Jack - How come they didn't mention the tram? I'm not being snarky, I really want to know - is the aerial tram the new elephant in the room that's not even being acknowledged by the 'reporters' in PDX?

Seriously, hasn't the cash wasted already (and in years to come) reached a point where it's worth pointing out in print?

HAH! I anticipated your applause for that particular line - called it at 2 pm over on this MetBlogs, post no less.

I agree that they're coming out swinging - but it still smacks of the punch-drunk boxer on the ropes, hoping to land one good punch. Why, for example, haven't we heard about the task force reductions before now? As you said - why hasn't it been an issue until it crossed the river?

And why not add the wasted effort to acquire PGE while they're swinging?

There isn't enough room in a single editorial for all of the twisted priorities of the Sten-Katz-(Goldschmidt) era. But there will be plenty of time to list them over the next few years as their sad consequences become so painfully obvious.

Remember, the O editorial board thinks the "snazzy" streetcar is well worth a $1 million a year general fund subsidy...

Thanks for pointing out the double standard represented by outrage reserved for West-side violence. While it is probably a more critical injury to the city's image and vitality when shootings happen downtown, it is every but as newsworthy and every bit as much an outrage on the East side. Maybe if we had publicly funded campaigns we would see candidates in whose lower-income neighborhoods these shootings normally occur... Who says it has to be one or the other?

Maybe if we had publicly funded campaigns we would see candidates in whose lower-income neighborhoods these shootings normally occur

How naive! You think you're going to get 1,000 residents of the poorer neighborhoods to write $5 checks that clear?

We had Posey for Mayor last time. He was good, but he got creamed, and it wasn't by big money. It was by Tom Potter. Keep dreaming.

I counted the Oregonian's jab a cheap shot. As baffled as I am by Sten's push for public funding for elections, it's not quite so zero sum as the Oregonian suggests. It's a big pot of dough littered with all kinds of silliness - in any case, I count the sub-moronic streetcar, whatever the mix of funds that brought it home, a greater waste of funds by far. I pass that hunk of garbage on my bike every day on my way to work - what a joke.

I'm only glad someone else brought it up.

It is a bigger deal if it happens downtown. Some of the reasons include the following:

- If it's downtown regularly now, that means gang violence is spreading;

- Downtown has more people per square foot of outdoor space so it means--and it has produced--more injuries and deaths to innocent bystanders;

- Downtown is the economic hub of Portland and people's (irrational or not) fear of major crime may cause further deteoriation there; and

- Downtown is symbolic of Portland and frequent shootings there damage the view of Portland in its entirety.

This certainly isn't to say other parts of Portland don't matter, but let's be real.

Actually, shootings in residential neighborhoods are more abhorrent to me, because there are many more innocent people living and sleeping behind wooden walls in those places than there are at SW 1st and Yamhill at 2:30 in the morning.

Um, there's more people on the corner 2nd & Ankeny at 2:30 in the morning than there are in your entire block. Those people aren't innocent because they're awake or something?

Er, no, but because they are out in bars at closing time, they should very aware of their surroundings, be careful about where they loiter, and protect themselves. That's a little hard for an 80-year-old lady sleeping in her bed on NE Rodney to do.

Blaming the victim, Jack? I thought better of you than that. Nobody deserves to be shot just because of where they are.

Did some one mention the aerial tram? Click on the URL link below to see a graphic of the ever-growing aerial tram cost. If you don't like the clicky, here's the summary:

In 1998, Jim Walker, OHSU's executive vice president, offered this observation: "Over in Europe, they use these a great deal, and the estimated cost is between $3 million and $5 million."

In 2002, when the first details of the tram were presented to Portland's city council, the estimated cost was $8.5 million.

By 2003, the budget nearly doubled again to $15.5 million.

In 2004, the budget nearly doubled yet again to $28.5 million, even after the design team put the design "on a diet."

This year, the final budget was approved at $40 million, or 8-13 times OHSU's original estimated cost. That's an increase of 35% a year! Or, as Dean Marriott would say, that's an increase of only 35% a year.

Garage Wine - Two things:

1) The link didn't post, would you email it?

2) Jack has requested all mentions of the aerial tram be followed by "(rim shot)"
(^_^)

Blaming the victim, Jack? I thought better of you than that. Nobody deserves to be shot just because of where they are.

Which was exactly my point, but in the hellhole of blog comments, one's point so often gets twisted 180 degrees and then criticized.

Which was exactly my point, but in the hellhole of blog comments, one's point so often gets twisted 180 degrees and then criticized.

I figured you'd say that, racist.

(just jokes!)