The project team is currently reviewing construction documents at the 60% level.

I guess that means that 40% of the budget is missing. Things like soft costs, architecture fees, and so on. In other words, construction will be 67% over budget.

By the way, I'd love to see "furniture steward" on someone's resume.

When I was growing up in this town the parks were beautifully landscaped and manicured. The equipment was maintained and the restrooms were clean. The tennis courts had nets. The wading pools had water. Today they look like crap and all they can say is "we don't have enough money".

Be sure to see the Donor opportunities!
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=200574

Oh good...a perfect time to build this:

http://tinyurl.com/4dx2wu

650-foot tower coming to Waterfront Park?

The painted steel tower, as it’s currently designed, would be 90 feet in diameter and 650 feet tall. It would dwarf Portland’s current tallest building, the Wells Fargo Building, which is only 564 feet tall. In addition to an observation deck, the tower would include a sky-high restaurant and bar, ballroom, exhibition space, an automated parking structure with 600 spaces, and support areas for park rentals, ticketing, restrooms and concessions.

It will only cost 100-120 million to build and just think -- with this Tower as the hallmark of our skyline, Portland might go through a renaissance of sorts and attract talented people from all over the world.

it's a slamdunk, a no brainer, etc etc etc

It's been awhile since I've been in the market for one, but doesn't $5,000 for a park bench seem a bit pricey?

How about a park district?

It's been awhile since I've been in the market for one, but doesn't $5,000 for a park bench seem a bit pricey?

Heh, not for the SoWhat park. NOthing but the best!
And cant you get one at Costco for a couple hundred dollars?

an automated parking structure with 600 spaces

You are kidding, right?

Jon, no joke here...that paragraph came straight from the Daily Journal of Commerce.

It *is* just a proposal and was rejected once, but it looks like there is an amount of renewed interest.

I'm no energy engineer, but I bet they are beyond high if they believe they'll capture enough wind and solar power to meet the tower's needs, let alone exporting it for park lighting, etc.

This map shows that Portland is "poor" or "marginal" (at best) for wind power generation: http://www.windpowermaps.org/pdf/ORwindpower50.pdf

This map shows that we are in the worst US zone as far as sunlight recieved each day:
http://www.wholesalesolar.com/Information-SolarFolder/SunHoursUSMap.html

I know this is a simplistic analysis, but it still seems to go beyond anything the project proponents have done...

That hideous tower could be a linchpin.

Parks is just paying the price for these years of Council doing special favors -- oops, I meant public/private partnerships -- with private developers out of general revenue. Parks is the only turnip worth squeezing in the general fund. Packing Parks management with people tasked to selling off the actual system is Council's fault. Can guarantee the lifers in there are at least as appalled as the public.

I think a Portland Parks District -- with an elected board -- is long overdue. The message to the public from Council is that they are not interested in being in any actual municipal services businesses other than police and fire. I think that message is one we ought to accept and do the logical thing -- a separate unit of government tasked to do what the public wants. Otherwise we will just get to continue watching the Council make one sleazy attempt after another to give away or sell off parts of the system.

No more 'whack a mole' with these sneaky attempts to sell off or give away one piece after another of our park system! Let's have a separate service district for parks and greenspaces to preserve this important heritage. We can even put in the enabling law that parks land can't be sold off without a vote of the people.

Hey, at least SoWhat has an "Artist in Residence" program. It's all a matter of priority . . .
http://www.southwaterfront.com/art_and_design/artist

why dont they just bolt furniture to concrete or something?

. . . and call it art!

Ya know, since Jack has bestowed such a lovely name upon this little shrine to megalomania, I think we should all pitch in and try to buy up the naming rights.

I think it's great that once you have the privilege of donating $500 for a "Doggie Bag Dispenser" that you then have the responsibility to maintain it and keep it stocked with "shopping and newspaper plastic bags". I guess you would have to have a lot of newspaper subscriptions or do a lot of grocery shopping to get enough bags to keep it filled. Of course, I thought we were banning plastic bags in Portland.. ;)

Well, Mike, the City will have to charge 20 cents per poodle poop.

Poodle poop is potential art, I tell you. The Artist in Residence link on the SoWhat site sez:

"Artists representing all media have been invited to create time-based, temporary work that explores and promotes a sense of place in the South Waterfront district. The goal of this accumulated practice of installation [and] performance . . . is to inspire dialogue, inquiry, curiosity and participation among the South Waterfront residents, as well as the people of Portland."

Everyone's Poodle an artist . . .

40% of the Poodle Park budget is in administrative planning costs per PDC handout. That's planning. Then, when that figure was questioned at a URAC meeting, staff replied that 40% of budget for implementation is STANDARD! No kidding.

But we'll just continue accepting this kind of government.