They've got the corner of NE Grand and Hancock all ripped up again. No doubt another piece of "gateway" art is about to be installed. They recently finished putting one of these in over in the Parkrose neighborhood, where Sandy meets I-205. Unlike the ugly stuff that often passes for public art these days, the Parkrose immigrant statue is kinda cool.
But newcomers to Portland need something more to let them know that they've arrived in a special place -- a welcoming monument of some kind with the immortal words of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson:
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat. "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
If they take up a collection for something like that, we'll be at the front of the line to donate.
What a dork- sorry, in the habit of just pasting screen shots, doesn't work. That was the famous "Black Bird" a huge ugly birdlike enormous papier - mache ---- Crow.
I feel much better about our public art installations after seeing the one in front of our rental digs near the beach in Nice. It involved 128 tons of concrete, for a base that supports 70 tons of steel. It rises a mere three stories from the ground, comprising seven vertically stacked 90 foot steel beams, resembling gigantic matchsticks without their heads. They are propped at irregular intervals against one another, in a staggered semi-circular arrangement that brings to mind a teepee that might have been erected following a night of heavy communal libation. The base has floodlights and a plaque, recording the dedication of the thing, in the presence, no less, of the president of La Republique, Mr Nikolas Sarkozy, and (insert here names of soon to be totally obscure city and regional functionaries), ...gasp....get ready...to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the annexation of Nice to France, from Italy!
Suddenly the European debt crisis became crystal clear.
...and those of us who didn't consider ourselves mad anyway will have been turned into mad by staying here.
For those who would say leave if you don't like it, the words to do so and the reality of doing so are not as easy, but I am sure many are in works of planning to do just that if this insanity does not stop.
Meanwhile out in Lents... We can't get potholes on PBOT streets or flooded major intersections fixed - with our own URA monies. We are getting @#*! $#@*@$!! gateway markers that cost nearly 500K for two slaps of composite plastic. Yay! Feels so good to know we have smart decision makers holding our money!
This morning's Big O read was a real downer - after being thoroughly depressed by the sports section, I read that there is not only a strong likelihood that the Streetcar/MAX downtown-to-Lloyd Center fareless square will start charging in 2012 but that nobody has any idea where the money to maintain the eastside streetcar network is going to come from.
Not surprised, just depressed. It's all a "work of art."
American Heritage Dictionary:
work in progress
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary n., pl., works in progress.
A yet incomplete artistic, theatrical, or musical work, often made available for public viewing or listening.
Not surprised, just depressed. It's all a "work of art."
That's how they are justifying those solar panels at the TriMet South Mall Terminus.
"It's just a work of art." It isn't intended to recoup any costs.
I rode by it on Friday on my morning bus ride to work and pointed over there before our bus turned off of Broadway and onto 6th. It was blocked by a row of trees that partially exist because of the slope downward to the retaining all alongside I-405. And the solar panels point southwest, where there's also a really big hill... That thing might get, two, three hours of direct sunlight, if that...and nobody will look at it.
Madness will most likely prevail this Wednesday in our council chambers as they have before them to approve a proposed non-mission critical pipe at Bull Run, so while the lights are twinkling all around us to make us feel good and think all is fine -
Leonard, the water bureau and council will simply not stop spending money. One way or another we have madness in the method by PWB that has been set up to keep spending and in the process to keep making unnecessary and detrimental changes to our good system for other’s financial benefit.
Apparently, the “method” by the PWB has been planned step by step, and this Wed. another very big step is being put on the council agenda to approve another big chunk of money of $31 million and more. If approved on Wednesday, the action could possibly introduce non-native species into our drinking water by bringing in equipment for construction on this project. This would be escalating the damage to our present system.
The PR assuring us that with the variance all is well is just that, PR. All is not well, and as these planned steps unfold, it will become more apparent that our bureau and our council have not at all been the good stewards they should have been. Can they be trusted this Wednesday to do what is in the best interest of the public here?
________________________
Office of Management and Finance
1371 Accept Guaranteed Maximum Price of $31,552,701 from Advanced American Construction, Inc. for the construction of the Bull Run Dam 2 Tower Improvements Project (Previous Agenda 1336; Procurement Report- RFP No. 110465) 20 minutes requested
Commissioner Randy Leonard
Position No. 4
Water Bureau
1372 Amend contract with Black & Veatch Corporation to increase compensation and scope of work for Bull Run Dam No. 2 Tower Improvements (Previous Agenda 1337; amend Contract No. 37587) 15 minutes requested
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
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)
Here's the PDC's plan
http://www.pdc.us/ura/convention_center/heritage-markers.asp
Posted by Found It | December 10, 2011 7:46 AM
I like Jack's idea, but he needs to add the Mad Hatter with Sam or Randy's mug along with the Cheshire Cat.
Posted by Portland Native | December 10, 2011 8:20 AM
Excellent! And how about one of Mock Turtle in front of the PPS HQ? For the plaque:
"Reeling and writhing, of course, to begin with, and then the different branches of arithmetic -- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision."
Posted by Mojo | December 10, 2011 8:49 AM
How about a swap?
