I live in the Cully neighborhood and came home from work a few Fridays back to see no parking signs all up and down my street and a hang tag on my door that they were going to be doing some street maintenance on that Sunday and we wouldn’t be able to drive on our street during the day.

We left in the morning before they began - and the were done with our section before we got home that afternoon - so it didn’t really impact us. It looked like what they’d most done was some sealing of cracks and such - not a full repave.

Then this week the signs appeared again and another hang tag saying that they were doing total repaving in the next three days. My husband is home during the day right now, but he really didn’t want to leave his car around the corner several blocks away on the street - so since Wed we’ve wondered if he was going to get stuck in the house - but no sign of the road crews. Then this morning he got a knock on the door at 8 am - the workers were going to all the houses that they saw cars in the driveway asking them if they wanted to move their cars off the street before they did get stuck.

I’m sure that is not a mandatory part of the job - but so nice and so appreciated.

I’ve seen the temporary closure signs all over in Cully this summer - and there are some places that really need it - so they have go to be busy. It’s nice to know that with as much hot sticky work as these road crew guys are doing - that they’re still doing it with the neighbors and the people in mind.

We all know Portland is a small town. And I define that by the fact that so many people know each other or know someone who knows someone who you went to grade school with. With blogs and myspace and the Interweb, it sometimes feels even smaller. Over the past few years of blogging both for my personal site and for Metblogs, I have been able to create some great relationships with people. We have even met up with people in other cities we’ve met because of blogs. Don’t try and explain it to the parents, they don’t understand.

I’m telling you this because of a great story I have been following over on my friend Lelo’s blog. Lelo lives in North and posts about gardening and her cute dog and life and cooking and everything a blog should be about. The other day, she posted about a cool new restaurant opening in her hood and that they have a blog detailing their journey to opening day. I ventured over to the Little Red Bike Caf√©’s blog and read through some of their posts and now they are on my RSS feed. I too am looking forward to their opening. But that isn’t the whole story. After the owners of the caf√© caught a comment by Lelo and then a post on her blog, they decided they wanted to meet her and showed up at her house with homemade ice-cream. Yep, just at sunset last evening, they knocked on the door with home made artisan chocolate ice cream. And they detailed their evening on the blog. How cool is that to create a relationship somewhat anonymously on the web only to find out everyone is so cool and they bring you ice cream? I’m floored. I’m jealous too. I think I need to start blogging more about the new microbreweries opening soon. Maybe someone will show up at my door with a keg. Way to go Lelo and good luck Little Red Bike Caf√©!

It must be a Portland theme on TV this week. Last night I caught a couple episodes of House Hunters on HGTV - both Portlanders looking to buy a house - one couple was looking at condos in the Pearl and the other at restored older homes just up the hill from trendy-third. Of course they’re going to show people looking at higher end homes on a show like that - it makes better TV when they can show all the brand new fancy buildings or the beautifully restored older homes - and that is why I like watching it sometimes too! But what I found interesting was that the two couples that they filmed were almost clones of one another - making Portland seem awfully boring. And when they show them one right after another like they did - people will assume “oh, so that’s what Portland is like.” They’re going to be in for a big shock if they ever actually came to visit.

So based on these episodes, people in Portland:

- are from somewhere else, both had moved here recently for jobs - one couple from DC and one from California.
- are college educated professionals who marry their fraternity/sorority sweetheart right after they graduate and immediately age 10 years.
- are wealthy, because even very young couples (they were both in the early to mid-twenties) can afford a house pushing a million bucks.
- own small yappy dogs that they dress in ridiculous sweaters.
- are still wealthy, because they refer to a one bedroom, 1300 sq. ft. loft for $740K as a ‘bargain.’
- are really really dull - once moved into their new homes they decorate it like a model home with no personal flair and have friends come over to celebrate - all of whom look like they’re dressed for casual Friday at the law firm in their khaki’s and plain blue button down shirts.

Some of these assumptions may be true. Not all of them are necessarily bad. It just comes across so very dull. It kind of made me a little sad.

I love RSS. Today, via PortlandOnline, I found out that there is a proposal out there to demolish the Jantzen Beach mall and some other buildings in that complex. From the document:

The proposal is to demolish most of the existing Jantzen Beach Mall and some other structures on site. Eight new buildings will be constructed, a few additions will occur to existing buildings, and the east side of the shopping center parking lot will be reconfigured.

The proposal is just a “pre-application conference” with the city, which I translate as an informal discussion between the city’s bureaus and the developer to determine what is required for permitting. They do point out that a Historical Design review is required in order to either “remove or move the Historic Carousel.” So does that mean they could actually remove it? I really hope not. I remember that carousel as a kid and even as a teenager. I took my first girlfriend there and we rode it for hours between enjoying Orange Juliuses and playing Pac Man in the arcade. Fun times. Fun times.

Along with the current challenge of actually getting to Jantzen Beach during any sort of rush hour, now we’ll all have to deal with major construction. Save the carousel!

