Going to downtown Milwaukie on a failed street, Harrison, is awful. Deer Baby would have been the final insult.

In this case, not only would I have paid for the abortion, but I would have performed it myself.

It was for the children. Poleaxing Deer Baby has prevented years of nightmares on the part of the younger set.

And that's where everything went wrong. Nobody put a bird on it.

The artist's response was priceless:

"For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy; and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is, that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.”

http://www.oregonlive.com/milwaukie/index.ssf/2011/11/artist_reacts_to_deer_baby_wit.html

It's far easier to accuse people of fear and prejudice than to engage in a real discussion.

Reminds me of the Interstate / Chavez blvd fiasco where anyone opposed was labeled racist.

The artist actually wrote that airhead drivel? Run away, run away...

Maybe he could become Portland's Poet Laureate? He's clearly got vision.

A CA artist.
Would prefer to keep this art% money local.
Aside from not liking this particular piece, I thought it was out of scale, way too large.

The artist quoted Rod Serling's intro to one particular Twilight Zone episode?

How appropriate....I had recurring nightmares as a child of monsters like that thing.

Here's my question: What is to become of the glorious mature arboreal colonnade along McLoughlin Boulevard between Bybee and Tacoma, next to Westmoreland Park? The rumor I hear is that they will be cut down to make way for the light rail line to Milwaukie.

Can anybody confirm this?

That artist must have been influenced by the bad kid next door in Toy Story. That ugly deer looks just like some of the toys that neighbor kid was building in his room.

I'm with Jack on this one, that ugly, stupid deer would have been the perfect match to the ugly and stupid train to nowhere. That art is the perfect symbol for the ugly, mismatched organization called TriMet.

It looks like they plan to keep a few token trees around the Tacoma / Johnson Creek station. I'm not sure if that means all the rest will be cut:

http://trimet.org/pdfs/pm/Fact-sheets-timelines/PMLR-Trees-Aug2011.pdf

What is to become of the glorious mature arboreal colonnade along McLoughlin Boulevard between Bybee and Tacoma, next to Westmoreland Park? The rumor I hear is that they will be cut down to make way for the light rail line to Milwaukie.

Hope only a rumor, but -
what if they cannot possibly come up with the funding for this rail,
would they cut the trees first anyway, so that people won't care anymore what they plan to do?
Granted I am cynical and with reason I might add, but who owns the land there?
Some public? and/or private?
Who owns the land those mature trees are on?
Is there a rail track along McLoughlin now?

There is no reason to extend the line into Clackamas County at all.
So there is no point in even adding it to the new transit bridge when the streetcar will suffice for Portland.

At least 80% of the Clackamas County residents are opposed to it and will stop the county funding.

The PMLR will not be getting the $25 million from Clackamas county unless the comissioners perpetrate the most egregious betrayal in Oregon history.

...unless the comissioners perpetrate the most egregious betrayal in Oregon history.

Since the Clakamas County residents are opposed and active about this, would they not begin recalls on those commissioners in a timely fashion, if they are concerned about "betrayals?"

Would be curious to know why the line was ended where it was at Park Avenue. I'm guessing Milwaukie didn't want the parking garage in their downtown, so they foisted it onto unincorporated Oak Grove whose citizens have fewer means to protest. On the other hand, if they were going to build the line anyway, why not extend a couple miles further south to the Oak Grove Blvd area where there's a dense concentration of businesses including Fred Meyer and Safeway?

"Would be curious to know why the line was ended where it was at Park Avenue"

Eric,

It was ended in unincorporated Clackamas County so that the county could use Uraban Renewal to help fund it. The voters were never going to approve any funding for it and there was no other way to pay the $25 million county share.

This memorandum proves it.

ECONorthwest
McLoughlin Area Funding Alternatives
February 2010
"It is our understanding that in January
2010, the Board of County Commissioners gave initial approval to establish a new urban renewal district in the McLouglin Area. The exact boundaries of this URA have not been determined. However, the focus of the district at this time, is to provide funding for the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail project."

and this lie also,

"Because funds are collected from growth in assessed value (and growth in property tax revenue) that would not otherwise occur but for the URA, urban renewal is generally considered politically acceptable."

The county planned to use UR and avoid any voting when they signed the "intergovernmental agreement" with Trimet.

That shady agreement made under multiple false claims and assumptions is a tainted document TriMet would never attempt to litigate.

The county voters are fired up and IMO will be taking more action to stop the commissioners, light rail and Metro development.
Just like LO voters will stop the streetcar and Foothils.

I'd urge anyone interested to help pile on to help them.

Ben, those two quotes should be framed. Please repeat them at appropriate times because the spin will continue from the pols of Clackamas, and we need a good rinsing.

Ben, thanks for the background info.