/Users/eugenepiazza/Desktop/Screen shot 2011-12-10 at 9.29.17 AM.png
Posted by genop | December 10, 2011 9:33 AM
What a dork- sorry, in the habit of just pasting screen shots, doesn't work. That was the famous "Black Bird" a huge ugly birdlike enormous papier - mache ---- Crow.
Posted by genop | December 10, 2011 9:39 AM
Sam and Randy as Tweedle "Dumb" and Tweedle Dee?
Oh! The possibilities!
Posted by Portland Native | December 10, 2011 10:27 AM
How about "Welcome to Potterville"?
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | December 10, 2011 11:26 AM
The immigrant statue was privately funded. The Rossi family spearheaded the efforts.
Posted by Michelle | December 10, 2011 11:35 AM
I feel much better about our public art installations after seeing the one in front of our rental digs near the beach in Nice. It involved 128 tons of concrete, for a base that supports 70 tons of steel. It rises a mere three stories from the ground, comprising seven vertically stacked 90 foot steel beams, resembling gigantic matchsticks without their heads. They are propped at irregular intervals against one another, in a staggered semi-circular arrangement that brings to mind a teepee that might have been erected following a night of heavy communal libation. The base has floodlights and a plaque, recording the dedication of the thing, in the presence, no less, of the president of La Republique, Mr Nikolas Sarkozy, and (insert here names of soon to be totally obscure city and regional functionaries), ...gasp....get ready...to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the annexation of Nice to France, from Italy!
Suddenly the European debt crisis became crystal clear.
Posted by Gaye Harris | December 10, 2011 11:47 AM
Vive la France....soon coming to Portlandia!
Posted by Portland Native | December 10, 2011 12:00 PM
...and those of us who didn't consider ourselves mad anyway will have been turned into mad by staying here.
For those who would say leave if you don't like it, the words to do so and the reality of doing so are not as easy, but I am sure many are in works of planning to do just that if this insanity does not stop.
Posted by clinamen | December 10, 2011 12:10 PM
"Nighttime interest," indeed...
Posted by TomR | December 10, 2011 12:15 PM
Meanwhile out in Lents... We can't get potholes on PBOT streets or flooded major intersections fixed - with our own URA monies. We are getting @#*! $#@*@$!! gateway markers that cost nearly 500K for two slaps of composite plastic. Yay! Feels so good to know we have smart decision makers holding our money!
Posted by Mizzz | December 10, 2011 12:57 PM
This morning's Big O read was a real downer - after being thoroughly depressed by the sports section, I read that there is not only a strong likelihood that the Streetcar/MAX downtown-to-Lloyd Center fareless square will start charging in 2012 but that nobody has any idea where the money to maintain the eastside streetcar network is going to come from.
Not surprised, just depressed. It's all a "work of art."
Posted by NW Portlander | December 10, 2011 1:34 PM
....or a Work in Progress for public viewing.
American Heritage Dictionary:
work in progress
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary
n., pl., works in progress.
A yet incomplete artistic, theatrical, or musical work, often made available for public viewing or listening.
Posted by clinamen | December 10, 2011 2:35 PM
Not surprised, just depressed. It's all a "work of art."
That's how they are justifying those solar panels at the TriMet South Mall Terminus.
"It's just a work of art." It isn't intended to recoup any costs.
I rode by it on Friday on my morning bus ride to work and pointed over there before our bus turned off of Broadway and onto 6th. It was blocked by a row of trees that partially exist because of the slope downward to the retaining all alongside I-405. And the solar panels point southwest, where there's also a really big hill... That thing might get, two, three hours of direct sunlight, if that...and nobody will look at it.
Posted by Erik H. | December 11, 2011 8:49 AM
Madness will most likely prevail this Wednesday in our council chambers as they have before them to approve a proposed non-mission critical pipe at Bull Run, so while the lights are twinkling all around us to make us feel good and think all is fine -
Leonard, the water bureau and council will simply not stop spending money. One way or another we have madness in the method by PWB that has been set up to keep spending and in the process to keep making unnecessary and detrimental changes to our good system for other’s financial benefit.
Apparently, the “method” by the PWB has been planned step by step, and this Wed. another very big step is being put on the council agenda to approve another big chunk of money of $31 million and more. If approved on Wednesday, the action could possibly introduce non-native species into our drinking water by bringing in equipment for construction on this project. This would be escalating the damage to our present system.
The PR assuring us that with the variance all is well is just that, PR. All is not well, and as these planned steps unfold, it will become more apparent that our bureau and our council have not at all been the good stewards they should have been. Can they be trusted this Wednesday to do what is in the best interest of the public here?
________________________
http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=26997&
Office of Management and Finance
1371 Accept Guaranteed Maximum Price of $31,552,701 from Advanced American Construction, Inc. for the construction of the Bull Run Dam 2 Tower Improvements Project (Previous Agenda 1336; Procurement Report- RFP No. 110465) 20 minutes requested
Commissioner Randy Leonard
Position No. 4
Water Bureau
1372 Amend contract with Black & Veatch Corporation to increase compensation and scope of work for Bull Run Dam No. 2 Tower Improvements (Previous Agenda 1337; amend Contract No. 37587) 15 minutes requested
Posted by clinamen | December 11, 2011 3:18 PM