Reader poll: Which guy will have the heaviest buzz on?
They're having a big ceremony down in Portland's SoWhat District today, cutting the ribbon on some more mega-million-dollar streetcar and light rail malarkey that the city desperately hopes will salvage the failed "vibrant neighborhood" that turned out to be a bankrupt flop:
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will join Mayor Sam Adams next Tuesday for a groundbreaking ceremony for the Southwest Moody Avenue project in South Waterfront.
The project will rebuild Southwest Moody Avenue between Southwest River Parkway and Southwest Gibbs Street to support redevelopment of adjacent brown fields, and facilitate the completion of light rail and streetcar expansions to the east side.
Also on hand to thank LaHood for $23 million in federal stimulus money for the project will be U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, David Wu and Kurt Schrader.
Wow, that's quite a lineup of "unique" characters, several (if not all) of whom seem out of touch with the realities of the day. Which leads to a burning question for our readers:
Comments (18)
What time is this shindig? I work close to there, maybe I will go see the carnival.
Just to clarify. This project is a scandalous part of Milwaukie Light Rail.
It involves moving the current SoWa Streetcar and Moody street to accommodate MLR.
It will also raise the entire site 14 feet- also to accommodate MLR and as a bonus to the schemers, I mean stakeholders-OHSU will raise the site of their planned Life Sciences Collaborative Center building 14 feet also.
NONE of which is being included as a cost of either Milwaukie Light Rail or the OHSU building.
I wonder if Ray Lahood knows about all of the shenanigans?
Like the local match of MLR being ginned up, not secured and unlikely as planned.
OHSU giving some land to TriMet for MLR- TriMet calling it a $15 million part of the local match.
While at the same time TriMet gives OHSU $10 million to help with their new SoWa building.
Clever and it would seem close to money laundering illegal.
Yes, it certainly makes sense to spend $42 Million to relocate the recently built SW Moody and the adjacent SoWhat trolley. It's Jobs. And it certainly makes sense to have this ribbon cutting when MLR isn't even a done deal. Clackamas Co. hasn't created its new urban renewal area to fund its $25 Million portion. Milwaukie hasn't created its URA to fund its $5 Million portion. On top of that, there's the petition to require voter approval for urban renewal in Clackamas Co. which is coming on strong. It all makes sense, doesn't it?
Groundbreaking? Today? I went for a jog down in the condo jungle last week and Stacey and Witbeck already had Moody all "groundbroken" with sewer pipes and construction equipment slued everywhere. Whole road south of Sheridan St. looks like it's been closed for weeks.
MIAMI -- President Barack Obama says Florida Gov. Rick Scott was wrong to reject $2.4 billion in federal money to build a high-speed rail line from Orlando to Tampa.
Perhaps Mayor wants to get on good graces with the President so that the next time Obama comes into town, Mayor won’t have to take spend the day in the car with the Police Chief, in order to evaluate how security does function when a President comes into Portland. Didn’t he have years as Chief of Staff under Vera to figure that out?
I hope it's Sam, and that he's loaded on amyl nitrate. I'd really like to see how the Oregonian spins it when he spends the time impersonating Dennis Hopper from Blue Velvet for three hours.
This is the same SW Moody that was good enough to put fresh streetcar tracks down 3 years ago? Now it needs another $30M to lift the tracks up 15 feet or so?
Vote NO on every and any bond. There is plenty of money in govt if they can throw it away on poor planning like this.
"praised the $51 million reconstruction of Moody".
Just 6 months ago PBOT and PDC was telling its own SouthWaterfront URAC that the SW Moody project was going to "only" cost $42 Million. A $9 Million, 20% increase without even moving a speck of dirt. I guess it's another tram scenario.
Then the Oregonian reports this morning that moving SW Moody is an economic stimulus. I guess having the existing street with still the same two lanes isn't a "stimulus" under the Oregonian's intelligent economic eyes. Logically, we should just move all of Portland's streets a few feet and we'd be totally stimulated.
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
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
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: 32
At this date last year: 66
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 (18)
What time is this shindig? I work close to there, maybe I will go see the carnival.
Posted by anthony | March 22, 2011 7:58 AM
If you know a train wreck is about to happen, you should really stay clear of that area.
Posted by David E Gilmore | March 22, 2011 8:25 AM
10 a.m., I believe.
Posted by Jack Bog | March 22, 2011 9:06 AM
Be careful if you go - it could be dangerous. What if David Wu and Sam Adams crash their cars into each other on the way to the ceremony?
Posted by Bill McDonald | March 22, 2011 9:26 AM
Just to clarify. This project is a scandalous part of Milwaukie Light Rail.
