Oh, c'mon, Jack. You know as well as I do how "planning" in Portland is like acupuncture.

They're both a bunch of pricks.

Michelangelo would be delighted! What creativity, execution values!

from link above
Needles appearing across the city will bring attention to the some of the city's most challenging problems . . .

How about at city hall - help may be on the way. Might as well have our tax dollars pay for acupuncture treatments for Mayor and Council, if it would help them to think more rationally, reduce their stress, as it must be stressful to go against the citizens. Maybe it could turn their attitude around, nothing else seems to work.

God I feel like putting a gun to my head.

One big difference between Portland "planning" and acupuncture is that nobody forces acupuncture on you. Unless it's mandated in the new health care bill.

For the love of god, how much is this costing?

Jack:

Five minutes ago, a great close friend of mine called me, he and I talked about you, and the excellent documenting of the city finances.

Can't say to much, but he is buried in city hall, and knows so much,it's scary to hear the things that are planned.

He says what scares them most, is you, and your tracking the money angle.

He also says,that they wish you would move, and stop being that "pain" you are, so this needle deal is quite timely.

Hit soon, and often on the money issues, cause there are problems, and they will come out sooner then later.

Does that mean Samothy Leary and Rand Dass are running the city?

"...explores the interface between art, regional planning, traditional Chinese medicine and the health of a city."

Bloody hell.

JP, keep feeding us the inside scoop. Sounds like they want to stick one of these needles in Bojack's front yard to relieve their pain.

I moved to Tigard last weekend. My property taxes will no longer support these trifles. I still have to avoid the spangers and sign waivers when going to work (and you must be very careful where you step!), but I am done subsidizing SamRands multifaceted Stupidity.

Don't Tom,
We will need all the help we can get from "aware" folks when this ship turns around. .
and it will, just hang in there.

Steve Buckstein comments: One big difference between Portland "planning" and acupuncture is that nobody forces acupuncture on you. Unless it's mandated in the new health care bill.

The only thing that is mandated in the health care bill as far as I know is the money that people will have to pay to a corporation. .
are there any restrictions of how high that mandated fee can go?
However, WellPoint is showing they are have no problem with restrictions on clients:

http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/04/22/hcan-on-wellpoint-murder-by-spreadsheet/

We're getting ready to move. My wife wants to move elsewhere in the city, but I'm trying to subtley plant the bug in her ear of moving to an adjacent city.

Think it would work for the Blazers? Maybe a giant needle at the Rose Quarter - plus, bonus, would help those "decisions" (wink, wink) with the future of Memorial Coliseum.

This is very easy to crack and start the reversal of madness.

Stop the funding for Milwaukie Light Rail.

It has all of the elements of the local planning mafia including TriMet's upcoming attempt to begin devouring the $250 million lottery dallars meant for the new MAX line to pay some of it's operating expenses at the it circles the drain.
With the other mountains of money about to be wasted on this horrific boondoggle, in the middle of deep recession, stopping it would be the first major attack in toppling the insane, corrupt and creepy regime.

I've got it! Let's turn the Memorial Coliseum into a naturopathic medicine clinic!

God bless you Clinaman it's good to know you are not alone.

My second thought when I saw the "pin" was Pole Dancing. It fits naturally with the kind of leaders we have in Sam and Rand who put out a pornographic video, want to develop a "sex triangle" around Jakes, that encourages pedophiles, and a city that has the highest strip clubs per population in the world.

But I'm sure the Goth troops running around downtown will confiscate the Poles for jousting events that breakout this time of year along the waterfront.

Howzabout using railroad spikes instead of needles for treatment on Sam and Randy?

Turnabout is fair play. They both have been railroading the public for years!

Very symbolic all of this. Feel like they have been sticking pins in us for years, time we needled them.

We have all been on pins and needles from those folks.

Not here to make fun of acupuncture as it does help and assist people.
To those in the Acupuncture field, there is respect for your good work on my part anyway . . .
but the symbolism of this juxtaposed with our city council cannot be overlooked and to have some humor helps to break out of the tension so many of us have been feeling and worrying about the direction our city has gone.

Thank you, JP, for sharing that nugget from City Hall. Between your news and the SEC lawsuit against Goldman, this week has turned out a lot better than I expected.
As always, a big thanks to Jack for providing the brilliant public service he does. This blog is a lifeline of sanity in an insane town.

Snards,
Can't say I blame you for wanting to get out of here. . sure would miss your good comments though.

If you do leave, hope you will continue to comment about our folly here, perspective from a different place.

By the way, how many others are thinking of a move and to where it might it be better? The way some of us are wired, no matter where we go, we'll find something that isn't on the up and up. Thankfully there are citizens who do care.

Seems like with corporations ruling one has to be careful no matter where one lands these days. Might find a nice spot in the country only later to have a giant corporate pig farm move in next to your spot. Then there is the LNG pipeline, lack of good water to consider and the list can get long.

Best...BoJack...metaphor...in...the...world!!!!!

They are just marking future locations for cell towers.

clinaman, Yes, looking to move. Figuring the municipal finance implosion here can't be kept from becoming major national news for more than another 18 mo to 2 years at most. It will be a long crawl back after that.

But, then, who knows? Maybe we'll get "the big one" that has a 35% chance of happening in the next 50 years, FEMA will pay to rebuild everything and the holders of our debt will cancel it all out of the goodness of their hearts because our bike paths and beer are so damn good.

"...how many others are thinking of a move and to where it might it be better?"

