There is an announcement of the debut of this newsletter on the back page of the Portland Water Bureau's "2009 Drinking Water Quality Report" which should have shown up in your mailbox this week. It says: "CityWorks: Reporting Out to You!" There's also a phone number listed if you want a paper copy.

How much is this costing us? On the back page of the PWB report, it states that it cost 30 cents to produce and mail each report. (I know the annual water quality report is required by federal law but does it have to be mailed to each household if it's posted online?)

How many city jobs are these publications costing the city? The water quality report comes out once a year, but CityWorks will go out quarterly to people who request a paper copy.

There is nothing greener than a mass mailing of 100% post consumer soy ink union print shop puff piece to the entire city population.

Portland: we care more, so hypocrisy matters less.

Like to see them fastening plows to the fronts of trucks, chaining bus tires, etc.

They look like first graders, putting cans in boxes, playing in dirt.

Is it just this mean, naysaying gadfly or do others see most of that feel good municipal stuff as a substitute for the lack of ability to manage the fundamental and more important city business?
IMO the more time they spend on that stuff the less time and effort they spend gaining a firm understanding and control of important matters.

More from the back page of the PWB water quality report about the CityWorks newsletter: "See for yourself what your City Council and hardworking city employees are doing to keep Portland a great place to live and work!"

How many PR flack/social butterfly positions are scattered throughout Portland city government? And how much, in addition to their salaries and benefits, are we paying for their activities and publications?

Why doesn't the city council just create a Bureau of Propaganda and Shameless Self-Promotion so that we can track how much all of this costs?

Hey, you see what's going on with nonsense like the Sam's Tweet, Water Bureau Blog and Randy's pseudo-blog. Let's overwhelm people with non-info on pet projects and not talk about basic services and budgeting.

More PR - Less service.

My family owns a business downtown and sales are down. Everyone of our business neighbors are just barely hanging on. Another couple months of this bad economy, and many won't hang on. I'm talking about central downtown, right in the core. This, on top of the several businesses that have already gone out of business can kill our downtown area. I really would hate to see our downtown turn into a Detroit. It's really a shame out city council is inept and we cannot look to them for any help. What a shame.

"I really would hate to see our downtown turn into a Detroit."

I hate to say this, but CoP has done about everything you can do wrong. They tear up the streets every 5 years and rip out all the parking they can. Now they want to bump the parking rates and turn it into a switchyard for light rail.

I really wish I could take Sam for a ride out to Wash Sq where they still have plenty of traffic and see if he coudl get a clue.

After some research, I'm not sure who is responsible for CityWorks, the city council, some bureau or the Portland is Better Together Program, which is a partnership between local government and community resource agencies. The Portland is Better Together Program website url is in a banner on each page of CityWorks. www.portlandisbettertogether.com At that website, I learned that United Way is asking for $10 contributions for a Community Relief Fund. Contributions will be matched by the Meyer Memorial Trust.

The connection between the newsletter and the website, if there is one, could have been made clearer.