It involves moving the current SoWa Streetcar and Moody street to accommodate MLR.
It will also raise the entire site 14 feet- also to accommodate MLR and as a bonus to the schemers, I mean stakeholders-OHSU will raise the site of their planned Life Sciences Collaborative Center building 14 feet also.
NONE of which is being included as a cost of either Milwaukie Light Rail or the OHSU building.
I wonder if Ray Lahood knows about all of the shenanigans?
Like the local match of MLR being ginned up, not secured and unlikely as planned.
OHSU giving some land to TriMet for MLR- TriMet calling it a $15 million part of the local match.
While at the same time TriMet gives OHSU $10 million to help with their new SoWa building.
Clever and it would seem close to money laundering illegal.
So it goes.
Posted by Ben | March 22, 2011 9:27 AM
Yes, it certainly makes sense to spend $42 Million to relocate the recently built SW Moody and the adjacent SoWhat trolley. It's Jobs. And it certainly makes sense to have this ribbon cutting when MLR isn't even a done deal. Clackamas Co. hasn't created its new urban renewal area to fund its $25 Million portion. Milwaukie hasn't created its URA to fund its $5 Million portion. On top of that, there's the petition to require voter approval for urban renewal in Clackamas Co. which is coming on strong. It all makes sense, doesn't it?
Posted by lw | March 22, 2011 9:41 AM
Maybe everyone will just sink into the muck of the SoWhat haszmat goo down there if this wet weather keeps up.
Posted by portland native | March 22, 2011 10:24 AM
Groundbreaking? Today? I went for a jog down in the condo jungle last week and Stacey and Witbeck already had Moody all "groundbroken" with sewer pipes and construction equipment slued everywhere. Whole road south of Sheridan St. looks like it's been closed for weeks.
Posted by Ryan | March 22, 2011 12:14 PM
MIAMI -- President Barack Obama says Florida Gov. Rick Scott was wrong to reject $2.4 billion in federal money to build a high-speed rail line from Orlando to Tampa.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/18/2122621/obama-criticizes-fla-governor.html#storylink=mirelated#ixzz1HMM7F6bK
Perhaps Mayor wants to get on good graces with the President so that the next time Obama comes into town, Mayor won’t have to take spend the day in the car with the Police Chief, in order to evaluate how security does function when a President comes into Portland. Didn’t he have years as Chief of Staff under Vera to figure that out?
Posted by clinamen | March 22, 2011 12:56 PM
I hope it's Sam, and that he's loaded on amyl nitrate. I'd really like to see how the Oregonian spins it when he spends the time impersonating Dennis Hopper from Blue Velvet for three hours.
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | March 22, 2011 1:49 PM
I'd go with LaHood, because he's drinking some seriously strong kool-aid from the "livability/sustainability" camp.
Posted by MJ | March 22, 2011 2:08 PM
I wonder if Ray Lahood knows about all of the shenanigans?
Knows about it? He's actively encouraging it!
Posted by MJ | March 22, 2011 2:13 PM
This is the same SW Moody that was good enough to put fresh streetcar tracks down 3 years ago? Now it needs another $30M to lift the tracks up 15 feet or so?
Vote NO on every and any bond. There is plenty of money in govt if they can throw it away on poor planning like this.
Posted by Steve | March 22, 2011 2:31 PM
Talk about life imitating art - Ha . . .
LaHood . . . did he show up with Marshall Stockburn & deputies.
Jeez - can't make this c**p up!
Posted by msmith | March 22, 2011 8:03 PM
"Now it needs another $30M to lift the tracks up 15 feet or so?"
I take it back, from the O article about LaHood:
"praised the $51 million reconstruction of Moody"
Vote NO on every bond.
Posted by Steve | March 23, 2011 8:17 AM
"praised the $51 million reconstruction of Moody".
Just 6 months ago PBOT and PDC was telling its own SouthWaterfront URAC that the SW Moody project was going to "only" cost $42 Million. A $9 Million, 20% increase without even moving a speck of dirt. I guess it's another tram scenario.
Then the Oregonian reports this morning that moving SW Moody is an economic stimulus. I guess having the existing street with still the same two lanes isn't a "stimulus" under the Oregonian's intelligent economic eyes. Logically, we should just move all of Portland's streets a few feet and we'd be totally stimulated.
Posted by Lee | March 23, 2011 9:30 AM
$51 million to lift up the street?
Adults are responsible for this?
Children would know better.
Posted by watching for our children | March 23, 2011 10:32 AM
Logically, we should just move all of Portland's streets a few feet and we'd be totally stimulated.
Literally a case of economic stimulus by digging a ditch just to fill it up.
Posted by Ryan | March 23, 2011 11:43 AM