I moved to a nearby city last year and my organization moved to unincorporated Washington County several years ago.

Still very interested in Portland affairs (bad choice of words?) but I'll have to rely more on Jack now to stay on top of the shenanigans. Eventually we may have to pay you to stay put, Jack.

Well, I wouldn't call say it involved hallucinogens. Instead, I see Portland as the guy who alternated between smoking catnip and freebasing Preparation H, telling himself "I'm sooooooooo high."

I am thinking about moving out of PDX but I'd like to last until retirement which is not that many years off. However, if the b.s. keeps piling on, I might move out of the city first and then do the retirement move second.

An artist with a similar symbolic sense might stick a giant fork in the garden at City Hall.

I kid you not, Jack is a pain, he is the most hated man in council behind doors talks, and the stuff that is rattling around now, I HOPE, will emerge before the current decent people in the employ of the city are laid off.

LA, Harrisburg PA, others are crying money worries.

You add this one up...the state forestry putting up 600,000 acres of the Tillamook forest to log, think about that one, the state isn't fat at all in the tax sense, so they go back to the roots that fed schools, cops etc.

PDX elected better stop spending now, or we are in a world of hurt.

If projects like these help cranky conservative people like you all move out of the City, then I say BRING 'EM ON. We need more projects like this, and lucky for the rest of us, Portland is progressive enough not to be bogged down by your cynicism.

Since none of you have bothered to answer your rhetorical questions about how much this costs, allow me: The Oregonian reports that the total project is $40K, paid through grants from arts councils and private donors. As someone who believes in the importance of art, I am especially excited about projects like these that put art out into the streets to help illuminate and interact with other important civic issues.

But, by all means, go back to all your whining. It's so becoming!

Looks more like 'Voo DOO' to me!
Emphasis on the doo part!

jeff, Putting points where Jim-Jim, Aaron and Jackie were killed? No? Oh, right, they wouldn't have given you the $40K to point at a real problem, would they? Nevermind.

Me, thinks. Jeff is a starving artist.

Jeff, god help us all,if you don't see the that 40,000 dollar pieces of insanity, you call art, would fund one or two park maintence projects,filled pot holes so your damn bikes will not flip your butt off and have you then sue Sam, for "pain and suffering!"

It is over...there is no more money for you...get a job, a real one.

There are drug treatment centers in Portland that turn away addicts for lack of a $20.00 copay. There are children who go to sleep hungry at night because their biggest source of food is the school breakfast/lunch programs. There are elderly and disabled folks who won't set the thermostat above 55 degrees because they can't afford it.

Surely all of these people are more worthy of $40,000 worth of public subsidy as this "Artist"...And I use that term most loosely when the work product is fake acupuncture needles dug into the earth.

JP,
I suspect that we are on the same page in many ways. I have read your comments about your concern about our city and finances, etc. You may have read mine about my same concern and the PWB water debt and the over a billion more with debt for projects to do with the EPA LT2 rule. Our water rates will double if we can’t stop this.

I was not happy with Jeff and his comments and am working on a response.

I would say though that I know artists who work very hard at their craft. Some travel from fair to fair to sell their goods, such as belt buckles, pottery, jewelry, etc. Others work in more commercial realms designing logos and brochures, websites, etc for businesses. Some are fine art painters, weavers, printmakers, sculptors, and many then have second jobs such as teaching or other work.
Point I am trying to make is that there may be a misconception about art and the work involved. What the public sees is the finished product and the work involved to produce it is not easy. I will say that there is some art we look at that doesn't "cut the mustard" so to speak. Also, if you like music, a lot of artists in that field.

Anyway enough of that. I hope you can get some more insider information from city hall. Sure would be good to have some whistle blowers from city hall to help us.

Take care JP

Jeff,

We have here what I have termed “Curtain Open and Curtain Closed”. I suggest that you may be a citizen who sees what the city wants you to see with the curtain open. Some of us here look behind the curtain once it is closed . . and that is why we are deeply concerned.

Labels such as liberal or conservative R or D need not apply here. Many liberals in
Portland are just as upset over the lack of financial accountability, etc. I believe the kind of concerns we have here cross political lines.

My perception is that this was not so much about the arts, as it was a response,
mostly satirical regarding the juxtaposition of the “needles and city council”. Like I stated earlier, humor was a release from the seriousness of where our city is heading, into financial bankruptcy if they don’t stop their agenda. Have you seen the column where Jack has recently upped the amount to $10,000 each citizen now owes on our debt?

We have our eyes on behind the curtain and with corporate media control,
much of this is kept from people. The kinds of money we are talking about are millions and in some cases over a billion here and there. $40k for an art project, as you said that money was provided by grants and donors. The city’s plans however, will impact you and all in the arts especially - and those who live on the margins need to know about what is going on.

One of many concerns is about our Bull Run Water and you will find that our water rates will double if we cannot get an exemption from this EPA LT2 rule. (view previous threads)

I would say though that I know artists who work very hard at their craft. Some travel from fair to fair to sell their goods, such as belt buckles, pottery, jewelry, etc. Others work in more commercial realms designing logos and brochures, websites, etc for businesses. Some are fine art painters, weavers, printmakers, sculptors, and many then have second jobs such as teaching or other work.clinamen

CLINAMEN: Not a problem either with real art(art doing crap things with the US flag, art doing crap things on the face of our Lord..those I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH.

WE MUST STOP SOON,this attack on the life blood of this city, before we all die in a sea of financial cancer.