This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on March 2, 2011 9:48 AM.
The previous post in this blog was A broken promise in Buckman.
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Portland sign crusade being run out of Water Bureau
A concerned reader writes:
I keep waiting for you to post about [Portland city commissioner] Randy [Leonard] creating a position in the Water Bureau for somebody to inspect/regulate/enforce sign size regulations. I heard just a brief blip about it over the weekend on the radio, then nothing more.
The sign inspector positions have historically been [in the] BDS [Bureau of Development Services], until the two women filling the slots were laid off a year or two ago. Since then, nobody’s been enforcing/regulating signs, until now. Obviously, signs have nothing to do with the Water Bureau. However, the woman now appointed to the role is a good friend of Randy’s.... being a friend of Randy’s, she’s untouchable.
Supposedly the fines this person imposes are going to pay for her time. But why is the work being done out of the Water Bureau? The mission creep over there is breathtaking. Given the astronomical increases in the city's water rates, should the folks in that bureau be gallivanting around on the Admiral's latest pet peeve? It's almost as bad as them getting involved with citywide biodiesel rules, playing landlord to the Rose Festival, running builder demonstration projects, and doing all the other fun stuff that he dreams up for them on weekends.
Comments (17)
Because that is the bureau from which we are all getting hosed...
We really need to sue. Maybe we can start a fund of small contributions from Portland citizens to pay legal fees. The thing is that there is not much reward for attorneys to pursue these things on their own.
Let us all remember that Randy is a bully. When he finds out who is funding any opposition to him, those folks will find themselves the victims of his thuggery in the form of increased and expensive fire inspections, BDS violations and anything else he can conceive.
It will take some nervy folks who are well funded to oppose him. As long as Randy has the support of the development weasels the rest of us are pretty stuck.
If I were younger, or dumber, I might take on the fight. However when you have lived more days than you will live, your enthusiasm for confrontation diminishes....unfortunately.
I read today that we are the eighth rudest city in the world. No root causes identified.
Maybe Randy Leonard and Sam Adams have made us so rude. Really, how else to react to their nepotism, cronyism, pettiness, and sheer, bald-faced, corruption and incompetence? Who wouldn't be grumpy?
English-speaking world, that is. I was wondering about that. Somehow, I think it would become more interesting once you study rudeness in places like Beijing and Bilbao.
Nothing new, Randy placed more than a dozen BDS employees in the Water Bureau several years ago when BDS ran short of funds. Some of them perform Water Bureau work, but several of them perform functions that are part of the BDS mission. Randy also has a full time staff person on the Water Bureau payroll, and we know all about his use of Water funds to pay for loos, parks, Rose Festival building improvements, etc.
Randy knows that no one will stop him, so he will continue to place his friends in the Water Bureau and use Water funds for his pet programs and projects for as long as he is in charge. Rate payers will continue to be fleeced, a few will complain, but Randy knows he can ride out any storm.
"The mission creep over there is breathtaking. Given the astronomical increases in the city's water rates"
Mr Bog - You've never heard of back'n'fill?
a) Determine unmet need for enforcement
b) Hire one person to enforce and note greivous offenders
c) Proclaim the level of corruption this employee found is amazing
d) Use that as justification to hire many more
e) Raise price of city service to cover new employees
f) Go home at night with smile thinking of how many people you have now added under your feet.
Randy has been busy with signs since he saw IKEA's and went ballistic. Maybe he should work on keeping mercury from getting into the Columbia wellfield from the well pump near Blue Lake.
Good link none. Right now I'm to tired to try to look past all the double speak, smoke clouds and mirrors to figure out who's getting the shaft and who got rewarded. Certainly has an interesting oder.
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
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Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
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Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
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Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
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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
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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
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L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
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Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
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Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
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Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
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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
Comments (17)
Because that is the bureau from which we are all getting hosed...
Posted by Ralph | March 2, 2011 10:25 AM
I am sure Randy is able to dream this stuff up any day of the week.
Posted by none | March 2, 2011 10:31 AM
We really need to sue. Maybe we can start a fund of small contributions from Portland citizens to pay legal fees. The thing is that there is not much reward for attorneys to pursue these things on their own.
