Don’t sweat it, Jack. I’ve learned more from your blog about the way Portland city planning really operates, than from years of reading the print media. Now where do I go to get my quality of life back?

Keep it up. This town needs more people looking at their waste and screwups.

The big O just cheer leads the city destroyers at city hall and PDC.

Thanks
JK

"eccentric local government"

Are you the odd man out?

The $25 Trillion Land Grab

CASCADIA
Vast quantities of cheap, prime greenfield surrounding Seattle, Portland, and Eugene give the Northwest megapolitan explosive growth potential. By 2030 the three metro regions will be intertwined.

Not snarky enough. Not yet.

Row House Hell (special for your readers from recent pics):

http://pdxape.us/misc/rowhouse/img016.jpeg.html

near this wonderful little house.

http://pdxape.us/misc/rowhouse/img012.jpeg.html

Condos . . . . or sliver-in-fill . . . or give up all the farmland. It is like a sort of developer punishment.

Sometimes development actually REDUCES the value of the tax base, with sick eye sores that last a few generations.

Neil's retirement plan involves what . . . winery conversions.

And when you live in a place with, ahem, shall we say, an eccentric local government, it doesn't always bring out the best.

But I will agree with the original poster Bill McDonald, hereinabove. Reading what you write as you sort through your disconnect is indeed hugely informative.

Jack,
Your wit and snarking is a welcome addition to the local print media. I do think your recent critiques of public election financing misses the mark. Due to the rapidly escalating cost of elections, only incumbents and the wealthy have a shot at paying for the air time to get elected. Potter election was an outlier. Even for incumbents we benefit because without public financing they lose productivity as they are out passing the hat instead of focusing on the work of the city. Look at what happens when public financing has been implemented elsewhere. It may be scary to the folks at PBA and Stoel Reeves to have a playing field where a Deborah Simpson, a waitress at TJ's can get public financing and get elected, but that's what happened in Maine see: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1447869
and I hope it will go statewide here.

Sorry, as long as our cops are riding around writing notes on index cards, we don't have the public money to sponsor the waitpersons' runs at public office. If it were financed by a special tax on paid lobbyists and public relations firms, I might support it. But it isn't. It's paid for out of pots of dough that belong to the parks, the streets and the schools.

BTW, if you think that the downtrodden of society are going to be able to scrape together 1,000 $5 checks that clear, you're dreaming. The new faces you'll see are likely to be soccer moms in Volvos from Alameda and Gabriel Park.

Tunnel of Love was Springsteen's last decent album.

Good show.

He stole the title from a guy named Lou Christie. I am not sure what his last decent album was. 8c)

There are neighborhoods like Buckman that have practically nothing. And the shell game is played with tax money. Keep up the good work and maybe the tide will turn. The way you link the issues, keeps things consistent. The capital investment is only half the story, again as you have pointed out. When we build these very expensive parks in trendy upscale neighborhoods, they are also very expensive to maintian.

It would be interesting for example to look at demographic equity. There have been two very expensive parks with water features built in the Pearl, I think the cost of them was somewhere between $6-8 million, it would be interesting to find out exactly how much was spent on these compared to the new Park at New Columbia where there are tons of low income kids that need it, and what the ongoing operating costs are for Jamison and Tanner vs McCoy. I think this would tell a story of who benefits.

soccer moms in Volvos...

What is it with everyone pickin' on Volvos? In 1972 I packed my '70 wagon with my life's stuff to make the trek from NY to Oregon...and am on my fifth Volvo wagon (a 1998, thank you very much).

They carry a ton of stuff, take a lickin' (an ex of mine rolled one of 'em with nary a scratch), are glorified boxes --so you avoid that "mine is bigger, sexier, faster than yours schtick". They're...practical and as safe as anything on the road can be.

Sheesh. Besides...it's basketball, not soccer, these days.

If it were financed by a special tax on paid lobbyists and public relations firms, I might support it.

Exactly. Another thought: Since the recipients of most city contracts make political contributions anyway --I'm not saying that's HOW they get the contracts, mind you-- why not slap on a surcharge to fund the "Voter Owned" election fund from that pot of money?

Hey, what's this piling onto Marin County? That went out about 20 years ago, Jack. Place is now full of VERY SERIOUS noses-to-the-grindstone investment bankers and lawyers (you know the breed, right?). Older residents tend to be liberal and watchful. Nothing but good government types, all over the place.

WE have local government so tightly scrutinized here that candidates all do penance at local organic farms and farmers markets before even attempting to gain ID and make any promises. In addition, NOTHING gets built now -- the ultimate response to what people perceive as "overdevelopment".

We might contribute a few cashin-the-equity and move out older folks to Portland's condos, but I suspect our part is miniscule compared to that great equity engine, southern California. Pile on to Orange County, next time. The Marin County refugees are more likely in your corner right from the get-go.

But these are issues that need airing and sometimes a little slippage is allowed. And congrats on the nice article in today's Tribune. Do you ever sleep?

Jack- You will always be an honorary Buckmanite no matter where you live in P-town. Thanks for never forgetting us!

Looks like there is another $34 million for Homer and John's Condo landscaping project.

http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=6888

Basically people who view this blog as to cynical
are people who don't want to believe that their tax dollars are being abused in such an obvious fashion in this city. When these truths are presented it stuns them into disbelief.

Groves Gravy