Well, the bulldozers have hit the site of the old Baloney Joe's soup kitchen on the east side of the Burnside Bridge. For years, this was the place for down-and-out denizens of downtown Portland streets to go to get a meal, a prayer, maybe some clothes. It's been shuttered for a long time, and now they're finally tearing it down to make way for a more upscale occupant for what could be a very attractive piece of real estate. Some other structures were demolished last week, but today it's the real Baloney coming down.

Along the with ghosts of Baloney Joe's patrons roaming around that space are the ghosts of the participants of the Cascade Runoff -- the annual 15K road race that used to take thousands of runners up the Terwilliger Hill and back down Front Street to Burnside. It was absolutely one of the best-organized running events anywhere in the world, and 15K world records were often set there. And it all started on the east side of the bridge, in front of Baloney Joe's.