Your tax dollars at work, cont'd (Jack Bog's Blog)

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« Is Brandon Roy's body giving out? | Main | A multi-modal clustertrek »

Monday, November 8, 2010

Your tax dollars at work, cont'd

I don't know what to think about this one: a "historic" survey of '50s ranch houses in east Portland? Doesn't exactly sound like an essential government service in these tight times.

Posted at 3:44 PM | Permalink

Comments (10)

Hey, if it can somehow help the good folks in "the numbers" fend off ugly infill cr*pshacks (i.e., form the basis of a historical preservation designation), then I'm all for it.

Posted by Eric | November 8, 2010 4:16 PM

Point well taken. But somehow I suspect this will have the opposite effect. The weasels can't be stopped.

Posted by Jack Bog | November 8, 2010 4:18 PM

The real reason behind this reddish herring is that your are going to be taxed on your non green home. Yep by the age of your domicile you will be taxed. It has nothing to do with historical pleasures. When the city does a study it is always how they are going to screw us next.

Posted by Johnny Homes | November 8, 2010 5:17 PM

This sounds like a perfect thesis project for the Architectural History department at U of O or PSU. Students would get real world experience and the city might get a low cost or no cost alternative to a full priced consultant. No one is thinking about alternatives in the city of alternative thinking.

Posted by SKA | November 8, 2010 7:15 PM

What a waste - useless crap like that leads to "historic" designations like this:

http://tinyurl.com/2bb25qs

Posted by none | November 8, 2010 8:35 PM

The results will give the city data for preservation planning and policy work.

Like what? And like whatever it is isn't obvious so the state has to pay for "a survey"? Maybe they should change the name to the Portland Bureau of Plodding and Gullibility.

East Portland is considered a complex part of the city because its history, landscapes and development differ in many ways from the urban core and close-in communities.

Really? Thank goodne$$ there'll finally be a $urvey to compile "data" on that.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch on SE 63rd....

Posted by Mojo | November 8, 2010 10:03 PM

If you want to build anything in these neighborhoods it'll be one more gauntlet to run / approval to get.

If this had existed when these mid-centurys were built they would've never been built probably since they were out of character for their neighborhoods back then.

Amazing what kind of garbage they can find money for.

Posted by Steve | November 9, 2010 5:53 AM

If you want to build anything in these neighborhoods it'll be one more gauntlet to run / approval to get.

And that's bad because . . .?

Having to pay a bit extra and jump through some extra hoops to build or renovate is a small price to pay to forestall the particle-board shotgun houses and condo fortresses the planners want to cram into our residential neighborhoods. Unfortunately, pursuing historic designations may be the only tool homeowners in our established neighborhoods have left to resist the relentless planning/densification juggernaut.

Posted by Eric | November 9, 2010 9:44 AM

Eric, it is not "a bit extra" to jump.

I had a client in the NW Portland ABC Historic District who wanted to do a $250K renovation on a 1924 bungalow. We began the process of meeting with CoP several times, paying the initial fees just to have the exploratory meeting. The owner came away with over a $55,000 dollar additional cost to go "through some extra hoops". They carefully considered all the extra downtime, actual historic costs and fees. They dropped the project. The house still sits there as it did 6 years ago with it's asbestos siding.

Posted by Lee | November 9, 2010 11:09 AM

I am w/Lee on this , I have customers quit on projects all the time when I tell them the cost and time of permit review [TAX] in PDX , they ask what to do and I say clack/wash co. are not like this , move on. Say goodbye to construction jobs and tax revenue . way to go BDS

Posted by billb | November 9, 2010 3:25 PM

In Vino Veritas

Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007

The Occasional Book

Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269