Best post of the year. Just say no and don't go.
Even works for my little berg.

As the once and future blogger who wrote the post that led to the tram rescue stunt, I am conflicted about Sam Adams. If he becomes mayor, it would certainly elevate the anecdote to a new level. Then again, I'm not sure I'd want the city run by someone so in love with himself and the limelight that he would do such a thing. I though it was a Michael Dukakis moment in the tank - only worse. The idea was to reassure the citizens of Portland that the tram's rescue system worked, but if anything, it just made it look more ridiculous than ever. All that money and you have to descend over a hundred feet on a rope in potentially bad weather? That's the plan the city leaders came up with? The Roosevelt Island tram rescues involve another car that approaches the broken down tram and shuttles the passengers away. I doubt there was a single Portlander who felt better about the possibilities of getting trapped high above the city, after watching this display. But all that was secondary. Accomplishing anything of value for Portland was all in the distant background. Sam Adams saw this as a glorious chance to be on TV doing what amounts to a stunt, and that level of egomaniacal foolishness bodes poorly for Portland's future.

Jack Bogdanski for Mayor!

Sounds like Potterville. Let's ram that name change through.

I think Adams is the perfect candidate for an incessantly self-admiring city, and he and Portland will have many fine moments using one another as a personal handmirror.

Sorry, kathe w, Dave Lister for Mayor, Jack for the council seat Sam the Scam is vacating.

Write them in.

Sam Adams saw this as a glorious chance to be on TV doing what amounts to a stunt, and that level of egomaniacal foolishness bodes poorly for Portland's future.

Sums it up in one sentence. I can only hope there is another viable candidate--or my vote will go to "anybody but"

I don't know about you but I am sick of the same old thing. No more corruption, no more agendas. Is there any corporation out there willing to give up their CEO for 4 years to run the city and put it back in the black? I say that corporation willing to do that would in return get a healthy tax break for that time period. We need a no nonsense, for the people, business man/woman at the helm. We as Portlanders deserve a better life and business climate.

I could care less about his stunts and egomania. My concern is this is the man as Vera's former chief of staff who jam through higher density in neighborhoods, which he still supports. A man who jammed through the tram in that position lying and hiding the truth. A man who will drive Portland taxpayers to the brink with streetcar development with millions given to Homer(Goldschmidts best friend says the Oregonian. A man who now espouses high gas taxes and additional fees for the working folks while planning to cut business taxes A man who will continue to push the urban renewel fiasco that this city has become at the expense of taxcpayers and a man who pushed through the state legislature a 1/2 billion give away to Major league Baseball

I don't know who I'm voting for for Mayor. I don't think Sam; he's the status quo, and that obviously sucks. So no criticism of your criticism in that regard.

But, Jack, you are very, very fond of banging the drum, while never joining the band. While I very much enjoy your blog, and I like the fact that you bring so much info forward, my problem is the same with you as it is with most "commentators" in the world: you offer criticisms but never step in to do anything about it.

A guy who feels so free to so incessantly take pot shots at city government, to opine on what is wrong, and to point out all of the problems with how things are done (and who, frankly, is right a lot of the time) needs to step in and take steps to fix the problem. If I were as on top of all of these things and felt like I had a handle on what needed to be fixed, I'd probably try to get involved in solving the issues. You seem to be well aware of what needs to be done. So, when are you going to do it?

If you want to run a campaign, I can think of several people (myself included) who'd probably be interested in helping. Just waiting for the e-mail...

You liberals are getting what you asked for! More debt? You got it. More wasted $$, you got it. The chance to whine for years to come, you got it!

A fine point, MikeC. What we need is a Republican savior. An MBA mayor to go with our MBA president. Then we can turn the billions into trillions and relax as, after all, deficits don't matter.

I've lived in Portland proper for over 25 years and found its residential neighborhoods such as Richmond to be great. But Adams' vision of having streetcars running all over the place, as a substitue for the freedom of automobile travel, has pushed me to start lobbying my wife to move to a more car friendly burb. The bicyclists have organizations like the Portland Bicycle Transportation Alliance representing them in the setting of Portland Transportation policies and regulations. Streetcars have politicos and developers representing them before government. Are there any organizations active in Portland representing the interests of in-city motorists? I'd be interested in starting one if none exists, or belonging to one if one does exist.

So, when are you going to do it?

Even as a lark, it would shake things up - and is that so bad?

c'mon!

Rusty, credible information and analysis is like honey-in-winter to an average concerned decision maker. Someone has to gather and process the info and then spoon feed it like royal jelly to the Queen(s)

The maximum debt level is usually pegged to the tax value of real property. I think the "price level" is artificially too high. I need the data to make the case. Multnomah County won't waive the already-arbitrary-cost to obtain tax data for a sequence of past years (and mortgage data, as it too is highly relevant to my particular line of inquiry) so that I can match it against private sector wage/income data over time.

If I stand out in front of the Multnomah County offices do you think I can get folks to write a few checks, made out to Multnomah County, to cover the cost (a couple thousand bucks, to duplicate a few already existing CDs)?

