I work downtown, and some of my old Occupy favorites (including "freakishly large guy with the fuax hawk" and "guitar guy with the court jester hat") are back on the scene. Honestly, I don't care what they do as long as there isn't too much damage/my commute home isn't blocked, but I'm not counting on either.

The City of Portland would be lucky to get 1% interest on any deposits at Wells Fargo or elsewhere. Slow news day from City Hall.

Re: "The second big piece is rethinking the city's contract for banking services — which Wells Fargo holds — in order to make it easier for local banks to compete for the business."

How far does the city's contract with WFC extend? For example, are the 95 neighborhood associations -- vehicles for infiltration by city bureaucracies -- required to maintain their funds in WFC accounts?

"Pearson previously opposed the proposal, which has broad support, because he said it put banks with national footprints in a negative light..."

I don't think the proposal did that; I think the banks with national footprints did that. TARP, TARP.

One thing is for certain, maintaining accounts at numerous banks will simply cost the city more money; and some of these little banks and credit unions simply don't have the treasury management system horsepower to handle it. You'll see.