This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on December 8, 2008 7:53 AM.
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Remember the neighbors of Mount Tabor Park in southeast Portland, who busted the city parks brass for secretly arranging a selloff of park property to Warner Pacific College in a deal brokered by former city commissioner Jim Francesconi? Those neighbors should have gotten medals. Instead they got an offer to go into "mediation" with the parks people, and to blow many hours of their time sitting in meetings and fighting to keep the condo developer weasels' hands off the land.
Well, they did all that. And now they say the city has been sandbagging them -- they're quite unhappy with the way things came out. What? A citizens' advisory group feeling that their good names have been co-opted by bureaucrats who are going to do what they want anyway?
Wouldn't be the first time.
Comments (5)
Per the article: In a May 12 report commissioned by the city to analyze land-use issues for the project, consultant Tom McGuire wrote that the Bureau of Development Services “feels that they are not an accessory use,” because the nursery and maintenance facilities serve all city parks.
An hour after the report was released, Bureau of Development Services planner Kathleen Stokes circulated an e-mail saying she “just received word that the Commissioner’s office had decided that they wish to consider that the Mt. Tabor Yard maintenance facility IS an accessory use to the park.”
Didn't someone get word out to McGuire what his independent consultant's report was supposed to conclude?
He sounds like a brave, honest man who unfortunately will not receive any more contracts from Leonard's office.
The "mediation meeting" scenario is used all the time by different bureaus of the city and PDC.
Several times in the continuing SoWhat saga when major controversial issues arose in the ten years of planning, neighborhood groups were asked to "sit down, let's talk about it, let's mediate". Every time the citizen's viewpoints were disregarded, maybe a little bone was tossed, but the real substance of the difference was contrived to benefit the developer and/or cities point of view.
If a citizen group made a decision to not attend the "mediation", then at city council the bureau staff would eminently point out the unforgivable absence of the group, and of course a council member or three would declare "we'll show them" and do what they were going to do all along.
Mediate all you want, but know the likely outcome before you spend the time and money, and you might want to save yourself the hassle.
The entire administration of the Parks Bureau needs to be removed and replaced with staffers who care about the population they reputedly 'serve'.
This kind of shuck and jive will continue as long as layers of political appointees and cronies fill the spaces in the Bureau where they have the inside information to dish to friends and family on the private sector side that will profit.
Zari and her cadre in the bureau need to be excised and replaced with honorable public employees.
The entire City Council set up needs to be changed. Along with how the city government is run. I was on a committee with a neighborhood Asc in the 1990s and to say we got sandbagged by the city would be polite.
Maybe Sam Adams will bring a new level of openness and transparency to the way city government works? I city is only as green as the amount of cared for open space it has. I've been to Mt. Tabor Park and it needs much more care from the City of Portland. Resilient communities care for their parks and grow most of their food locally.
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
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
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
The Occasional Book
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
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
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 (5)
Per the article: In a May 12 report commissioned by the city to analyze land-use issues for the project, consultant Tom McGuire wrote that the Bureau of Development Services “feels that they are not an accessory use,” because the nursery and maintenance facilities serve all city parks.
An hour after the report was released, Bureau of Development Services planner Kathleen Stokes circulated an e-mail saying she “just received word that the Commissioner’s office had decided that they wish to consider that the Mt. Tabor Yard maintenance facility IS an accessory use to the park.”
Didn't someone get word out to McGuire what his independent consultant's report was supposed to conclude?
He sounds like a brave, honest man who unfortunately will not receive any more contracts from Leonard's office.
Posted by john rettig | December 8, 2008 8:25 AM
The "mediation meeting" scenario is used all the time by different bureaus of the city and PDC.
Several times in the continuing SoWhat saga when major controversial issues arose in the ten years of planning, neighborhood groups were asked to "sit down, let's talk about it, let's mediate". Every time the citizen's viewpoints were disregarded, maybe a little bone was tossed, but the real substance of the difference was contrived to benefit the developer and/or cities point of view.
If a citizen group made a decision to not attend the "mediation", then at city council the bureau staff would eminently point out the unforgivable absence of the group, and of course a council member or three would declare "we'll show them" and do what they were going to do all along.
Mediate all you want, but know the likely outcome before you spend the time and money, and you might want to save yourself the hassle.
Posted by Lee | December 8, 2008 1:20 PM
I told you then, I'll tell you now.
The entire administration of the Parks Bureau needs to be removed and replaced with staffers who care about the population they reputedly 'serve'.
This kind of shuck and jive will continue as long as layers of political appointees and cronies fill the spaces in the Bureau where they have the inside information to dish to friends and family on the private sector side that will profit.
Zari and her cadre in the bureau need to be excised and replaced with honorable public employees.
Posted by godfry | December 8, 2008 2:16 PM
The entire City Council set up needs to be changed. Along with how the city government is run. I was on a committee with a neighborhood Asc in the 1990s and to say we got sandbagged by the city would be polite.
Posted by The Libertarian Guy | December 8, 2008 4:41 PM
Maybe Sam Adams will bring a new level of openness and transparency to the way city government works? I city is only as green as the amount of cared for open space it has. I've been to Mt. Tabor Park and it needs much more care from the City of Portland. Resilient communities care for their parks and grow most of their food locally.
Posted by Randy | December 8, 2008 5:32 PM