I'm a numbers guy and the article had several that stood out. Revenues 84% less than expected. (where have we seen that before) Reserve gone in 1st year and General Fund had to pony up 4+ million. Projected General Fund contribution this year is 7 - 10 million. Sounds like another Tram or SAP to me.

Politicians are good at finding votes and selling snake oil, but have never been good at finding a profit in things commercial.

My question about this "entertainment district":

What would make me want to go to the Rose Quarter, where parking is a hassle, in order to sit in a chain restaurant and eat mediocre food; when I can stay in my neighborhood (Hawthorne / Division) or go to one of the others (Albina / N. Mississippi comes to mind) where I can obtain better service, better product, at a cheaper price AND not have my tax dollars utterly wasted?

Answer this question satisfactorily and I'm on board.

I'm puzzled. Is Portland facing a void in its late night entertainment options that can only be filled by a subsidized "entertainment district?"
This is something in which I can't even see the supposed benefit. Even if it was built, wouldn't it just take business from other parts of the city?

MachineShedFred -

Excellent points. Imagine what N. Mississippi (my old neighborhood) would be like now if the city had anchored the street with a Hard Rock Cafe and a Senor Frogs. Shudder!

Obviously what Kansas City needs is a headquarters hotel for its convention center which would ensure plenty of business for the entertainment district. Someone should tell them.

why has it become the norm for government to subsidize business??? When did our leaders start becoming such suckers and falling for horrible, money-wasting, but flashy plans? I really don't get it. My lord, the mayor in the city where there people last preyed is telling us not to do it. How stupid do we have to be to not listen? Oy, my blood pressure is rising.

C'mon people, you just know Randy and Sam can do this waaaaay better than any other politician. Your appalling lack of faith in their skills is upsetting.

How about we just let entertainment districts form organically like NW 23rd, SE Hawthorne, N Mississippi and NE Alberta - all of which, surprisingly enough, required absolutely no planning or interference from the city.

Unless, of course, you want another bang-up job like Sammy's doing to downtown businesses.

I guess since the Burnside Bridge head is still an empty lot, "the powers that still be" feel compelled to build something, anything, anywhere, just to waste our money. I am guessing that there is very little if any neighborhood association activity in that area of Portland so the potential for citizen opposition is minimal.
Warning to small business owners; be careful if you oppose this. The big boys can play nasty and rough.

I love putting two quotes from the article side by side. Here's the Mayor of Kansas City talking about the project: "It's never going to make money. I can't imagine how it could make money."

Here's one of our people: "Interesting, it appears to be successful here," said Tom Miller, chief of staff for Mayor Sam Adams. "But if you want to cookie-cutter it and drop it into Portland, it will fail."

So our people look, but do not see. Then they have the audacity to warn that a similar project here in Portland could fail unless they put their own special stamp on it.

Then it hits me all over again: Success is not the goal. That's a real world pursuit. This is about a success in their minds. This is about things that appear successful long enough to point to and say, "See, there's our vision."

Who cares if the masses flock to it? Who cares if the city has to raid the general fund? How are mere citizens supposed to understand the greatness that goes on in these people's heads?

Backers are promising a "uniquely Portland" development. Will it include:

Brew pubs? Sure, but out of state chains to compete with the local, independent ones; pubs to sell inferior brews to people who don't know the difference but want to have the brew pub experience.

Food cart corral? No way.

Whimsical bike racks? Probably not.

Dress code? Most likely. In Kansas City the dress code banned caps worn backwards, chains or necklaces worn by men, untucked shirts, white T-shirts, work boots and long, baggy clothing. The city council responded last month by passing a dress code ordinance for businesses given city tax abatements or incentives. The ban is now limited to no work boots or flip flops, no undershirts and no sports attire in certain businesses. What will it be in Portland? No bike shoes? No facial piercings? No facial tats? No pink, purple, green or other unnaturally-hued hair?

Bill McDonald for Mayor of Portland!

Those junkie politicians and local mega-CofC types are confusing vision with hallucination. The public has to quit supplying them with the monies and offices that they use to support that habit.

They're so infatuated (or is it saturated) with the rush that swirls around the art of seduction, that whatever rationality they may have once possessed is tragically impaired, if not permanently damaged.

What a bunch of narcissistic knuckleheads and smarmy thieves.

Your city's been stolen from you. Take it back. Quit playing monty with them. Change the game. The Recall should be just for starters.

Now we need a CoP employee recall ordinance for Tom Miller and a slew of others.

This is getting looney.

The multiple failures of Urban Renewal schemes in the Portland region is in fact the failure of our planning which insists we much continue subsidizing the mixed use/ high density Centers and Corridors approach that continually fails.

The widespread recognition that these Urban Renewal schemes are corrupted boondoggle makers while at the same time remaining loyal to the central planning fantasy is irrational.
Yet over at BlueOregon,
http://www.blueoregon.com/2009/05/portland-livability-and-land-use.html#comments

,they're trying to trumpet the beauty of our land use planning as if it's all coming together.

It's pure insanity and Metro et al are beyond help.

South Waterfront, the ultimate fiscal mess and boondoggle that Metro land use planning spawns, should have been a final lesson and a genesis for turning in a new direction.

Not hardly.
In stark contrast to reality, Metro has released an executive summary of a report yet to be written, that calls for much more of the same "successes" their "Centers and Corridors" have been.

The inability for the public at large to grasp what is happening dooms us to be repeating the SoWa, Beaverton Round, Cascade Station, Convention Center schemes for another decade or two.

I think Bill would make a great mayor. No offense, cc.

Dress code? Most likely. In Kansas City the dress code banned caps worn backwards, chains or necklaces worn by men, untucked shirts, white T-shirts, work boots and long, baggy clothing. The city council responded last month by passing a dress code ordinance for businesses given city tax abatements or incentives. The ban is now limited to no work boots or flip flops, no undershirts and no sports attire in certain businesses. What will it be in Portland? No bike shoes? No facial piercings? No facial tats? No pink, purple, green or other unnaturally-hued hair?

Are you kidding? This is Portland...with a dress code like that how would they get any staff to run the place?

I want to take this opportunity to remind people to check out "The Great American Jobs Scam" (available at Powells):

http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=HARDCOVER:USED:9781576753156:9.95

Great book on the many techniques used to peddle nonsense like this. Think of it as an inoculation against the real Swine Flu -- grifters making you sick by robbing you blind.

"narcissistic knuckleheads"
Perfect!

If there is a live entertainment district and it does have a dress code, some group will probably organize a "uniquely Portland" naked bike ride around the edge of the district in protest, during peak business hours of course.

If I owned a restaurant or a bar within two miles of the Rose Quarter, I'd be screaming bloody murder about it.

With Fireman Pelé on the council? LOL, as the kids say. You might as well write a letter requesting daily fire inspections for the next decade.

Imagine the impact if any of this energy and public funding was used to do things that were actually good for the community?

Tax excrement financing. Priceless.

hey can we put this cordish thingee in SOWA , it's empty too. It's got a streecar to nowhere already.... maybe some hookers can fill homer's condo
see-thru towers.

When I saw the Kansas City pictures it reminded me of Back to the Future II when Biff Tannen took over the town. Or maybe Potterville, in It's a Wonderful Life.

If I wanted to live in Atlantic City, I'd move there.

Tax excrement financing. Priceless.

That one also came courtesy of Bill McDonald.