County courthouse blues, cont'd
One of our pen pals regarding Multnomah County's two star-crossed courthouse projects won't be writing us any more -- at least not in his official capacity. The county's lead facilities guy, Doug Butler, fell on his sword yesterday after the East County courthouse budget hit $40 million. As recently as June 11 of this year, the number $21.1 million was being knocked around.
And if they can't get a little drive-through courthouse built in Gresham, then replacing the downtown Portland county courthouse isn't going to happen for a long, long time. Besides, the tenants of the toney office tower that's going in to the immediate west of the supposed new courthouse site downtown aren't going to let the county spoil their Mount Hood views. And the office tower developer's lapdogs on the City Council probably won't approve the necessary changes in the land use rules. Meanwhile, that $9 million that's already been borrowed for the project continues to incur interest at 6 percent, while it continues to earn a big 3 percent in the bank.
At the rate this is going, the next news will be that the bank is going under.
| Posted at 9:16 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (4)
I think this guy is a scapegoat. The last County Commission, especially Lonnie Roberts, encouraged low ball numbers for years in order to keep this project politically viable.
Kudos to Wheeler for insisting on real numbers, but don't hang out the staff for the fact that the last commission liked to live in la la land.
Posted by Deeds | July 17, 2008 10:41 AM
(sigh) I will just keep hoping that, when a decent-sized earthquake hits and the courthouse crumbles, that it will be at night and my husband and friends won't be in there. I wonder how much of the lack of action has to do with a conscious or unconscious calculus on the public's part that: hey, worst-case scenario, a bunch of criminals and lawyers die, no biggie.
Posted by SP | July 17, 2008 11:07 AM
I'm just waiting for the downtown courthouse to double in cost, then the Sellwood replacement bridge, then the MAX-only bridge to SoWhat, then the CRC. Jack will have to add a few commas to the long-term debt calculator.
Posted by Mike | July 17, 2008 5:30 PM
I think the downtown courthouse is going to happen no matter the cost overrun. When is another question. Didn't the PDC give the county 9 mil for the Hawthorne Bridge ramp fix that's going to have to happen before they build anything.
Posted by stan | July 18, 2008 8:31 AM