With those fancy meters, perhaps some sort of congestion pricing could be used to jack up the rates on game days. Maybe $5/hour?

What about the news that a Spanish company might buy the naming rights to the Rose Garden?

Was this part of the backroom dealings with Sam Adams trip to Spain?

But the city will be able to turn off the street lights 'cause we will all glow in the dark!

Another reason to avoid going downtown and another reason why Portland is being turned into an economically segregated city.

Ok this is actually a really smart idea, as a way for the City to recoup part of the costs and generate revenue from the Timbers, who may prove to be a huge attraction.

BUT I have to ask:

1) We have "smart" meters, right? Why can't they be programmed to kick in the higher rates before (say 1-2 hours) and after games ONLY?

2) I understand a slightly higher rate but DOUBLE?

As a way to protest this gouging I would suggest a Timber's Critical Mass. Let's get everyone to converge via bike (or just bring one in your car) and surround the west, north, and east sides of the stadium with 1000+ bikes. Lock them to street lights, fencing, cars, art, other bikes, parking meters, etc. and then see how the city reacts to 'green' commuting.

Talk about Peaceful Congestion.

New city slogan:

"Welcome to Portland. You WILL ride a train, godammit!"

The stadium is less of a problem than the growing vertical community around it.
As Snards said. You WILL ride the train.

Good thing on Feb. 16th City Council passed an Emergency Ordinance on the Consent Agenda that gave Merrit Paulson 25 prime parking spots next to PGE park for $5 each / day:

*156 Authorize agreement with Peregrine Sports, LLC for usage of parking spaces in a surface lot (Ordinance)

http://efiles.ci.portland.or.us/webdrawer/rec/4151506/

At least the General of the Timbers Army has some nice (and cheap) off street parking for himself and 24 other's

Well, that sounds about right for our fair city... the only thing missing from Portland is a Bastille.

We have (or will have) a Bastille...down at SoWhat!

“If we didn’t keep the meters going and charge a higher fee – a few dollars a game – then it’s likely fans would use all of the metered spots, instead of seeking off-street parking options, or taking public transportation, walking or biking to the game.”

So is Sam finally admitting people want to drive instead of use public transportation?

"So is Sam finally admitting people want to drive instead of use public transportation?"

Yes Jon, and he's admitting that our local Social Engineering Bureau must play all sorts of games to force them not to.

What about the news that a Spanish company might buy the naming rights to the Rose Garden?

I don't know, El Grupo Santander Jardín de las Rosas has a nice ring to it...

Go by streetcar. You have no other choice.

Maybe some of our full time social engineers could help me with some math?

20,000 attendees / (172x2) equals 58 light rail trips.

Will this paralyze ALL east/west rail stations, or just the ones adjacent to Jeld-Wen park?

"Easygoing and livable" also means having activities that attract people to downtown, and Jeld Wen Field is a jewel for our city, a rare case of a true downtown sports stadium hosting a variety of sporting events and concerts.

And haven't you been arguing the MLS team will be a financial flop for our city? Isn't this is a part of CoP's ROI on investments to refurb their stadium?

With a new stadium sponsor, >12K season tickets sold, TV deals inked, and the hype building to epic proportions I think we are past the "not enough toilets" and "OMG parking will suck during game nights" phase. Aren't we?

I guess what I'm asking is: Is there any way for MLS in Portland to be a success according to your rubric?

Gene -

The Timbers will play, what, about 20-25 dates? The baseball team was here for around 60 dates. And, just how many other events, eg concerts, will be held? It is not sustainable to have any venue open 10% of the time, at best. Nor can there be enough money made to not only pay the current remodeling (over budget, btw), as well as the 25 million or so remaining on the past remodeling work.

And I know it's for my own good, but how is it that I now live in a restricted parking "L" permit zone, with no prior notice, hearing or public process of any kind? Just a flyer in the mail on Saturday with a form I can use to apply for permits. My guests? They're on foot, or maybe they can pay Dick Singer for off-street parking if and when his garage gets built. But they can't park on my block for more than 2 hours any more.

I'm going to protest this parking plan by refusing to attend Timbers games.

Hey; it's soccer. Soccer fans should be used to being ignored or badly treated. Somebody's got to pay to keep the mayor and the Metro people in whatever it is they think they need.

Portland's slogan: "We can't see it, so it's not our problem."

Examples:

Garbage is buried in Arlington, 120 miles east of Portland.

Power is generated by dirty, dirty coal in Boardman, 140 miles east of Portland.

Motor Vehicles can't park at Jeld-Wen Field, so they park just outside city limits at the Sunset Transit Center, or in Gateway (a part of Portland that is good only for tax collections, but is otherwise not truly part of Portland.) Or the Expo Center, a place where Vancouver residents are permitted to enter Portland, make their apologies for putting Portland down, and getting on light rail like a good Portland zombie.

And haven't you been arguing the MLS team will be a financial flop for our city?

It will if the league fails. Which it might.

Even if it doesn't, this is all a giveaway to the Paulson family. Henry Paulson is a grifter who should be in jail. Instead, he's being handed part of our livability.

I'll grant you that the past debt on PGE park is an issue, and that Henry Paulson sucks and should be tarred and feathered.

But I'm not sure how either applies. Prev PGE park debt was the result of remodeling a stadium for a rinky-dink baseball team mismanaged by it's previous owners to the point 100 people were showing up at the games. Unless Henry cloned himself, Merritt is his own person and while obviously handed a silver spoon he is trying to run a profitable business and would be stupid not to use all his available family and business connections toward that end.

All city owned stadiums are a handout, Portland got away pretty good compared to most. (Check out Vancouver's bill)

Regarding the over budget reference, the city is only on the hook for $1M of that, right? Paulson is absorbing the rest of the $5-6M overruns as part of his agreement with City Hall.

Um, I can't believe I got this many comments down and no one has pointed out the obvious fallacy of the original post, which is the this added cost is only "extending the meter hours on event days," NOT "every night, all year long." Admittedly, this statement is buried in the middle of the second-to-last paragraph of a poorly written (or edited) article, but it's alluded to other times.

Anyway, it's actually very much like Bark and paul's suggestions of higher prices (congestion pricing) for game nights. I'm a Timbers supporter and season ticket holder and I wholeheartedly support increasing parking rates *on game nights* to encourage fans to take mass transit (or at least carpool with a DD) because we shouldn't impose too heavily on the neighborhood AND most of us shouldn't be driving after the game anyway.