I saved my copy of the Business Section of the April 18 Portland Tribune because it had so much thought-provoking material in it. What a breath of fresh air that semiweekly paper can be.

I'll be working my way through a few of the topics it covered in upcoming posts, but I thought I'd start with a quote from a nifty letter to the editor by Lily Witham of Southeast Portland:

How can Mayor Katz justify continual development on the west side when we cannot even afford to keep our schools open for an adequate length of time? Oregon has been ridiculed via a nationally published comic strip ("Doonesbury") because of its inability to provide adequate schooling for our children.

What does it take to get the message across to the mayor -- real livability is much more than fancy housing developments, chichi grocery stores and retail boutique communities. It's about education, libraries that are open seven days a week, after-school art and sports programs, and educational systems that can provide an adequate length of school year without cheating the teachers out of two weeks' pay. Would Mayor Katz go without pay for two weeks? I think not!

I dreamt last night that Vera announced her retirement. With folks openly declaring themselves "allergic to Katz," it may be best move.