You see . . . my request, out of hand, is not made in the public interest. The reverse must be true too that the denial of the waiver is a fortiori in the public interest; and so too the absence of any need to do very same thing that I would do, but in house.

The correct level of debt is just below the amount where a judge has authority to invalidate a bond issuance because it exceeds the prescribed fractional limit, relative to property values.

Who here would pay to argue that property should be valued lower just so as to reduce the level of public debt? (The reverse proposition is a highly potent policy driver; for D's and R's and Zebra's too.)

"Adams' vision of having streetcars running all over the place, as a substitue for the freedom of automobile travel, has pushed me to start lobbying my wife to move to a more car friendly burb."

Who are you kidding? You're living in the most extravagantly, wastefully car-oriented country in the world, and this city is just slightly less in love with and dependent upon cars than most places in the US. And you're complaining that somehow the minor concessions Portland makes to alternatives to auto travel means you're about to lose your rights to drive as big a car as you want as much as you want, thereby unnecessarily wasting huge amounts of fuel while polluting the air that not just you, but I, have to breathe?

Yes, please, move to the car-friendly burbs and lick all those wounds that we walkers, bike riders, and mass-transit users have inflicted upon you while, I have to assume, you've raced through the streets in your up-armored Hummer. That'll teach all us liberal city-dwellers a lesson.

There's nothing more pathetic than the privileged claiming to be victims.

You liberals are getting what you asked for! More debt? You got it. More wasted $$, you got it. The chance to whine for years to come, you got it!

Liberals?

The biggest debt-load in the history of the country has come with the advent of the jackals calling themselves "conservatives". Reagan, Bush and Bush and their corporate shills. Talk about wasted $$! I'm sure we'll be whining for years, thanks to dumbship Repugnantcan "compassionate" conservatives.

Keep in mind that liberals take your hard-earned income as taxes and give it to entirely undeserving citizens, while conservatives take your hard-earned income as taxes and give it to their entirely undeserving friends.

Liberal/conservative...Repugnantcan/Dummycrat...it no longer matters. They're all fiscally irresponsible.

Wasn't it Will Rogers who said "I can't decide whether to be a Republican or a Democrat. Everytime I'm about to become a Democrat, they do something stupid. Everytime I'm about to become a Republican, they do something crooked."

here we go.....the river is under utilized anyhow...we could all be commuting by punpkins...forget the streetcars

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katheworsley/1781643592/

meh

more bicycles, more streetcars, less cars, less pollution.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1193711129314840.xml&coll=7

i love riding my motorcycle, and driving can be convenient.
but i prefer clean air.

being motor-centric seams to me , to be a liability to all our health in the inner city.

How about it Dave? You up for it? :D

Believe me everybody, I am gnashing my teeth wishing I could be in this race. But I just can't... not this time.

But, Jack, you are very, very fond of banging the drum, while never joining the band. While I very much enjoy your blog, and I like the fact that you bring so much info forward, my problem is the same with you as it is with most "commentators" in the world: you offer criticisms but never step in to do anything about it.

Hey Jack...the above is dead on...I'm too right wing and mean from years of this BS.

You could do it..why won't you stop this BS?

To good people..one for the city council, one on county, and it's over for the Sam's and Randy's of this sick city.

Jack,
Problem is you need three votes on both those bodies. One person on each isn't going to do it.

Dave......WELL DUH!!!

First you gotta get one vote!!!!

Until that happens...WELL, you know the rest!

I mentioned to someone in my new home, SALEM, the other day "We should have Streetcars and MAX like they do in Portland". I thought I was going to be killed. If Streetcars and LRT are "so wonderful" why aren't many other cities following Portland's lead? It's because they are expensive and wasteful and do nothing but attract vagrants and violence.

"It's because they are expensive and wasteful and do nothing but attract vagrants and violence"

The above is dead right, NOTHING GOOD AT ALL,Greg is right.

If I'm going to seriously boycott Sam, which I'd love to do, I'm going to need a credible alternative for a candidate. I suspect that many others will as well.

I'd vote for Bud Clark again, but I'm sure he won't run...However, he might be able to suggest some decent alternatives.

We'd better identify that credible alternative damned soon, though.

What concerns me is this self-perpetuating belief on the part of each successive wave of Commissioners that, "I made it, now it's my time to call the shots." That started with Vera and we see it in all of these guys, a very egocentric authoritarian mindset that drives their decisions. You also start to see what psychologists call the "similar to me phenomenon" at work and city govt becomes increasingly fractioned.

I'd like to see somebody who was a firm believer in process and achieving buy-in from all stakeholders. No, you can't please all the people all the time, but if you adhere to that type of philosophy, you avoid fiascos like street renaming, water bureau billing, entangled transportation projects, etc. I thought Potter might be better at process, but he's proven to be more dictatorial just like Vera and Sam. Needless to say, it's almost impossible for a candidate to achieve "transparency" (though that's a fave buzzword these days) when they govern in an authoritarian style.

QUESTION FOR Jack B.
Simple running for office platform:

"GET BACK TO THE BASICS" fire/water/cops/sewer

Can you stick with the above and get elected in Portland,Oregon?