Sam: The loop will, for the first time, bring modern streetcar across the river. We anticipate 1,300 jobs created from our eastside streetcar project. Every one is a living wage opportunity for a Portland.
JK: Are those permanent jobs?
What about the 1000 or so jobs to be "displaced" by the Milwaulkie toy train?

Thanks
JK

What about the bus drivers who will be laid off?

He's probably also counting the municipal bankruptcy lawyers that the city will be hiring shortly.

Yes, Samadumbs, my back respectfully asks that you don't piss away $700M for a "bicycle infrastructure" over the next 20 or 30 years. For that matter, and to avoid getting the greenies' underwear all wadded up, don't spend that much building new roads unless we absolutely have to.

I think he and the rest of the City Council could prove their political acumen by taking the existing problems and trying to solve them WITHOUT throwing more non-existent money towards a questionable solution. He'd get my vote every time and I don't even like the guy.

Sam: "The loop will, for the first time, bring modern streetcar across the river. We anticipate 1,300 jobs created from our eastside streetcar project."

"Modern streetcar" is an oxymoron. This technology is more than one hundred years old and has been replaced by buses for a reason.

Why would the streetcar create jobs? Constructon jobs? There is zero evidence that rail lines bring in employment around them. The Pearl and SoWhat developed due to huge development subsidies, not because of the streetcar.

This is one of the greatest and most obvious lies that is generally allowed to pass without comment in this town.

What do you expect from a grown man with imaginary friends named Jean nad Mike?

I cannot decide if the letter/comment below the speech is real or just a very biting satire and the nerds at city hall who vet all(and delete anything negative) the emails missed it.
I sure am glad I did not have to eat the gruel they serve at City Club luncheons AND then have to listen to Sam's B/S speech. I think I woulda sicked up.
Keep your side arms handy CoP police...Jesse is a comin' to town.

"You may not know Jean or Mike."

Probably beacuse he is lying like usual.

Sam knows we have a problem with jobs - Wow.

It was even worse to hear this in person at the event. The vibe I got in that room tells me I'm not the only one who feels that way.

Ok let's see:

1. Street car technology more than 100 years old. Check.

2. Bus technology more than 100 years old. Check.

3. Bike technology more than 100 years old. Check.

4. Automobile technology more than 100 years old. Check.

4. Horse technology more than 10,000 years old. Check.

5. Walking technology more than 1,000,000 years old. Check.

Hmm. When are we going to get some technologicaly modern transportation around here anyway?

Greg C, how about an "aerial tram"?

jimbo, I listened to his speech on the radio. He sounded very nervous, and it was strange to hear a mayor sound so nervous addressing his own city. Was it like that in person?

Personally, I believe the whole $600M bike deal is a charade. It certainly took the attention off the $73M Water bureau bonds and the $30M stadium re-renovation, didn't it? Hmm..

Okay, after reading that I'm pissed off enough to respond.

I F@#*$&G HATE this "100 year economic storm" talk. Adams repeats it four times in his speech. Geithner, Obama, Paulson, etc, have used that line, too.

This is to imply that economic catastrophe is somehow as random and inevitable as earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes and such. Nothing is farther from true. The current economic catastrophe is not something that was inevitable and only a matter of time, like with pressure on the San Andreas Fault. This recession is the direct result of bad policy, poor planning, and blatant conflict of interest. To cast it in any other light is purely dishonest.

"Greg C, how about an "aerial tram"?"

Snards, Sorry I missed that one.

Is there such a thing as a mag lev street car? Now that would be modern technolgy. (Shh Sam might read this. Don't give him the idea.)

Greg C

Sorry Snards, the first aerial trams were built over 100 years ago. The early ones were literally horse powered. So that technology is more than 100 years old too.

Lets be proactive people, sign the recall petition.

Portland was once a streetcar city. It will be again.

This creepy little nutball needs to go, and the sooner, the better. Next up: Randy.

We need to take these idiots out and regain some degree of control.

Heck, levitating chariots date from ancient times, as does astral travel. I'm sure Sam and the Delusionists have their plann-errs cranking up stuff for that, too.

Howlin' Wolf - How Many More Years?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ou-6A3MKow

How many more years, have I got to let you dog me around?

So true Max, the current admin thinks they are gods and totally untouchable. They need to be reminded that they surve the people, not their own interests and that they CAN be recalled.

Speaking of which ... Jack, why no recall countdown clock on the site this time around? It would help keep the campaign uppermost in people's minds (especially helpful since the media have mostly forgotten about it).

Waste of time. If they get the signatures (dubious), he'll win the recall election, which will only make him look stronger.

The time to do this was last year. It's way over.

Hey how's that transit mall working out for riders, drivers and businesses on the mall?

The silence can' be a good sign.

Sam haunts the margins like a ghost, invisible even among those who should be his peers. At the Cycle Oregon annual meeting last week or so (attended by about 2,000 folks at Nike), the emcee acknowledged how "the stars are aligned" for increasing bicycle transportation--mentioning by name several local biking pols--with the very, very, very notable exception of the often-photographed-while-cycling mayor of the area's largest city. The crowd burst into an audible whisper about where Sam's name was in the list. The emcee, btw, was Jonathan Nichols, Portland resident and founder of Cycle Oregon. Recall or no recall, is Sam really going to pretend like he's got a political future when even people who should be his friends pretend like he doesn't exist?

Wow. I thought you guys were a little hard on your mayor. Then I read this speech. He deserves every brick that gets batted his way.

I've said it elsewhere and I'll say it here. A storm is something that comes and goes. Except for limited erosion it leaves the environment pretty much as it was.

The torrent of deleveraging that ensues from a bursting credit bubble is more like a tectonic shift. The economic landscape is fundamentally changed, systematically lower and will never return to its previous form. Anyone who assumes that he can make it bounce back does so at his own, and his follower's peril.

What struck me reading that mess was how you would never know that there had been several questionable (to say the least) shootings of unarmed people by police recently . . . .

Of course, Mayor Facebook didn't run to deal with real problems, only to cut ribbons and cruise for tail at city hall.

"Only to cut ribbons and cruise for tail at city hall"
George you made me nearly fall outta my chair. Yes, that sums up Sammy's tenure perfectly so far! (Other notable achievments: drunken-driving smash-up derby with pants down)

Yesterday I talked to two very smart people who signed the petition, after grilling me for a while. Bikers, probably underemployed, approaching their forties, and educated. Happy, I was strolling to my car and passed some young people smoking outside a bar. For fun, I asked for their signatures: two of them shook their heads, and the third said, "Oh, I love Sam, he's so warm and friendly." She had to be all of 19.

Jack, continuing to agitate is by no means a waste of time. The accumulation of the work of many people to keep this issue alive has an alternate long-term goal you should consider: preventing his re-election in 2012.

As for him winning a recall election if we get the signatures, there is no real way to predict that- polls have shown pretty much a 50-50 split. And the youngsters who love him have better things to do than open special election ballots.

Just saying.