PGE Park neighbors: Is the fix in? (Jack Bog's Blog)

The latest edition of Northwest Examiner has a fascinating front-page story in it about conflicts of interest among officers of the Goose Hollow neighborhood association when it comes to dealing with Little Lord Paulson and PGE Park. One guy on the board's got a lucrative consulting contract that's dependent on the remodel of PGE going through, and another works for Paulson. The conclusion of NWE editor Allan Classen? "The organization is foundering on the shoals of conflict of interest, compromising its role as the voice of the neighborhood as it glosses over the private interests of its leaders, and the blame is spread broadly."

Despite this dark conclusion, the article does have its comic moments. Here's a passage that prompts a chuckle:

Mary Valeant, a member of the GHFL land-use committee, accused Beard of having a conflict of interest at the November board meeting. Board Secretary Adrienne Hill came to his defense, explaining that the concern was posed to Mayor Sam Adams’ chief of staff, Tom Milller, who found no ethical violation, and to Neighbors West/Northwest Executive Director Mark Sieber, who likewise uncovered no basis for a grievance.

Sam Adams? Ethics? Too funny, Allan.

Meanwhile, the story reveals that Henry III is apparently planning to build a new parking structure at SW 18th and Salmon. How that meshes with green, sustainable, LEED-super-duper Portland planning is a new mystery in the ever-expanding soccer stadium saga.

Comments (12)

Yeah, that on top of the story about the water bureau e-coli fiasco.

Wait! The water story is on top of the GHFL story!

Posted by Lawrence | January 7, 2010 4:02 PM

Classen shares my view that the water scare over Thanksgiving was played (if not invented) by the water bureau to support its cover-or-disconnect-the-reservoirs plans.

Posted by Jack Bog | January 7, 2010 4:06 PM

Don't miss the good editorial "What happened to the chain of command?" on page 3.

Posted by dman | January 7, 2010 6:20 PM

The funniest part is how much impropriety is uncovered, yet the scheme still rolls on full steam ahead. What's wrong with you Portlanders?

Posted by notjustforlooks | January 7, 2010 6:27 PM

The proposed parking structure should be killed as part of the City's plan to conform to the new, tougher Clean Air Act regs just announced by Obama's EPA. As I recall, there was until recently a moratorium on new parking structures as part of compliance with the earlier regs, which was finally achieved. Our Lords and Masters then lifted the moratorium. The plans for compliance with the new regs aren't due until 2014, according to NPR, but let's get off to an early start & kill the Paulson structure.

Posted by Morbius | January 7, 2010 6:36 PM

Parking structure at 18th and Salmon? It must be on the old Butler Garage site that had hazardous waste clean-up problems when the MAX lines were put in. At that time groundwater clean up on the site meant, among other things, that no structure could be built there. Is that clean up really done?

Posted by sweetbriar | January 7, 2010 9:12 PM

Paulson learns quick about what it takes to get things done in Portland. Randy looks positiviely cheap comapred to that consultant.

Posted by Steve | January 7, 2010 9:16 PM

What's so interesting about this development is that there is finally a neighborhood constituency that will be getting actively involved in the PGE Park issue, just as there were neighborhood constituencies in Lents and Beaverton that killed their respective baseball stadium proposals.

So, this is great news for Portland.

Thank you Bojack for posting this link! And thank you Northwest Examiner for publishing real journalism!

Posted by Peter Apanel | January 7, 2010 10:03 PM

Peter, unless I missed something, there isn't a real neighborhood constituency involved here. There's only the facade of a neighborhood constituency, created by people that seem truly evil to me after reading the article. Is that why people clamor to join the MAC? To rub elbows with people like that? Yuck! This shows us how LLP would treat the COP if there's a fallout over this misadventure. The neighbors might get involved if Tanner Creek breaks out of the old pipe under PGE Park, turning their neighborhood into a marsh once again. Goose Hollow needs an honest sewer engineer whistleblower to save the day, or Bud Clark. Whoop Whoop!

Posted by IR | January 8, 2010 8:05 AM

The Butler Garage site, a former gas station, had gasoline in the ground from a leaking tank. It was a surface parking lot. The owners had already started the cleanup when Tri-Met came along and condemned it so that it would stay a parking lot. Tri-Met's initial offer was $500.

Posted by Isaac Laquedem | January 8, 2010 8:57 AM

Conflicts of interest?

I'm shocked!

Posted by Ben | January 8, 2010 9:12 AM

Hello all:
Any mention of "Sam the Sham" makes me want to hurl...., what a creepy guy!
So, that being said, why are we Portlanders entertaining Little Lord P. what's his name and his "I want this, I want that" B.S?
Give him the royal escort to the back door and kick him squarely in the hind side back to where ever he came from.
VTY,
Not a big fan of Sam or the royal "butt" P.

Posted by Mike | January 8, 2010 9:18 PM

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Thursday, January 7, 2010

PGE Park neighbors: Is the fix in?

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