone the massive distribution center outside of Hermiston.
Anyway, they seem to be doing well. I’m glad, it’s nice to see that not everyone has the “we must crush the competition” attitude. Not to mention it’s really nice to go somewhere, find what you want, and leave. As we approach the busiest shopping day of the year (traditionally the Saturday before Christmas), isn’t it nice to know there’s some options out there that aren’t going to be completely jammed? You may not find something fancy, but you may just find something cool. I really like Bi-Mart, and I have saved my $5 membership fee many many times over.
My roots are showing, and I apologize.
Not to follow a rant with a serious post, but that’s exactly what I think I’m going to do.
I went to the Modest Mouse concert at the Crystal on Tuesday. Personal note: This was not the best of ideas, because I had research paper due on Friday, which just so happens to be today. At least, that was what I thought, I realized later that night I really had *two* papers due today (aside within an aside: both are complete and one has been handed in).
My friends and I got there around 8.45, because I had just come from the Kaplan center at the Galleria and needed a snack in the *worst* way. On the way back, you might have heard me screaming, “Fuck you America, I don’t need to conform to your ideas of what I should conform to, I score well on standardized tests!”, which is incredibly ironic, but I won’t go into that right now.
The concert was simply outrageous. The Vells opened up as the first act. They were passably good; I imagine that, like most bands, they’re better on CD than in person (the best example of this is the Black Eyed Peas. Whooooo). They play rock, and they play it well. It’s a fairly classic style, with some modern elements thrown in.
After the Vells left the stage, FCS North (pronoucned Focus North) came on. Electronica, played live. As far as I could tell, there was a drummer, a bongo-ist, a guitarist/synth player (who did some crazy shit, let me tell you), and a synth player.
FCS North was amazing. Outrageously good. I think I liked them more than I did Modest Mouse, but that’s more because my music is more electronica than rock.
Speaking of the headliners, they are one of the few bands that I come out of a concert respecting more than I did going in. A really solid performance, culling tracks from a great deal of their selection for a killer set list.
All in all, an excellent night at an excellent concert.
Dear Portland,
Stop turning right from the left lane,
Although you do have the right of way, dear pedestrians, it would be nice if you had some common courtesy.
CONVERSELY
Although you travel around in several-ton vehicles, that does *not* give you the right to try and run me over when I walk through a ‘do not walk’ sign.
Stop smoking. It’s gross. I’m going to get cancer and SUE YOU ALL.
Stop saying “cheers”. It’s irritating.
On the flip side,
Portland is great, because a gentle honk on the horn is more likely to get an apologetic wave than an irate middle finger.
Some stranger stopped me and reminded me to pay for my parking. I appreciate that. A dollar and a half now saves several hundred in parking fines, and I appreciate that you care for me like that, Portland.
Portland is great because it’s safe at the odd hours of the night.
And personal apologies:
I’m sorry that I’m one of those teenagers that drives like a maniac at 11:55 at night. If you didn’t fine me for driving after 12, it wouldn’t be an issue. However, I *am* sorry for my reckless, hell-for-leather driving.
I will steal your parking spot. It’s a really terrible thing for me to do, because we all hate to pay 4 bucks for off-street parking. I’m sorry.
I order needlessly complex coffee drinks, making your wait in line longer. But the baristas and I are tight, so you can just wait.
I’ll yell at you for parking illegally. That’s really more your fault that mine, though.
HAPPY FREAKING HOLIDAYS, PORTLAND.
Kari Chisholm is calling B.S. on Phil Stanford over on Blue Oregon.
Kari says, “Phil, you claim any Joe Schmoe could pull together 1500 $5 checks. So, how about a wager? If you can raise 1500 $5 checks for charity by March 15, I’ll buy you a steak dinner at Morton’s. Drinks, too.”
Nice one. And I love the graphic!
Driving along Powell recently I noticed that there seem to be a few more payday-advance-loan places that I remembered. These businesses really bug me with their “answer to all your problems” commercials with all the happy and diverse people getting magic money.
The old Dunkin’ Donuts on 39th and Powell is now Rapid Cash, but it is very nice to see that Santa prefers donuts to predatory and exploitive businesses. Best part of the story is that Santa scared the kangaroo mascot off!
I attended Vera Katz’s final “State of the City” speech at the City Club Friday. I recommend reading the speech itself and the Oregonian’s account of the speech.
This was the first City Club event I’d been to, but the appeal is immediately obvious. All sorts of political folks get together in one place. You see people you know, meet people you don’t, and maybe get to hear an interesting presentation. I ended up talking with a guy named Sy who was involved in local government in a bunch of different ways, and definitely had his share of opinions about our leaders.
Mayor Katz’s speech was very optimistic and cheery. She put a happy face on everything that’s happened during her time in Portland. There was no mention of police shootings and abuse of protestors. She didn’t mention big companies like Columbia Sportswear leaving — she claimed companies were moving here and expanding, “adding shifts.” She talked about big ideas like luring Major League Baseball, but didn’t mention that bathrooms in our public parks have been closed for years for lack of maintenance funds.
When she shifted out of praise-Portland mode and into considering how to improve Portland, her concerns were centered around livability, and how livability affects the economy. Issues like access to the waterfront, affordable housing, tolerance, and diversity. She talked about “the creative class” so much I thought she might have been cribbing from former mayoral candidate Phil Busse’s platform! She ought to — the future of Portland’s economy depends on the young, educated, mobile people who make up that class. If Portland’s not attracting and retaining those people, we’re in trouble in the long run. It’s an important thing to focus on, and I hope Tom Potter has livability at the very top of his list of priorities.
If you want to see more of Vera Katz, all we know so far is that she will be affiliated with PSU’s College of Urban and Public Affairs, in an as-yet-undefined role. I think it’s the right place to be, if she wants to continue to have an effect on livability, getting into the heads of Portland’s future planners.
And with that, out with the old, and in with the new. When’s Tom Potter’s inauguration? I have a feeling the new mayor is going to generate a lot of news.
