Boondoggles 'R' Us
I see that the bobbleheads at Portland's outdated and irrational Metro layer of government have decided that their rundown Expo Center facility on the northern edge of town should be rebuilt as some sort of sports and recreation palace. The initial liars' budget is somewhere between $225 million and $450 million, but you know how these things go. They're likely to spend close to a billion. Because there aren't enough pickleball courts and ice skating rinks in Portland.
Oh, and by the way, there'll be "private management." Sort of like the empty Convention Center hotel that the taxpayers had to build for Metro. You can smell the graft from here.
They'll be using every trick in the book to try to sell the new Expo Center to the skeptical population. So far they've come up with "Vanport memorial," "indigenous museum," and here's a new one: "World War II internment." I am not making this up.
But the big pitch is that this new jock palace (which may include yet another white elephant hotel) will somehow revitalize the city. I dunno. To me the real city is miles away from the Expo Center. And to revitalize the real city, you'd need to get the junkies off the streets and out of their sidewalk tents in the central core. To do that, you'd need a massive shelter and mental hospital somewhere.
And I've got the perfect place for it: where the Expo Center sits today. The Metro homeless tax would certainly provide the wherewithal to put it there. But no. Pickleball. Pickleball will save us.
When I first read about the new sports complex, being an accountant, I asked myself how much would the community be charged to play ball there. I suspect it's far greater than what the guys at the Y are paying for Tuesday night basketball. The city is already charging softball teams so much to play that teams are either quitting or moving to more budget-friendly leagues like Tualatin Hills or Vancouver. And, you're right about the homeless. While the enablers scream bloody murder about a mass camp, they don't seem to have any alternatives. I believe neighborhoods would like to have their streets back, and Expo is large enough to put those trailers, RVs, campers and cars in one place, and offer services to them.
ReplyDeleteI really would like to have the streets back. I’m puzzled that this isn’t a priority over a sports complex that benefits a few people.
ReplyDeleteHoffman Construction and the local construction unions must be getting desperate to fill some large gaps in their work schedules for the next 2-3 years. As to private management for the new facilities, that will never happen -- the union that most Metro/MERC employees belong to won't allow it. When the Oregon Zoo underwent some major renovations about 20 years ago, the original plan was to outsource most of the restaurant operations to a private company. The Zoo's union objected to going in that direction and the outsourcing idea was stopped in its tracks. I believe Metro is floating that idea again only to make the upcoming bond measure for the Zoo project more attractive to some people who may be sitting on the fence about voting for it.
ReplyDeleteDidn't the zoo bond already pass?
DeleteZoo bond passed this past
DeleteMay 2024.
Yikes, I messed up. I meant to end the post by writing “I believe Metro is floating [ the privatization idea ] again only to make an upcoming bond measure for the Expo Center more attractive to people who may be sitting on the fence about voting for it.” Apologies.
DeleteMETRO is hopelessly rotten to the core.
ReplyDeleteYou’re so right, Jack. It’s ideal for the refuge & rehab place the city & county need to redeem the central city. Sports schmortz, nah.
ReplyDeleteWell if this doesn't EXPOse how pickled these folks are nothing will. Yeah no reason to solve real problems when you can just keep wasting money on dumb and lining the developers pockets.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think the pickle ball attired west side ladies will be taking the filthy drug and crime ridden MAX and busses to get there either.
ReplyDelete