Hallowed ground for corndogs
The City of Portland is determined to clutter Tom McCall Waterfront Park with more and more "features" and less and less of the greenspace that it was intended to provide. The new Fireman Randy neon sign is just the latest indicator of the city's odd understanding of what a park is supposed to be. If I woke up one morning in charge of whatever bureau's responsible for that thing, I'd have it taken down by noon.
In addition to the dubious long-term program of "improving" (paving over) grassy areas, the keepers of the park play fast and loose with the various monuments that are already there, particularly at Rose Festival time. We blogged about one instance of this last year, and another blogger raises a similar issue today, here.
| Posted at 3:03 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (14)
The Portland Rat F***ers Committee strikes again, and again, ad naseum.
Honestly, I feel that the Rose Festival would be a much more enjoyable series of events if the PRFC weren't involved and it were handed back to the citizens of Portland.
Posted by Swede | May 30, 2009 2:29 PM
Could this be Randy's Revenge -- against the Downtown Elite and Westsiders?
Posted by A Hopeful | May 30, 2009 3:01 PM
Down with corndogs!
Posted by Mojo | May 30, 2009 3:24 PM
I was pleased to have seen the horribly pricy, yet ugly, neon flower today, during my annual trip to the other side of the river. I'll be disappointed if my property tax bill this year does not increase significantly to include that lovely artifact.
Randy Leonard, however, should move to the West Hllls, where he belongs.
Posted by Gen. Ambrose Burnside, Ret. | May 31, 2009 12:07 AM
the waterfront needs to stay green and open - like a park should be...the more you develop it, the more it just turns into an extension of downtown, instead of a jewel of recreation and relaxation...
man, can randy be anymore of a dumbass?
Posted by Burk54 | May 31, 2009 12:17 AM
It's not just Randy. The piling on of junk in the park pre-dates him, and it has many other cheerleaders in City Hall.
But the neon sign -- oh yeah. Classic Fireman Randy.
Posted by Jack Bog | May 31, 2009 12:22 AM
"Could this be Randy's Revenge"
Hey, its all of CIty Hall. Randy is just the most obvious example like that crazy girlfriend you had when you were 16 - You know the one that said you mess with me and I'll make your life a living hell and you kind of stuck around and took it?
I mean he is in bizarro land now. Schools, roads. police Sand ellwood bridge are in the toilet, yet here's what we get as focii from Randy:
- Water rates up 18% - "I just wish I'd done it sooner"
- 3% pay raise - "I deserve it and I'm going to take even if I know it doesn't look good"
- Paulson's playgrounds - "The more people don't liek it, the more I like it"
The neon rose and hiring some woman to blog about his caesar salad recipe are just the latest.
Then again, why should he care? No one ran against him, he gets $150K/yr from the CoP and has life-time gold plated benefits. So he can sit around all day and think up stuff to do and no one stands up to him.
Welcome to Portland.
Posted by Steve | May 31, 2009 1:38 PM
Cue "Fanfare for the Common Man."
Posted by Jack Bog | May 31, 2009 1:52 PM
Or the theme from "The Addams Family."
Posted by Mojo | May 31, 2009 9:06 PM
I'm at the point where I want Randy to go even more than Sam. Way more. Not declining the pay raise and pushing the supposed economic benefits of the Lents stadium, when in all likelihood he had read the ECONorthwest analysis that reaffirms that it's a losing proposition are just unconscionable. The fact that Randy managed to persuade the editorial board of The O is embarassing and pathetic, although the fact that Paulson's last name was consistently misspelled in the editorial is amusing.
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/05/a_gamechanger_for_lents.html
Posted by A Hopeful | May 31, 2009 11:26 PM
"Cue "Fanfare for the Common Man.""
A Requiem is more apropos. The taxpayers have lost any control of govt.
Posted by Steve | June 1, 2009 6:29 AM
""improving" (paving over) grassy areas"
It's okay in this instance, because Waterfront Park is the product of grassing over paved areas!
Of course, that happened in a time when people knew that if you removed a freeway, you needed somewhere for the traffic to go because it wasn't just gonna *poof* into the ether...
Posted by MachineShedFred | June 1, 2009 7:17 AM
You really need a tote board for the Timbers also.
In what portends to be a rousing season for the Timbers as they head into AAA accomodations courtesy of Randy and the CoP they drew a grand total of 5077 people on a nice weather Sunday.
This has success written all over it!
Posted by Steve | June 1, 2009 7:45 AM
the waterfront needs to stay green and open - like a park should be...the more you develop it, the more it just turns into an extension of downtown, instead of a jewel of recreation and relaxation...
man, can randy be anymore of a dumbass?
Posted by Burk54
LOL,got to agree with "Burk54", Randy can surpass your wildest dream on dumbass.
Posted by femknit | June 1, 2009 10:56 AM