Ahhhhhhhhhh so according to The O, Randy Leonard's top guy, Ty Kovatch, has been "managing" the water bureau.

"Free to a good home" or simply "free range"?

Great, now parks has a director who is an urban planner (no major parks/Rec experience) and a assistant director who's claim to fame is being one of Mayor Adams lackeys. I guess parks is just going to be a real estate development firm now, just like the rest of the govt. Shiny new things will be built while everything else will rot. (see SoWa river pathway)

All for the low, low price of $118,000 per year (plus bennies).

Jimenez will earn $118,000, about 10 percent more than the $107,124 budgeted for Adams' chief of staff in the upcoming fiscal year.

Can we really afford these kind of salaries, 10% more than budgeted for Adams' chief of staff?

Why do we need so many administrators in these city bureaus? Yet we have no money to maintain our parks properly?

I thought we were into budget cutting. We cannot keep restrooms open in our parks, no garbage pickup in parks and I am afraid that NoPoGuy has a point about parks going to be a real estate development firm now...as land for shiny new things being built.

If no money to maintain them, what is next?

That's some mighty fine writing, Chief.

But I had NO IDEA the mayor's office had all those NON CITY related positions.

Executive Assistant to the Mayor
Chief of Staff (out-going)
Chief of Staff (in-coming)
Executive Assistant
Operations Manager

Community Advocate
Arts and Culture Director
Culture & Communications Policy Advisor
Communications Director
New Media Manager
Economic Development Director
Economic Development Advisor
Policy Coordinator
Education Strategies Director
Youth Strategies Coordinator
Education Policy Fellow
International Relations Director
Planning and Sustainability Director
Planning and Sustainability Policy Advisor
Acting Public Safety & Peacekeeping Director
Public Safety & Peacekeeping Policy Advisor
Transportation Director
Transportation Policy Manager

You gotta be kiddin me !

ALL IN JUST THE MAYOR'S OFFICE ?? I want to see this on an organizational chart.

The community needs to adopt more of those rescue bureaucrats...give them a REAL job. They'll need something for their resume for when they turn 25.

Hard to figure what LTJD is so upset about. This is Portland, the city of progressive government. Each of those positions is absolutely vital to creating the strictly controlled freedom and benevolently regulated quality of life that is every resident's birthright.

Furthermore, you have to pay top dollar to secure the talented personnel capable of shouldering the complex, burdensome tasks of directing the city's international relations and coordinating its youth strategies—the latter of particular importance to our current mayor, whose own youth strategies are well known.

Of course, each director needs an adviser to advise him as to which direction he or she should go when planning how to be more sustainable or while he or she is developing the city's economy.

On another thread, people complaining about the top directors at the parks department having no experience in operating parks should ask themselves this question: What do you need parks for anyway?

What I see is a lot of open land within the city that could be used for affordable, high-density housing.

Or, if you insist on keeping them, at least put fences around them and institute fee-based access. Make them revenue-producing. The notion of free access is a relic of the misguided days when owning cars and living in single-family dwellings were considered desirable.

The decline in actual park usage will be more than offset by the savings in parks maintenance—fewer park users mean less wear and tear. The money saved here can then be funneled to construction of more affordable, high-density housing with bike paths and bioswales.

The parks employees whose responsibilities will be lessened or eliminated will instead become part of a new city "Employee Reserve," available to be called back to work at a moment's notice during any and all bureaucratic emergencies.

For example, if the Water Bureau's billing system breaks down or a winter storm threatens, reserve employees can be called in to take on the onerous task of producing the additional press releases that will maintain public confidence in civic institutions during the crisis.

In between, they can stay on full salary and benefits, secure in the knowledge that their potential service to a grateful city will not go uncompensated.

Silly me.

And all this time I figured the Mayor's "go to guy" for "PUBLIC SAFETY & PEACEKEEPING(?)" would be the Chief of Police.

I believe I have discovered the origin of the "WEIRD PORTLANDIA" mythology.

What I see is a lot of open land within the city that could be used for affordable, high-density housing.

What is the driving plan here?
Why do we need more high density housing?
I believe Portland has filled more than its share of the Metro requirement.
Stop already before neighborhoods are taken over completely.
I see many empty units.
Is there anyone in that Mayor's office who can give an accounting?

Affordable housing in city terms means public subsidized housing.
Fish is Commissioner of Housing and Parks!
Not a good sign.

I had NO IDEA the mayor's office had all those NON CITY related positions.

Don't bother the Mayor. He's working on his core (when he's not tweeting about restaurants and there's probably an aide for that, too).

Meet the staff/photos, email and Twitter,
no resumes.
(If resumes can be found, please post)

http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.cfm?c=53331