Hey, at least we kept Paul Allen from building one south of the river. By that measure, the thing has been a success from opening night.

"As with the venue itself, let's not even go there." Which, as the manager said, is the reaction of most people in Portland. He seemed surprised by that attitude. I'm not.

The suggestion in the Oregonian that this is all fallout from one concert is absurd. I tried to see Lyle Lovett and Bonnie Raitt there, in a joint concert; we gave ourselves what seemed like a generous hour to get to the venue, and we sat in traffic until Lovett was leaving the stage. Bonnie was great, but Lyle was the one we really wanted to see. They wasted our time and money, and I cannot see a reason to ever go back.

The parking is atrocious, but the venue is great.

It probably should have been built in a MAX line...

I saw Rush there a last summer. We drove to a park and ride right off I5 (Salmon Creek I think). And took a $1 shuttle bus to the event. Best way to go IMO. They give the shuttles priority exit when the thing is over. No traffic hassles at all.

Not so sure Portland didn't make a mistake in caving in to the North Portlanders who complained about the PIR amphitheater proposal.

In that particular plan, you'd have had a MAX-friendly venue, a relatively central location, and cooperative scheduling with the Rose Garden. Plus money flowing into Portland rather than the the other way.

Oh well ...

I'd question how much money really flows into the 'Couv on account of the amphitheater. Obviously, very little flows into the county coffers.

No need to go there, let the record come to us. 'Quincunx' is 5 parts out of 12, and is the term in astrology's seven significant angles (conjuntion, semi-sextile, sextile, square, trine, quincunx, opposition) for two planets 5 'sign' segments apart, (in the 12).

For example, on a clock face -- analog, if you've seen one -- the numeral 'V' is a quincunx angle from the numeral 'X'.

Example: In August, planets in Leo hold a quincunx aspect (relationship) with January's planets in Capricorn.

But let's go here ... whatever much "public-private partnership" b.s. is in Portland, has rolled and trickled down from the federal farts, uh, farce.

A recent essay delves into the origins of the "public-private" nomenclature, and its spreading anti-democratic unAmerican culture. In conclusion, writer Chalmers Johnson (former CIA agent) advocates defrocking and dispelling all the 'private stake' holders from the public's arena of self-governance, (and he says including 'abolish the CIA' -- based on his firsthand knowledge of it corrupting America).

The case presents the evidence that the fault and inevitable failure of "public-private partnership" unable to constitute Justice, and Domestic Tranquility, and Common Defense, is not only the incompetent or corrupt representatives on the "public" behalf, but as much or more is the crimes of mercenary pirates, profiteers, outlaw embezzlers, media moguls and celebrities, cheats and crooks and dollar-denominated so-called 'elites', who earn deservedly to be kept in public custody, instead of left at-large in secret from the public.

So clean out Municipal Mediocrity, sure, by first arresting the 'private developers' and plea-deal them half-a-loaf their prison sentence for testifying who in City government is their accomplices.

The Military-Industrial Complex - It's Much Later Than You Think, By Chalmers Johnson, July 27, 2008.

In the formative years of the military-industrial complex, the public still deeply distrusted privately owned industrial firms because of the way they had contributed to the Great Depression. Thus, the leading role in the newly emerging relationship was played by the official governmental sector. A deeply popular, charismatic president, FDR sponsored these public-private relationships.

Some critics were alarmed early on by the growing symbiotic relationship between government and corporate officials because each simultaneously sheltered and empowered the other, while greatly confusing the separation of powers. Since the activities of a corporation are less amenable to public or congressional scrutiny than those of a public institution, public-private collaborative relationships afford the private sector an ADDED measure of security from such scrutiny.

Beneath the surface, however, was a less well recognized movement by big business to replace democratic institutions with those representing the interests of capital .... Its objectives have long been to discredit what it called "big government," while capturing for private interests the tremendous sums invested by the public sector ....

Perhaps the country's leading theorist of democracy, Sheldon S. Wolin, has written a new book, Democracy Incorporated, on what he calls "inverted totalitarianism" -- the rise in the U.S. of totalitarian institutions of conformity and regimentation .... He also decries the degree to which the so-called 'privatization' of governmental activities has insidiously undercut our democracy, leaving us with the widespread false belief that government is no longer needed and that, in any case, it is not capable of performing the functions we have entrusted to it.

Beneath the surface, however, was a less well recognized movement by big business to replace democratic institutions with those representing the interests of capital ....

19!!!

Let's get a Bingo game going.

What Jon said, the only way to go is the park and ride. The roads in the area simply aren't designed for that much traffic.

All in all PIR would have been a much better location

Thanks for the link, Jack.

Come to think of it, the same kind of political dynamics that we see over in Portland with the "growth community" and the tight links between developers and elected officials is the common denominator here.

It's combination that is completely unbeatable.

Former head of Ill. prisons sentenced to 2 years, By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, July 31, 2008.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Fighting back tears and apologizing to his teenage daughters, the former head of the Illinois prison system was sentenced to two years in federal prison for taking payoffs from lobbyists.

''What I did was absolutely wrong,'' said Donald Snyder, who admitted pocketing $50,000 from lobbyists when he was director of the Illinois Department of Corrections.

He said he hoped his conviction on the charges would not bias employers against his daughters when they grow up and look for jobs. ''I'm sorry, girls,'' he said, turning to the bench where they were sitting.

[ ** What, as opposed to him being ethical in his life, and so it later would bias employers in favoritism of his daughters, without quality-checking ??? ]

Snyder, who pleaded guilty, also volunteered to be a federal witness, secretly recorded corrupt conversations and testified at the trial of one of the lobbyists.

Judge James B. Zagel chastised Snyder. ''I didn't believe much of your testimony ...,'' Zagel told him.

Snyder admitted that he took $30,000 from Larry Sims, a lobbyist for two vendors. He said he pocketed up to $20,000 from two other lobbyists, former Cook County undersheriff John Robinson and Michael J. Mahoney.

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"... we just tell the truth, and they think it's hell" -- Harry 'give em H-E-double hockeysticks' Truman