It's telling that people on both sides of the political aisle dislike Sam so strongly. He hasn't pulled the wool over *anyone's* eyes.

I used to work with a guy who was just like Sam. Like Sam, he'd let loose a major contribution to the liveability of the immediate area, usually after spending the night before eating pickled eggs and drinking beer. Then, immediately after quietly doing so, he'd make a formal announcement, usually along the line of asking "Do you guys smell barbecue?" And yes, we had the same response to the attempted subterfuge as you do. In fact, I think someone hit him in the face with a loaded paint roller for a particularly vile one.

Sam's legacy: lies, debt, cronyism, shady business dealings, and forcing lifestyle and behavior change on citizens through the mayor's office. The fact we couldn't get a recall to succeed still shocks me.

Jack...are you sure that's rain on our shoes??

Services have been on a continuous decline for his entire tenure. But he is right about one thing: we can thank him and Randy Leonard for it.

And destroying city thoroughfares by misappropriating street maintenance dollars to pay for unjustifiable infrastructure all for the personal gratification of slacker bicyclists.

The fact we couldn't get a recall to succeed still shocks me.

He was given a pass by the "community leaders" and new ones projected to come in are being given passes by likely the same people as well.
Do these people not see the flaws and do not care about our city and our well being?
Look at list of some of the supporters?
What does that tell you?

What it tells me is that crony capitalism is very difficult to stop. Once the politicians figure out how to direct money into the wallets of people who will in turn provide political support, it is all over for the common taxpayer.

Liberals have figured out a way to point taxes (Urban Renewal and Federal matching funds are two of the ways) directly into the pockets of their political supporters. Everyone else is being starved out of the system. Sam added the trick of calling the bribes "green and sustainable". Lots of the liberal sheep in Portland felt a warm tingle up their leg when they heard the words "green" and "sustainable". The fact that it was all a lie didn't cross their minds.

"he tells you how it was going to be worse,"

If nothing else, they need to learn some new excuses, we've been told that about giving banks $1T already.

"The fact we couldn't get a recall to succeed still shocks me."

You haven't seen the two candidates we have for mayor? Sam's probably kicking himself since he probably could've won this election again.

Its Portland, we're just not that smart.

So, I just called waste management, b/c they didn't pickup a load of styrofoam bubbles in a black garbage bag. Because the lid on my garbage can was slightly raised, that is considered "an overage", (even though my can was 1/2 full). I now pay $32 every time they pick up ONE garbage can!! Thanks SAM, you are doing a great job... off to look at private company to pick up trash!

I'd congratulate the mayor but he seems to be doing fine congratulating himself.

Notice that he didn't include the $7 million for schools in that list of things we ought to thankfully pay for.

It's like getting a Thank You card from the IRS after they received your interest and penalties check.

With a cheerful, "It could have been a lot worse" inscribed by the Commissioner.

In my SE neighborhood, a 3-story skinny house is currently being built. It's a first -- all the others around here are 2-story. By Sam's logic, rather than moan about the extra light being taken away from the neighbors on the north side, we should be grateful it's not four or more stories. Go by LED flashlight!