Posted by Snards | March 2, 2011 10:45 AM
Let us all remember that Randy is a bully. When he finds out who is funding any opposition to him, those folks will find themselves the victims of his thuggery in the form of increased and expensive fire inspections, BDS violations and anything else he can conceive.
It will take some nervy folks who are well funded to oppose him. As long as Randy has the support of the development weasels the rest of us are pretty stuck.
If I were younger, or dumber, I might take on the fight. However when you have lived more days than you will live, your enthusiasm for confrontation diminishes....unfortunately.
Posted by portland native | March 2, 2011 11:02 AM
I read today that we are the eighth rudest city in the world. No root causes identified.
Maybe Randy Leonard and Sam Adams have made us so rude. Really, how else to react to their nepotism, cronyism, pettiness, and sheer, bald-faced, corruption and incompetence? Who wouldn't be grumpy?
http://engineering.foursquare.com/2011/02/28/how-we-found-the-rudest-cities-in-the-world-analytics-foursquare/
Posted by gaye harris | March 2, 2011 11:05 AM
English-speaking world, that is. I was wondering about that. Somehow, I think it would become more interesting once you study rudeness in places like Beijing and Bilbao.
Posted by gaye harris | March 2, 2011 11:10 AM
Nothing new, Randy placed more than a dozen BDS employees in the Water Bureau several years ago when BDS ran short of funds. Some of them perform Water Bureau work, but several of them perform functions that are part of the BDS mission. Randy also has a full time staff person on the Water Bureau payroll, and we know all about his use of Water funds to pay for loos, parks, Rose Festival building improvements, etc.
Randy knows that no one will stop him, so he will continue to place his friends in the Water Bureau and use Water funds for his pet programs and projects for as long as he is in charge. Rate payers will continue to be fleeced, a few will complain, but Randy knows he can ride out any storm.
Posted by Mick Farr | March 2, 2011 11:48 AM
"The mission creep over there is breathtaking. Given the astronomical increases in the city's water rates"
Mr Bog - You've never heard of back'n'fill?
a) Determine unmet need for enforcement
b) Hire one person to enforce and note greivous offenders
c) Proclaim the level of corruption this employee found is amazing
d) Use that as justification to hire many more
e) Raise price of city service to cover new employees
f) Go home at night with smile thinking of how many people you have now added under your feet.
Posted by Steve | March 2, 2011 3:38 PM
Greetings, it is mentioned that the "mission creep" under Leonard is breathtaking.
Does anyone have data on this? Something like how much of funding comes from add-on amendments.
Which commissioner would our funding-by-amendment champ?
Posted by Joe Meyer | March 2, 2011 3:41 PM
Yeah, these Commissioners may be champs!
But the people are chumps for putting up with it.
Posted by Starbuck | March 2, 2011 4:09 PM
Hmmmm....
http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.cfm?c=49278&a=339869
Posted by none | March 2, 2011 5:06 PM
Randy has been busy with signs since he saw IKEA's and went ballistic. Maybe he should work on keeping mercury from getting into the Columbia wellfield from the well pump near Blue Lake.
Posted by Dean G. | March 2, 2011 5:33 PM
Good link none. Right now I'm to tired to try to look past all the double speak, smoke clouds and mirrors to figure out who's getting the shaft and who got rewarded. Certainly has an interesting oder.
Posted by dman | March 2, 2011 5:34 PM
none's link means that Commissioner Saltzman has told Mayor Adams that he won't run against Mayor Adams in 2012.
Posted by Isaac Laquedem | March 2, 2011 7:15 PM
This is just great. Portland's new motto -- Mission: Creep
Go by submarine!
Posted by Mojo | March 3, 2011 7:52 AM
Is Randy trying to make himself a modern day Robert Moses, except without actually building useful infrastructure?
Posted by MachineShedFred | March 3, 2011 8:03 AM
Dean G.:...Maybe he should work on keeping mercury from getting into the Columbia wellfield from the well pump near Blue Lake.
Would like to know more about that?
Posted by watching for our children | March 3, 2011 9:15 PM