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Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

Seen on I84 on the way to IKEA on a car full of what appeared to be teenagers. The full bumper sticker read “Enough is Enough..Vote Democratic!” Ok, I have to point out that just going and voting is being democratic. I can only assume the sellers of the sticker want people to vote Democrat or for a Democrat Candidate versus a Republican candidate. See, the difference is between the words democrat, the party and democratic, the process. I guess the people buying and selling this sticker have some learnin’ to do.
Oh, and I did have some meatballs…..not the best, but….

It is that time of the year when you pack up the kids, make a batch of popcorn and grab a blanket to head downtown and watch a great movie in Pioneer Courthouse Square. The Pio Square initially wanted to start its Flicks on the Bricks season last weekend, but due to inclement weather, they postponed Batman until the end of August. That means you haven’t missed a movie. And this year’s lineup looks pretty good: Grease, Mission Impossible, Willy Wonka, etc. With a movie like grease, I wonder of some of the more imaginative Portlanders will dress up and maybe do a sing-a-long. That would be a blast. To bad we can’t screen the Buffy Musical in a venue like this……
Festivities begin around dusk (not sure who defines that, but let’s say 7ish) I would suggest taking MAX even though there will be interruptions this weekend. Check out the full schedule and other happenings in the Square here.

I also discovered that the cities Park’s Bureau is showing movies in various parks throughout the rest of the summer. And their list is even better - Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz, Blades of Glory, The Breakfast Club. All those shows start between 8-8:45pm. Check out the schedule here.

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Originally uploaded by jonashpdx.

As I write this, a crew is busy cutting down and disposing of the giant tree that lies between my house and my neighbor’s. She’s been wanting to cut it down for a while now — at least since last summer — and announced early this week that a crew would be coming to do the big chop on Thursday. Her motivation is because it’s tearing up her driveway and (she thinks) her foundation. When last summer passed and it still stood, I held out hope that my neighbor had changed her mind due to the cost, but no such luck. I’m no tree-hugger, really, but it’s just kind of sad to realize that it’s going to be gone when I get home from work.

It’s a huge tree — at least 15 feet around at its base and maybe 200 feet tall — I’m bad at the estimates, but it’s twice again the height of any house on the block. I can’t imagine how bare and exposed it’ll feel once its gone, not to mention how hot that side of our house will get, though it’ll probably be better for our roof and gutters, not to mention the sap it drops onto the windshields that turns into an impenetrable crust.

And the dog’ll miss the squirrels and raccoons that use it for shelter. But I’ll miss it. It was a good landmark when we moved in and will take some time to get used to its absence. It wasn’t all that long ago that our entire block was only trees, as the first house on our block was built in 1919.

This week, an older story resurfaced on a couple of blogs and in WWeek. Back in March of 2006, Sam Adams floated the idea (not just a pipe dream) of recycling the current Sauvie Island Bridge to be used as a pedestrian and bike bridge over I405 in the Pearl. Now, more than a year later, with the project picking up steam, others are either learning about the proposal or now just commenting on it. I personally think it is a rad idea. Something old is made new again. Also, as Neighborhood Notes points out - 40 feet of pedestrian and 40 feet of bike right of way! How cool is that. I’m also a big fan of moving big things and would be there to watch it cruise down hwy 30 on a big truck.
In other bridge news, last night there was an open house to discuss the future of the Sellwood bridge. Sorry for not posting about it sooner, I only learned from the nightly news. There are currently three proposals for a new bridge and it will be replaced. According to the new story (can’t attribute as I don’t remember which channel I was on) the proposal that would parallel the current bridge is rating high with the public because it would impact the least amount of people and businesses. Also, the bridge would be funded mostly by federal moola. We’ll keep an eye on that one.
Lastly, if you hadn’t heard, Portland got some serious federal $$$ for a bridge to extend the streetcar across the Willamette down by Riverplace/South Waterfront. The leading proposal would be a train bridge between the Marquam and Ross Island bridges. I will post any info about open houses if I catch them. YAY Bridges!

Hey - check your Comcast bill for 2 free tickets to see the Portland Beavers!

Cool - I haven’t been to a game yet this year… oh wait… never mind… the coupon has to be used on or before July 22nd.

Now - I know the bill has been sitting on my table for a few days - but not that long.

Could a local boy maybe finally make good on the infinite promise of his early days? Harrington’s was supposed to be the guy to turn things around in Detroit when he was first drafted, but the Lions were pretty terrible while he was at the QB helm, not that they’ve been much better without him.

But then it was off to Miami and the Dolphins last year as their backup QB — a pretty big fall from being the third choice in the first round of the draft to instant backup status on your second team — but he was upgraded to the starting position after four games when Daunte Culpepper imploded. But with a 5-6 personal record there, Miami soon traded him to the Atlanta Falcons, again as a backup to the star QB Michael Vick.

But now that Vick’s in some superheated water due to his (alleged) nasty habits having to do with dogfighting, could this be Harrington’s time to shine, finally? I mean, even with Vick, Atlanta and their new coach were kind of in a rebuilding zone this year, and with Vick probably now out for the season, barring a miracle, the expectations are even lower. So if ever there was a low-pressure situation in which Harrington might be able to shine, this is it. Here’s hoping he and his new team surprise us all and have at least a decent year.

Not that I’ll be rooting for the Falcons, but you know, I’m all for some good (non-dog-fighting-related) entertainment value.