I saw that too. What a hoot. Kind of like "let them eat cake".

Wow....Looks like Randy finally pushed Homer's buttons. What a character. With all the public money that has trickled down Homer's way over the years, he should have a PERS pension.

What chaps me is the only thing Randy seems to have a problem with is this prevailing wage nonsense. Does he not care about the real problems with TIF, URDs and subsidies?

With all the public money that's come his way Homer could pay off the PERS deficit.

From the PERS Website ("PERS by the Numbers" dated 11/17/06):

"As of the most recent system valuation (December 31, 2005), the PERS Tier One/Tier Two program was 104% funded (including advance deposits from employers held in side accounts) and 91% funded if side accounts were not included. Side accounts are repositories for pension obligation bond proceeds and other advance payments of unfunded actuarial liability. The OPSRP funded status was 102%.

As of December 31, 2005, there is no Tier One/Tier Two unfunded actuarial liability (UAL) when including side accounts. The Tier One/Tier Two pension program has a surplus of $1.75 billion (including employer side accounts). The UAL fluctuates based on various factors including investment returns, Board reserving policies, legislative changes, and litigation outcomes.

OPSRP has a surplus of $1.2 million as of December 31, 2005, so there is no OPSRP UAL."

Of course Randy cares about "...the real problems with TIF, URDs and subsidies?"

He just doesn't care enough to do anything substantive about them.

He's busy with more important things like biodiesel and trans-fats.

It's not that he doesn't care.

Thanks PNG. I meant to say the city police and fire pension deficit.

The journey of a million dollars starts with a single subsidy...

Chairman Homer

Million? Come now. That's the monthly.

I can't tell if Homer is making a suggestion or giving an order.

It's sort of like "Come over here and give me a lap dance."

I keep waiting for PDC to formally investigate, and ask the city attorney and state attorney's office to review the "conflict of interest" charges that Homer Williams engaged in, in his vote and his representative's vote on the North Macadam URAC concerning the Amendment 8 vote.

Amendment 8 to the NM Agreement took $38M dollars of general fund taxpayers money to bail out the sinking/in debt North Macadam boondoggle. According to state statutes on "conflict of interest" when someone directly benefits by ones vote on a board, committee, etc. as Homer did with the Block 49 sale to the city for $5.7M when he paid $1.2M the year before (this sale was a part of Amendment 8), that is a "conflict of interest". What commissioner is going to represent the citizens of Portland?

Dave Lister?

I can't tell if Homer is making a suggestion or giving an order.

What we need here is a visual.

Jack?

Jack, Dave Lister would be a great start, but can the city last that long for that to happen?

The city will always be here. I hope some day someone like Dave can make it onto the City Council. The last municipal election was a disaster.

Kind of like a local meth wholesaler saying:

"The cops should leave drug dealers alone."

Except the drug dealers aren't spending public tax dollars. And they aren't receiving tax abatements or land giveaways.

"What commissioner is going to represent the citizens of Portland?"

The concept of a general public interest seems foreign to the decision-making culture of our region. It isn't just the CoP and PDC. Favors to what commenters have called "friends and family" (the public be damned) are commonplace. Within the past few weeks the O did an article on a questionable appraisal(3 times assessed value) attending a Clackamas County condemnation of land in favor of Terry Emmert. Imo, we really need an indept investigation of Oregon development culture. Before the whole state is trashed.

That's indepth

Except the drug dealers aren't spending public tax dollars.

Give them time. Maybe city council just is not "progressive" enough yet...

That's indepth

That's a relief. I was afraid you ment 'inept.'

I think we've had enough of that already.

City officials say they also did not know that Williams' partner in the South Waterfront venture, Thorndike "Dike" Dame, had been convicted of bank fraud in 1988. Nor were they aware that Williams had been banned from any management or oversight role at federally insured savings and loans.

Oregonian, October 24, 2003

So he made some money in the S&L debacle and then moved on to real estate? If true, it's just another chink in the armor of the "It's different in Portland" condo bubble.