No fun pranks with the youngsters this year
It makes no sense. Here it is the creepiest holiday of the year, and Portland's scary mayor leaves the country for a week. Another one of those all-important trade junkets, on which he and one or more of his dubiously qualified staff members act like they're doing something to help the local economy.
But unlike some, I wasn't surprised at the news of the trip. I knew he'd be heading over there soon, once I saw that the Japanese planners are currently working on the kind of fantasy project that gets our mayor really excited.
| Posted at 9:20 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (11)
I used to lead trade missions to Japan for state and city officials. The amount of money blown on these junkets has never been justified by any "results". Investment and trade promotion programs take time, planning, and a great deal of persistance. Fly by's by the Mayor, Governor or other officials accomplish nothing. Our Sister City relationship with Sapporo may yield a warm fuzzy for the visiting dignitaries but that is as far as it will go. Our Mayor should be told to stay home, stop wasting his time, and our money. I hope the Mayor understands that when a Japanese person says Hai it does not usually mean Yes.
Posted by Dean | October 30, 2009 10:05 AM
We could probably save money by stacking up the currently uninhabited condos at SoWhat. Even retrofitting them to work as stacking blocks would be cheaper than the X-Ceed. And hey, you could run a tram off the top!
Posted by Michelle | October 30, 2009 10:26 AM
Thanks, Dean. It would appear that a cost-benefit analysis of such trade junkets is a contribution the City Auditor might make to our comprehension of how this city does not work.
Posted by Gardiner Menefree | October 30, 2009 10:46 AM
a cost-benefit analysis of such trade junkets is a contribution the City Auditor might make
Sounds like a dubious career move for our new City Auditor.
Posted by Allan L. | October 30, 2009 11:04 AM
"I would say that it is a grueling task. It sounds glamorous; it's not. But I do it because I want this city to be known as the go-to place in the United States for sustainable industries."
Awwww, thanks Creepy for your sacrifice!
Really? So this is our definition now of toil and grueling work?
Posted by Larry K | October 30, 2009 11:13 AM
Hmmm...
13,000 feet tall and 1,000,000 people.
Is anyone else thinking terrorist target?
Posted by MJ | October 30, 2009 12:00 PM
Did the mayor ever go on a junket to any of the places where bike rental programs have been implemented? Here is a story from the NY Times about how 80 percent of the 20,000 bikes in Paris' bike rental fleet have been stolen or damaged.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/world/europe/31bikes.html?_r=1&hp
Posted by none | October 30, 2009 4:32 PM
Yes, the honorable mayor and his sidekicks have visited cities in Europe and a few in the US that have bike rental programs. That's where they got the idea.
Posted by lw | October 30, 2009 5:34 PM
"Here it is the creepiest holiday of the year, and Portland's scary mayor leaves the country for a week."
Hey, look on the positive side, it's probably a great holiday for Sam's 30 staffers that don't have to deal with this man-child.
Maybe when he's polishing cars at Ron Tonkin's this will be a fond memory.
Posted by Steve | October 31, 2009 8:44 AM
It is easy to bash trips like this, but I have spent a fair amount of time traveling internationally for my work and I have to say that it really does make a difference when you can establish personal relationships with people (including government officials) in other countries. In Asia, even one meeting can make a huge difference.
I have personally experienced this.
Posted by portlandia | October 31, 2009 4:33 PM
Portlandia - I agree, sometimes face-to-face it what it takes to seal the deal.
Care to share any concrete results that have come out of our illustrious leaders trips over the past few years?
Posted by Larry K | November 2, 2009 8:44 AM