Gee, whaddya know, the City of Portland has bungled the pledged donation of $1.5 million toward building that park over Tom Moyer's new underground parking garage -- code name "Halfway to China" -- cater-corner from Nordstrom's downtown. It was a matching gift, and the city took its sweet time coming up with its half of the deal. So now the donor has walked. Suddenly there's a gap in the construction budget for the park.
Wouldn't it be awesome, and by awesome I mean horrifically symbolic, if they ran out of money and were left with a 200 foot deep hole in the middle of the Park Blocks?
well maybe Grampy will take some of his supposed $75 million surplus and pay for it....what dopes. Or as Bugs Bunny would say "What maroons"
Never fails to amaze me.
Time to sell bricks again. We wouldn't want to take any of the excess taxdollars away from the pothole budget. Any farout social program you can think of the city godfathers will fund it, but not a park-it isn't glamorous. Plus, why use taxdollars on parks when the godfathers can always go to the voters with another levy. Who would be against parks?
Just another star in the constellations and galaxies of major accomplishments about which our benighted city council is proud...
...right Amanda?
Yet another example of the Council and its appointred bureau managers being incometent, and no councillor being willing to blow the whistle on another councillor's management foul ups......
...if there was one executive-- like a mayor -- responsible, the voters could punish thse kinds of foul ups at the ballot box....but in this system, never.
Which is the unspoken but none the less primary reason why the incumbent councillors and the wannabes like Fritz are so dead set against any charter change that could tie the can to a single responsible executive.
It's time to get creative. Close your eyes and picture the giant hole filled with sea water.
We could be the only downtown in America with its own killer whale exhibit.
OR..."they" could build another one of those parks you can't really use, like the one in the Pearl. No kids, no dogs, no sitting on the grass, just walk around the block and look but don't touch at the metal sculptures and the waters of
Tanner Creek seeping by.
OR... how about a salmon spawning station? "They" could spend lots of money on a salmon tram to transport the fish from the Willamette to the tank.
The giant poop shute could perhaps be modified to transport the fish to and from the river in the new sewer system.
Actually, I'm the mysterious donor. However, my last name was deemed inappropriate for the city, and my request that Tom Potter dress in drag was unfortunately turned down.
Now that Rudy Giulliani is out in the open, I was really hoping for it...
sigh. oh well. Guess I'll have to move back to Phoenix!
Who do these people think they are? Trying to give money for parks.Harrumph!, the nerve. Don't they understand somewhere a developer is going to be enriched.? We have the low-down developer [ Parking hole] and we have the upward high ground developer [ building on top of the hole].And we have the city council and mayor getting their just rewards...being re-elected by the Portland Dim-Wits.
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
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Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
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Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
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Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
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Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
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F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (15)
A sure indication that no dough will be forthcoming is when Laviolette says: "Things are fluid and in flux and moving,".
As in going down the drain.
You'd think Sten was "coordinating" things. What's $1.5M to him - small potatoes.
Posted by rr | April 18, 2007 2:06 PM
No, this is Saltzman's baby, which he adopted from the Scone.
Posted by Jack Bog | April 18, 2007 2:10 PM
If the city proposed growing hemp in the park then I'm sure Eric Sten's election contributors,(The nickel baggers), would come up with the "scratch".
Posted by James J | April 18, 2007 3:03 PM
Wouldn't it be awesome, and by awesome I mean horrifically symbolic, if they ran out of money and were left with a 200 foot deep hole in the middle of the Park Blocks?
Posted by Chris Snethen | April 18, 2007 3:34 PM
well maybe Grampy will take some of his supposed $75 million surplus and pay for it....what dopes. Or as Bugs Bunny would say "What maroons"
Never fails to amaze me.
Posted by kathe w. | April 18, 2007 3:41 PM
...this is Saltzman's baby, which he adopted from the Scone.
Quick, somebody call Adult & Family Services (or whatever new name they're hiding behind these days) - the state needs to step in and rescue the baby.
Oh, wait. That's why they changed the name.
Never mind.
Posted by rr | April 18, 2007 3:50 PM
Time to sell bricks again. We wouldn't want to take any of the excess taxdollars away from the pothole budget. Any farout social program you can think of the city godfathers will fund it, but not a park-it isn't glamorous. Plus, why use taxdollars on parks when the godfathers can always go to the voters with another levy. Who would be against parks?
Posted by lw | April 18, 2007 4:13 PM
Just another star in the constellations and galaxies of major accomplishments about which our benighted city council is proud...
...right Amanda?
Yet another example of the Council and its appointred bureau managers being incometent, and no councillor being willing to blow the whistle on another councillor's management foul ups......
...if there was one executive-- like a mayor -- responsible, the voters could punish thse kinds of foul ups at the ballot box....but in this system, never.
Which is the unspoken but none the less primary reason why the incumbent councillors and the wannabes like Fritz are so dead set against any charter change that could tie the can to a single responsible executive.
Posted by Nonny Mouse | April 18, 2007 5:47 PM
It's time to get creative. Close your eyes and picture the giant hole filled with sea water.
We could be the only downtown in America with its own killer whale exhibit.
Posted by Bill McDonald | April 18, 2007 5:58 PM
Shampu, the tolerant, sensitive, carbon-neutral killer whale.
Posted by rr | April 18, 2007 6:18 PM
OR..."they" could build another one of those parks you can't really use, like the one in the Pearl. No kids, no dogs, no sitting on the grass, just walk around the block and look but don't touch at the metal sculptures and the waters of
Tanner Creek seeping by.
OR... how about a salmon spawning station? "They" could spend lots of money on a salmon tram to transport the fish from the Willamette to the tank.
The giant poop shute could perhaps be modified to transport the fish to and from the river in the new sewer system.
Posted by Anne k | April 18, 2007 7:54 PM
Underground parking for cars. Isn't that a green oxymoron? Car exhaust in an underground box with nowhere to go but up.
Posted by Martin | April 18, 2007 8:09 PM
Actually, I'm the mysterious donor. However, my last name was deemed inappropriate for the city, and my request that Tom Potter dress in drag was unfortunately turned down.
Now that Rudy Giulliani is out in the open, I was really hoping for it...
sigh. oh well. Guess I'll have to move back to Phoenix!
Posted by The Countess | April 18, 2007 10:05 PM
Who do these people think they are? Trying to give money for parks.Harrumph!, the nerve. Don't they understand somewhere a developer is going to be enriched.? We have the low-down developer [ Parking hole] and we have the upward high ground developer [ building on top of the hole].And we have the city council and mayor getting their just rewards...being re-elected by the Portland Dim-Wits.
Posted by KISS | April 19, 2007 9:31 AM
Maybe they could build a tram to get to the top of the fox tower?
Posted by Gene | April 19, 2007 1:03 PM