City Hall death rattle (Jack Bog's Blog)

One way you can tell that a Portland politician's career is almost over is when, after years of wasting public money on one luxury toy after another, he or she suddenly announces that it's time to get "back to basics." Remember when Jim "the Scone" Francesconi ran for mayor? One of his speech points was how the City Council needed to get "back to basics." Everybody looked at each other and replied, "Haven't you been on the City Council forever? Why haven't you stuck to the basics?" A few months later he was riding his Vespa down off the ridge to a real job.

And so it was with some mirth that we read this piece of Mayor Creepy's recent press conference on his budget for the city that he is bankrupting with one goofball project after another:

"This is a basic-needs budget," he said. "In the face of the worst global recession in more than a generation, this budget strives to keep all Portlanders safe and secure in their homes, their neighborhoods and their jobs."

Yeah, right. And at that point, he turned on his heel and headed into a meeting with Merritt Paulson about the two new bush league stadiums we're going to build, along with another white elephant hotel. Don't forget taking over the bridges. Too funny.

Back to baseness, maybe.

Comments (13)

here's an interesting, related question: why do our City Council members need to resort to posting opinion pieces to make a statement?

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/05/changing_our_focus_to_the_rive.html

or more simply--why not act on the beliefs professed therein when confronted with the issues?

Posted by ecohuman | May 4, 2009 1:08 PM

To put it simply, Sam is an influenza peddler.

Keep Portland Corrupt.

Posted by Bark Munster | May 4, 2009 1:18 PM

Maybe Randy did mean "his [Merritt's] new baseball stadium" because the public funding for it is off the table, along with the vaunted Paulson Family Guarantee.

Posted by A Hopeful | May 4, 2009 1:33 PM

Could Creepy maybe, just maybe, put some money in for sweeping up the gravel deposited on our streets last December??

Posted by pdxjim | May 4, 2009 1:46 PM

How about the fact that he's wasting money on ludicrous mergers of Portland bureaus, as well as his attempt at dismantling PDC? I'm so sorry I ever voted for him.

Posted by Junni | May 4, 2009 3:28 PM

If and When he's ousted, who will take his place?

Posted by Amber Z | May 4, 2009 3:43 PM

speaking of sports teams:

http://www.oregonlive.com/lumberjax/index.ssf/2009/05/lumberjax_done_in_portland_tea.html

Posted by ecohuman | May 4, 2009 3:53 PM

I'm no longer a resident of Multnomah County or the City of Portland, but I'm getting excited by Sam's exit. I wouldn't have voted for him last year, and have been encouraging all my PDX friends to rid themselves from this pox on all houses. Lake Oswego has its own set of problems, but nothing compares to Sam and his open zipper policy.

Posted by mrfearless47 | May 4, 2009 3:57 PM

The O article about the Lumberjax leaving Portland states that average attendance at games this season was 7,200, that there are more than 40 high school varsity lacrosse teams in Oregon and youth lacrosse camps. Why do Timbers supporters think MLS will fare any better here?

Posted by A Hopeful | May 4, 2009 4:04 PM

The media is the enabler of these fascists in the end. When "watchdogs" become senile poodles we get this type of behavior. Politicians are often like students at a kidnergarten. They will do what they can get away with. When the editors and the policians share their Kool-aid snacks at recess the people are up the creek. All the media coverage I have seen of the MLS has been incomplete and half assed. The articles have had this surprised tone later when the deal started looking weirder. Surprise, surprise....the media has screwed everyone again. The O and the Eugene counterpart the R.G. (Regular Garbage) might as well just quit the struggle and shut down entirely. That would be such a blessing.

Posted by conspiracyzach | May 4, 2009 4:18 PM

On the other hand, here's a worrisome development: the dearth of good private investment opportunities means that states and cities are being enabled to fit themselves for long-term fiscal suicide:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-03-borrowing_N.htm

Posted by George Anonymuncule Seldes | May 4, 2009 6:50 PM

And then there's infrastructure privatization.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090429-716572.html

http://uk.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idUKN0442779220090505

Posted by A Hopeful | May 4, 2009 7:07 PM

Glad you Portland folks didn't spend your tax money to build a special stadium for the Lumberjax. And wait 'til Mr. Allen moves his basketball team closer to his home.

Posted by RickN | May 5, 2009 8:32 AM

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Monday, May 4, 2009

City Hall death rattle

Comments (13)

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