This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on December 27, 2012 11:45 AM.
The previous post in this blog was Pathetic and pathetic-er.
The next post in this blog is A Jersey curse.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
Urban renewal is a state-authorized, redevelopment and finance program designed to help communities improve and redevelop areas that are physically deteriorated, suffering economic stagnation, unsafe or poorly planned.
The Portland Development Commission plays a major role in making Portland one of America’s most livable cities, using urban renewal as a tool to focus public attention and resources in specific areas of the city. PDC helps Portland realize capital projects – parks, streetscape improvements, community centers – that would not happen on their own.
PDC leads the planning and implementation of comprehensive projects that fulfill Portland’s goal of creating healthy, vibrant neighborhoods throughout the city. The agency focuses on implementing plans unique to each urban renewal area, using an integrated approach to revitalization that includes commercial, retail/institutional, residential/mixed use, streets, mass transit and parks development...
Urban renewal continues to evolve to meet the wisdom, goals and community needs of the times.
It's peculiar (and alarming) that the Portland Development Commission, Metro, Portland City Council, and increasingly Multnomah County all spin similar feel-good P/R about themselves. I suppose the monster wants to keep being fed.
They got "vibrant" in there. How does one "evolve" to meet wisdom? "Urban renewal continues to evolve to meet the wisdom, goals and community needs of the times."
Seriously. How do you meet wisdom? Do you shake its hand? Do you go for coffee? Who writes that dreck? Do they think it makes sense? I don't.
I also think that person doesn't know what to do with a comma -- or when.
People write dreck because they think dreck. So my nitpicking isn't, really.
"The Portland Development Commission plays a major role in making Portland one of America’s most livable cities"
By their meddling, reduced tax rates, and special favors they have indeed played a major role - Portland is now more unlivable than ever. To verify this, all you need to do is count the number of people standing on various street corners seeking a crumb of livability.
So "Wisdom" met "Urban R" on the web, and they went out for coffee. They got along really really well, so coffee turned into cocktails, at Imbibe, and then dinner at Blue Hour, and then after dinner drinks at Doug Fir, and they ended up closing down the place, so they went to Urban R's loft in the Pearl, on the trolley of course, and one thing led to another....but then...Wisdom left suddenly and Urban R is left wondering; what exactly happened?
I must be a real oldy moldy liberal because I thought that "central planning" a la Soviet style was bad and disproved? So it's bad if the commies do it but fine when the PDC does it? Their copy seems to be word salad the robber barons' lapdogs churn out hoping it will distract the feeble minded. "Oooh, bright shiny-shiny!"
So, COP starves basic services, leading to physical deterioration and unsafe areas. Then, to cover a few services, they start nickle and diming residents (think leaf fee, parking meters, permit fees, ad nausem), leaving everyone poorer who stays, and many moving out, and thus we have economic stagnation. The poor planning speaks for itself, ergo, everytime COP holds a charette to plan the death of another part of town. Bingo! Now PDC can jump in to save the day!
Remember when there was no PDC and no Metro? I think we did just fine. And we certainly spent a lot less money. Sherman, let's fire up the way-back machine.
And while we're at it, maybe we can bring back the Rose City bus service.
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 (13)
I laugh in their faces; I pity you poor folks in their clutches.
Posted by Sam T. | December 27, 2012 12:05 PM
It's peculiar (and alarming) that the Portland Development Commission, Metro, Portland City Council, and increasingly Multnomah County all spin similar feel-good P/R about themselves. I suppose the monster wants to keep being fed.
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | December 27, 2012 12:07 PM
Wisdom and urban renewal, in the same sentence!
Huge and epic fail!
Posted by Portland Native | December 27, 2012 1:08 PM
They got "vibrant" in there. How does one "evolve" to meet wisdom? "Urban renewal continues to evolve to meet the wisdom, goals and community needs of the times."
Seriously. How do you meet wisdom? Do you shake its hand? Do you go for coffee? Who writes that dreck? Do they think it makes sense? I don't.
I also think that person doesn't know what to do with a comma -- or when.
People write dreck because they think dreck. So my nitpicking isn't, really.
Posted by sally | December 27, 2012 1:45 PM
I believe this is true:
"The Portland Development Commission plays a major role in making Portland one of America’s most livable cities"
By their meddling, reduced tax rates, and special favors they have indeed played a major role - Portland is now more unlivable than ever. To verify this, all you need to do is count the number of people standing on various street corners seeking a crumb of livability.
Posted by Tim | December 27, 2012 1:53 PM
Basic city services continually go under funded so PDC can play Monopoly with fat cats like Homer and company
Posted by TR | December 27, 2012 1:59 PM
So "Wisdom" met "Urban R" on the web, and they went out for coffee. They got along really really well, so coffee turned into cocktails, at Imbibe, and then dinner at Blue Hour, and then after dinner drinks at Doug Fir, and they ended up closing down the place, so they went to Urban R's loft in the Pearl, on the trolley of course, and one thing led to another....but then...Wisdom left suddenly and Urban R is left wondering; what exactly happened?
Posted by Portland Native | December 27, 2012 3:03 PM
love it!
Posted by sally | December 27, 2012 6:37 PM
I met some decent do-gooders working for the PDC. The overall system seems flawed. Flawed beyond saving? Probably.
Posted by Jo | December 27, 2012 7:24 PM
I must be a real oldy moldy liberal because I thought that "central planning" a la Soviet style was bad and disproved? So it's bad if the commies do it but fine when the PDC does it? Their copy seems to be word salad the robber barons' lapdogs churn out hoping it will distract the feeble minded. "Oooh, bright shiny-shiny!"
Posted by Old Zeb | December 27, 2012 8:30 PM
I guess one can't have vibrancy without debt. Oops - urban renewal.
Posted by Nolo | December 28, 2012 7:16 AM
So, COP starves basic services, leading to physical deterioration and unsafe areas. Then, to cover a few services, they start nickle and diming residents (think leaf fee, parking meters, permit fees, ad nausem), leaving everyone poorer who stays, and many moving out, and thus we have economic stagnation. The poor planning speaks for itself, ergo, everytime COP holds a charette to plan the death of another part of town. Bingo! Now PDC can jump in to save the day!
Posted by umpire | December 28, 2012 3:50 PM
Remember when there was no PDC and no Metro? I think we did just fine. And we certainly spent a lot less money. Sherman, let's fire up the way-back machine.
And while we're at it, maybe we can bring back the Rose City bus service.
Posted by NW Portlander | December 29, 2012 6:19 PM