I wonder if the Scone might consider running to fill Adams' seat (or something like that) if a recall is successful.

The WW editorial is awesome. How quickly Portland has forgotten the "Creative Services" building. But remember folks, it's all Bush's fault because that building was supposed to open right after 9/11.

“This is going to brand Oregon as a leader in the sustainability movement,” Kenton says. “We think of this building as a portal. People are going to want to come here and connect with it, and it will drive a whole bunch of economic value to the state.”

Cool! That always works! No risk at all!

[Mayor Katz on the South Waterfront] “We are preparing this city to position itself on the cutting edge of the biosciences movement. The synergies for bioscience are limitless.”

Whoops.

Keep Portland Schizophrenic.

Marsupials?

Reptiles.

They so used to the total absence of accountability they have no conscience.

The long string of boondoggles and scandelous schemes wihtout any consequences makes them without fear or responsibility.

That and their incredibly stupid and dishonest.

Other than that they're fine people.

They're actually rodents.

I love how all these non-profits and govt agencies need the class A office space. $31.70/ sq. ft? That's not sustainable.

Commercial office space rates are very low now. How 'bout filling some of that space and putting some much needed $ into the economy before building a new taxpayer subsidized monument?

The beauty of projects like SoWa and the Sustainability Center is that you can always take full credit for success, but blame all failures on externalities.

As I said a few months ago, stay tuned for the giant sucking sound made by the Sustainability Center as it dies a death by a thousand cuts by compromise, excuses, and mediocrity.

Then, Adams and others will blame it all on "market forces", "the economy", and whatever else is at hand.

How mediocre does a civic leader have to be before he is considered ridiculous?

I wonder if Sam brought Amy Ruiz along on this trip? I’m sure with her vast experience in strategic planing, and sustainable building practices, she would be a big hit in our Nation’s Capitol!

How is it green to build new when there is so much vacant existing space?

DG: Thank you for stating the all too obvious - except to financial illiterates like Sam and Randy. There is a glut of office and commercial space on the local market and fewer takers by the day.
And if anyone out there donates to any of the non-profits that want to re-locate into this next Portland BOONDOGLE; I would suggest you seriously look at where these people are spending their money.

Maybe if Sam and the team focused on wise money management, and economic development in Portland, we'd generate enough tax revenue locally to not have to go begging the Feds to fund everything they want to do.

But who needs a local economy when you have bike lanes?

We're becoming wards, rather than citizens.

I say bravo to these prominent names joining the recall. However, it's not enough just to publicly support it. They need to band together, take their show on the road, recruit other known business people and speak as one in a very loud, public, and organized way. Don't let the second try sputter in obscurity!

It is Charlie Hales who lurking behind the recall Creepy efforts, not the Scone.

Shame on any "non-profit" that would pay rates exceeding that for Class A office space.

I have been to any number of lectures and panel discussions on the benefits of "sustainable buildings". The one topic that is always sidestepped is the cost and competitive weakness of these buildings.

It is invariably the Architects, the Activists, and the Government technocrats who promote this nonsense and do their best to ignore financial reality.

I can think of nothing less sustainable than $31/sf office space in Portland. On a final note, if the budget predicts $31/sf I suspect that at "the end of the day" the cost will be closer to $50/sf.

This thing should not be built. No further money should be wasted on the idea.

"We think of this building as a portal. People are going to want to come here and connect with it . . ."

Sounds something like people gathering in awe around the spaceship in Close Encounters for no good reason except that it's big and makes pretty noises . . . or maybe like participants indulging in a group Vulcan mind meld.

And you've just got to love fuzzy ecstastic guarantees like, "it will drive a whole bunch of economic value to the state"; guarantees that promise absolutely nothing specific.

The legislature gave Francisconi $80 million of the State's borrowing authority? ...for us to pay back? ...with interest ...for..."synergies"?

Sometimes I think they've got every stinking elected official in this state on drugs. It is the only plausible explanation.