Hales: "I'm not a maintainer"
Back when he was quitting the Portland City Council in 2002 to make money selling streetcars around the country, now-mayoral-candidate Charlie Hales actually told the Trib: "I’m a change agent, not a maintainer," he said, "and I like to make things happen." It's hard to think this fellow would do a darned thing to stop the deterioration of Portland's infrastructure. He'll just keep building the same kind of shiny shinola that Sam Adams and Vera Katz have been slapping up for the past decade -- spending like a drunken sailor, ignoring maintenance needs, and then running away when it comes time for the taxpayers to pay the piper.
Speaking of which, we've updated our debt clock to reflect the higher debt figures issued by the city earlier this month in connection with selling the $12 million of property-tax-backed bonds to finance the construction of Little Lord Paulson's Jeld-Wen Field. Those bonds sold last week. For 12-to-15-year money, with interest payments only until big balloon payments kick in at the end, the yields seem to be in the range of 3.05% to 3.45%. Despite the pledge of the "full faith and credit" of the city's general fund, the bonds were rated Aa1 -- one notch below a top rating. The loan deal closes tomorrow.
| Posted at 8:48 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (14)
The City’s legislators of the past decade have collectively taken a city that was once poised to set an example for the world, and turned it into a place that cannot even set an example for the County in which it resides.
- Joseph Mailander
"It is better to raise children with backyards than on condominium balconies," urbanist Wendell Cox said in a Wall Street Journal article entitled "California Declares War on Suburbia" this past week.
Posted by Max | April 16, 2012 9:59 AM
"I’m a change agent"
I think it would be safe to assume his change does not include:
- Lower water rates
- More pothole repair
- Less shootings
- Less TIFs stealing money from schools to build empty shiny buildings
On your debt numbre, do you have a history? It doesn't seem that long ago we crossed $10K/person and now we're 10% higher already?
Posted by Steve | April 16, 2012 10:20 AM
A change agent...
TRANSLATION: I will say whatever I need to say to get a vote. No need to maintain a consistent and truthful path. And with my extensive relationship with key "movers and shakers (read monied class), I know how to "railroad" the process in order to enrich the few and destroy whatever prosperity this town once had.
Posted by Tim | April 16, 2012 10:47 AM
Like a chameleon lizard....emphasis on the lizard!
Posted by portland native | April 16, 2012 10:55 AM
Obama got elected on the "change" platform. Sounds like he just wants to try it himself.
Posted by Mr. Grumpy | April 16, 2012 11:05 AM
"Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance." - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Posted by Al in SE PDX | April 16, 2012 11:32 AM
Nice one Al. Quite apt. The other quote from Hocus Pocus that always stuck with me is when he recounts Ed Bergeron debating Jason Wilder, and Bergeron's epitaph for the earth, to be carved in giant letters on the Grand Canyon:
WE COULD HAVE SAVED IT, BUT WE WERE TOO DOGGONE CHEAP
Only he didn't say "doggone."
Posted by Cary | April 16, 2012 12:21 PM
Jack: I don't live in the city, so I don't have a vote. Nevertheless, I work downtown a lot of the time, I drive on our crappy roads, and I'm concerned about homelessness, escalating gang violence, badly misplaced spending priorities and the lack of economic opportunities in the city. All 3 leading candidates are lefties, basically indistinguishable from one another ideologically (and I couldn't support any of them if ideology was the deciding factor). Hales has some baggage but is in his late 50s and at least has some life experiences, especially compared to Smith. Hales and Smith have some governmental experience (though Smith's is pretty shallow). Brady made a great investment in a super team (and it looks like helped do a bit of work) at New Seasons, and has done some good charitable work, but has no governmental experience. Maybe your view is that none of these 3 should be mayor, and maybe I agree, but as a practical matter, 1 of them will. So, who do you think it should it be, and why?
Posted by The Original Bob W | April 16, 2012 12:29 PM
Bob, honestly, it doesn't make much difference. The people who presently control Portland will continue to control it under any of the three of them. Until Portland voters are ready for a change, the city will keep sliding downhill.
Brady would probably be the least offensive of the three, because, like Potter, she'll bring in a slightly different set of cronies who will take some time to catch on. And like Potter, she'd probably last only one term.
Hales is a quitter and a fraud, and Smith has some wild ideas and serious personality problems.
Posted by Jack Bog | April 16, 2012 1:10 PM
Boy, that kinda reminds me of another never-worked-a-day-ih-his-life blowhard: who was it who kept chirping "I'm a uniter, not a divider" until he finally got his office and told everyone but his campaign contributors to take a flying leap? (This isn't my trying to be partisan. The moment I hear goofy bumper-sticker platitudes passing as actual policy statements, my BS meter goes into overload.)
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | April 16, 2012 1:29 PM
...Maybe your view is that none of these 3 should be mayor, and maybe I agree, but as a practical matter, 1 of them will...
Can we be so certain that one of them will?
Remember when Bud Clark won in the primary?
Remember when Margaret Straughn won a commission seat? The "expected" candidates to win had the media there, and then the media had to go to her, she opened the door and essentially said that they had the money and that she had the people.
Remember the Francesconi, and Potter race?
http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandcityhall/2011/04/portland_city_hall_roundup_wil.html
Going back to mayoral race from seven years ago, all of Francesconi's financial support didn't translate to a win. He finished second to Potter in the primary -- trailing by eight percentage points -- despite raising more than $1 million.
Question then is -
What is the mood of the Portland people?
Posted by clinamen | April 16, 2012 2:38 PM
Aw, don't let him fool ya -- Charlie's a BIG maintainer. Hey, he maintains a straight face when says all that stuff, doesn't he?
The Maintainer (The Portland Rag)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WxfjWnuEno
Posted by Mojo | April 17, 2012 2:38 AM
". . . spending like a drunken sailor . . ." At least the sailors spend their own money!
Posted by RickN | April 17, 2012 7:29 AM
Al posted, "Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance." - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
You know that after Ghenghis Khan pillaged his way across the world and Napoleon conquered, some unfortunate cadre of functionaries had to follow and try to pick up the pieces while they moved on to further glory.
Really, nothing has changed when you're in power.
Posted by NW Portlander | April 17, 2012 2:37 PM