Today’s O article - City throws schools a lifeline - had this buried gem of a suggestion near the end (yep, my tongue’s firmly planted in my cheek) from Eric Sten:

Sten, who is up for re-election in May, also wants the schools to look at selling its administrative headquarters, the Blanchard Building, and allowing the Portland Development Commission to manage its real estate portfolio to look for potential profit sources.

Uh - whaaaaa….? Just say ‘PDC’s involved…” and watch the eyes roll and the skepticism-meters go off (in full alarm mode, no less) around this town lately. PDC’s gotten plenty of heat lately for less than stellar results managing projects or resources, and they’ve got problems of their own to fix. The agency’s going through a housecleaning and restructuring of sorts under new head Bruce Warner. Yeah, why not have PDC manage PPS’s real estate resources while they’re at it…?

While I’m grateful that you’re supporting the intiative to support our public schools, I can’t help but thank you for the morning laugh, Councilman Sten!

You’ve just demonstrated your ‘out of touch-ness’ on several different levels. But what can you expect from the man who said a year ago that having schools serve healthy food will be a key initiative to stop the flight of families from PPS?

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