When METRO's uber-expensive transportation schemes run short of cash then Brady will go to the rescue with her "new revenue sources." They need to keep the dream alive for their pals, don't they? I actually called in this morning, but got disconnected.

I took the time to not only listen to, but watch, that sideshow event today. While they all came across as patently phony, Brady was an effusive babbler of "vision"s (good thing I didn't have a shot of rye every time she said "public-private partnership"), Smith seemed uncomfortable, unremarkable, and stiff, and Hales actually comparatively common-sensical. But, it was all relative to the diluted quality of the threesome. No legitimate reason to exclude candidates such as Max and Scott Fernandez.

I have to presume that Brady would be more accommodating when the rebellion spreads to Portland.
She appears least likely to oppose the public getting what they want.

PDC, the school district, the city of Portland and any other government agency has no business holding a portfolio of property for development.
It's not their job..
If property becomes surplus to an agencies needs it should be sold.
At fair market value.
At auction
Public auction...
No back room deals...

Might be time to list your Portland property with a Manhattan based realtor and split from the city.

This city is so f**cked.

Let's see, Portlanders have a menu of options here:

Streetcar Charlie (who may or may not live in Portland)

Bloated Resume' Eileen (who may oy may not be a "self-made business person")

Randy Clone (who may or may not be a zombie)

The choice is clear.

Portlanders should vote for NONE OF THE ABOVE.

Deny a mandate. Vote NO.

Before one of these yahoos becomes the next mayor, we should be very irritated by Mayor Adams' latest scam to set up 7 new urban renewal areas (URAs). One of these URAs suspiciously covers only Lincoln High School at its western most reach from downtown. Rumor is this URA is going to be used to move Lincoln High School to a Northwest industrial site now used by a wholesale trucking firm. I doubt the Portland Public School district gets much of the cost of this new high school facility funded by the URA as the URA doesn't have nearly enough money to cover the cost of an $85 million High School rebuild and undertake its other endeavors.

So, really what lame duck Adams has cooked up is a way to give the existing Lincoln site away to the developers who have been drooling over it for the past decade, and the kids get sent out to the gritty industrial side of Portland. Moreover, the real money out of this URA will go to funding the financially unsustainable Oregon Sustainability Center.

The only way to stop this nonsense is to get Fritz, Fish and Saltzman lined up against it; and the vote is being hurried for completion this mid-May.

It looks like Portland Schools Superintendent Smith has been bought off by Adams for a few million bucks for the Lincoln High School relocation; and actually these URAs actually reduce property tax revenues available to fund schools (at least indirectly)

Maybe, Bojack's already covered this issue. I only visit the site when its highlighted by Oregon Watchdog.

We've been through most of that, Bob -- you should come by more regularly -- but we missed the tie to the dopey Sustainability Center. Which of course has been right in front of our noses. And if it isn't that, it will be something just as bad.

"Urban renewal" in Portland is all about greasing the apartment guys' palms with public money.

"It would behoove the city's voters to find out specifically what the heck that is supposed to mean."

As it would have helped us if we'd really figured out what 'hope and change' really meant.

This post is not about Obama. I am sorry that your party can't come up with a decent opponent for him.

I love you Jack. But, myopia isn't party specific.

Just when I was starting to think that maybe Brady was the least-worst of the Big Three.

Hales is making some comments lately that have me worried if he is elected - he is actually calling to kill off the Sustainability Center, and a "return to basics". This, for a guy that has supported all of the crap that Portland has done - including running a transit system in direct competition with the established transit system, funding a separate school system...

Brady basically wants government to work for businesses. Yawn. I have no problem eliminating useless requirements (and the City has plenty of them), but the PDC should just be abolished and its assets sold.

Smith...he's against the CRC. If there's any good sign to being against the CRC, that would also put him against another light rail expansion, and if that's his actual stance - I'm for it. But if it's simply to be against the freeway (which despirately needs more capacity and safety improvements) then clearly he is out of touch.

"It would behoove the city's voters to find out specifically what the heck that is supposed to mean."

What the heck does managing the city's properties differently mean.

What a choice, Charlie and Smith pushing the same old party line as Vera the Third vs. Brady and her non-specific we're gonna maybe do stuff differently.

It is way past time for a total house cleaning at city hall but it ain't gonna happen this election.
The graft and corruption just gets more blatant with every passing day. I do not understand how the voters of Portland can continue to ignore the facts.

The question is which of these folks will be able to manage the next take-down of our economy and liberties.

I know when you are running you are supposed to be talking about puffy clouds and sunshine, but these three have no ability to keep this city running when the big dogs come with fangs exposed.

The PDC is one of the most essentially corrupt agencies I've dealt with. Not all the people were bad, but the sum was just ridiculous.

Jefferson Smith doesn't immediately look like a disaster...I'm probably just uninformed.

Vote for Scott Fernandez.

He understands the water and debt issues, and this is crucial.

We need a break from spenders/panderers.

Visualize transparency and hear the sounds of battles of the local bands again at Memorial Coliseum.

We need a return to Budness (as in Bud Clarkness).

These princesses with no ability to earn (only a propensity to spend on vanity projects) have got to go.

If we end the waste, we will be even more famous in New York.

Fact is, New York is restraining their spenders better than we are. How did that happen?