Betting pool anyone?

Public letter to Mayor Creepy:

The reason these European wind energy companies are failing (how many thousands did Vestas lay off in December, you unschooled d*****bag?) lays with the PRC's heavy subsidies of Chinese wind/solar/biogas companies.

Pending a World Trade Organization decision, these subsidies are perfectly legal.

So you should actually be spending your tax income on a trip to China right now -- where the age of consent is far more flexible.

Perhaps if you could read, or had any bit of education at all, you would know that.

Mayor dumb*** likes to travel. I would love to know how many foreign trips Vera Katz dinged us for. My bet would be far less of them in all of her terms than the Creepster.

Time for the third recall.

People - Sam actually got tickets to Sweden where he has a special friend. Iberdrola is a cover story.

Betting pool anyone?

On Iberdrola staying? 25% - A last minute trip isn't a very good omen. UNLESS - The Iberdrola execs are a fan of Portlandia.

The problem with businessmen from Spain is they never stay bought. Unlike politicians in Oregon: they always dance with them that brung 'em.

Spain is an interesting place. Very liberal with respect to social issues. The age of consent there is the lowest in Europe (13 yrs). Not that there's anything wrong with that.

So, the economic development strategy continues to be about begging companies not to leave instead of encouraging new ones to come in...

Sam sure likes his publicly funded junkets to Europe, doesn't he?

I for one am glad there are only two more years of vacations for him on my dime.

To the extent that there is any "strategy" at all, it's "Try to look like you know what you're doing." Surprise! It isn't working.

He could have just saved us all the flight to Madrid, and skateboarded over to talk with Emily Powell, to try to save more jobs by an order of magnitude.

Although that may have cost us another streetcar line . . .

He can't be seen in public in Portland, so why not go to Spain where he's a nobody.

"so why not go to Spain where he's a nobody"

He can stay here and be a nobody - plus its cheaper.

Business retention is not a real strategy when it is implemented at the 11th hour. Knowing Scott Andrews, I believe he understands this. Unfortunately, Portland Mayor's knee jerk reaction only happens when it will reflect poorly on him.

Govern for all of Portland, Sam, or please just get out of the way, go figure out your PERS and stop ruining our city.

Figure out his PERS? I doubt he's got his personal finances figured out beyond his next paycheck.

Govern for all of Portland, Sam

I believe his campaign slogan was "Sam for Mayor...because Portland belongs to all of us."

Which, in Sam's twisted mind, means "Portland is mine to rule, and the rest of you commoners are just minions to me!"

So this company moved here in 2003, and we already have to scramble around promising to give them a bunch of urban renewal money to get them to stay? Nice.

I say, call their bluff.

All of this bending over backwards to lure "green" companies reminds me of the days when every town was fighting for a railroad line.

The railroad line certainly put Portland on the map big time- as the other alternatives were months and months of dangerous voyage.

However I am not sold on Wind Energy- the price per output seems too high to compete with older and emerging technologies.

Mary Volm:...Govern for all of Portland, Sam, or please just get out of the way, go figure out your PERS and stop ruining our city.

May not be that simple to stop the ruination of our city. Is he planning to run for reelection? I commented yesterday, if former Chief of Staff now is head of Portland Transportation Bureau, a place could be made for Sam, if he loses, to somehow stay on within our city hall building.

Unfortunately, it will take more than Sam leaving, we still have four others who are a problem in my book.

As a former staffer (state not city) I have been on a lot of these junkets. Usually you build a schedule based on a couple of keystone appointments buttressed by anything else you can find to look busy. Good to see they are not even bothering with the fluff.

So this company moved here in 2003, and we already have to scramble around promising to give them a bunch of urban renewal money to get them to stay?

In all fairness, this company was once a subsidiary of PacifiCorp (which is still a Portland headquartered company for the time being, albeit owned by an Iowa based MidAmerican Energy Holdings which is itself owned by Nebraska based Berkshire Hathaway.) When ScottishPower sold PacifiCorp back in 2004, it kept what was then called PPM Energy (for "PacifiCorp Power Marketing")...when Iberdrola purchased ScottishPower, it renamed PPM Energy to Iberdrola Renewables.

His Nibs was prowling around Narshall High School Tuesday night, Feb. 8, around 9:15 PM, and had been there since at least 6:00 PM.

The story gives the implication that he left during the day on Tuesday, or late Monday.

Neither is accurate.

So where is His Nibs and when did he go?