You are all so stupid
One of Randy Gragg's designer buddies -- one of the people cashing in on the totally unnecessary rehash of the downtown Portland transit mall -- took Randy out to lunch and showed him his looseleaf binder full of other wonderful ways that he could save downtown, for a fee. The mall should have "countertops for laptop users to tap the city's free WiFi"! And the city should set up "on-call design services" -- yes, that's what's missing.
Once somebody picks up the tab for Randy's Pimm's cup, it's stop-the-presses time at the O. And so we all got to read about it yesterday.
As usual, the goateed guru of Graggination knows best. Now the local business owners don't know what they're doing in their advocacy for downtown. After all, they're not architects, and they don't buy Randy any wine and cheese!
And of course, it's also too bad we can't be like downtown San Diego or Seattle. You haven't been Gragged until he tells you that. What, no San Francisco or Vancouver reference? Wait 'til next column. Actually, we are becoming more like San Diego -- municipal bankruptcy case -- every day, thanks to Randy's pals.
But the best part this time around is the critic's brush with true greatness:
"Big visions are important, but you also have to walk the streets and listen," Goldschmidt told me a few years ago in an indirect critique of then-Mayor Vera Katz. "It's the little stuff -- traffic tickets for loading, the trash not getting picked up -- that drives business owners nuts."Note that Goldschmidt didn't just say it -- he told it to Randy. What a picture. Two special guys.
| Posted at 11:18 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (10)
Oh boy, next up, My Lunch with Jim Francesconi. Isn't he pimping for downtown now?
Then following, dessert with Tom Imeson (once he finishes lunch with Sam Adams.
Posted by Steve | September 18, 2006 11:27 AM
Did Neil tell him where he could pick up some hot dates?
Posted by Cynthia | September 18, 2006 11:48 AM
I don't know, but I guess he told Randy that Vera (who as mayor did whatever Neil told her to) was a bad mayor. Neil -- the guy who sold the tram, for a big fee, using Vera as his puppet. The O thinks we need more of his ideas, funneled through Randy Gragg. As the kids say, LOL.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 18, 2006 11:54 AM
Did Neil tell him where he could pick up some hot dates?
He knows where all the middle schools are...
Posted by Jon | September 18, 2006 12:08 PM
I wonder how Vera feels about all this. The O's editorial page seems to be on a binge to bring back the "new improved Neil Goldschmidt: last week's editorial on the vision it took to divert federal transportation dollars to light rail followed by a letter to the editor from Mitch Greenlick chastising the editorialist for failing to mention the name of the great visionary, Neil Goldschmidt. Back by popular demand! It is so hokey. Those Pulitzer boys and some of the better reporters over there are maybe even a little embarassed.
Posted by Cynthia | September 18, 2006 12:19 PM
He knows where all the middle schools are...
What an unfair comment. Neil did not stoop so low as to pick up a teenage girl at a middle school. He merely had an "affair" with the 14-year-old child of one of his staff members.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 18, 2006 12:23 PM
"More than 50 storefronts stand empty in the downtown Portland retail core." I only wish these could be filled with the wonderfully diverse businesses of which only a few are left in Portland (Camerons Books, Richs Cigars, etc.). The magic shops, pet stores, used book stores, record stores,vintage clothing, antiques, diners, bars, second run movie houses like the Guild, The Movie House, or Duck Soup Cinema that once ran across from the bookstore near PSU. The little places that filled in the corners. It's been going on for 30 years now, and it's happening all over the country but if Portland really wanted to be different they'd try to make us more like San Francisco in the 1960's then Seattle in the 1990's. JMHO.
Posted by tom | September 18, 2006 1:31 PM
Sorry, Jack. I stand corrected..;-)
Posted by Jon | September 18, 2006 3:31 PM
Even thought the whole transit mall "enhancement" is a sickening waste of tax dollars, not every idea put forth in Gragg's column is worthless. The comments about grants for power washing store fronts, pre-installing utility hookup's for street vendors, and stream-lining the design approval and permitting process for small businesses do make sense. If the average small business owner can't make it happen in the downtown, then all the public investment trying to upgrade the downtown is a waste. BTW...qouting an admitted child molester such as Neil Goldschmidt as an authority is never a smart move when one is trying to persuade an audience. All Neil has going for him in my opinion is the statute of limitations for First Degree Statutory Rape.
Posted by Kevin | September 18, 2006 4:32 PM
Why can't business owners wash their own &%#% storefronts? Why does the government have to get involved?
Posted by Hinckley | September 18, 2006 6:27 PM