"You're gonna see dashboards"
Allan Classen, the tireless voice behind the NW Examiner newspaper, recently got his first look at Portland's comical city administrator, Raymond Lee. And from this writeup, posted today, it sounds like Classen was not impressed.
His story quotes some of what I've written about Lee since his carpet bag arrived in December, but it also gives readers a brief sample of the endless stream of meaningless hot air that emanates from inside the Lee suit.
“In the two years [since charter reform], they never had a conversation about priorities until I got here. I just want to make sure that I’m creating that environment for our City Council to have these conversations about strategy.”
If there was an answer in there, [Oregonian reporter Shane Dixon] Kavanaugh didn’t detect it either.
“Hearing you talk about the city needing up to five years for there to be a culture change in Portland,” Kavanaugh asked, “Do you think that the public has the patience for five years to get to that culture change?”
Put in those stark terms, Lee reframed his estimate.
“I think you will see things along the way. You’re gonna see changes. You’re gonna see a strategic plan. You’re gonna see dashboards. You’re gonna see things. You’re gonna see more town halls,” he said.
I hope the NW Examiner continues to keep an eye on Raymond. For all his "conversation"-enabling retreats, town halls, dashboards, executive coaches, and convention junkets, he was not the right guy for the Portland city manager job. Not even close.
UPDATE, an hour later: Given the interest in my writing about Raymond, I've created a label just for my posts about him. And so if you click here, you can see the posts. So far, 22 of them. To see the oldest of them, click "older posts" at the bottom.
Holy cats. He's been here like for-a-minute, but he already is planning-out, "up to five years for there to be a culture change in Portland".
ReplyDeleteHe seems to want his name on a grandiose legacy project, but after following how things played-out with that in Greeley - and seeing recent issues about him signing contracts here...Seems like we all need to know more about what he's up to every day & what deals he's agreeing to.
Please-do keep the coverage about him coming!
(BTW - Did you see the recent reporting that the State is now pushing-ahead with the new Portland baseball stadium? I just found that to be incredible, considering the current situation with the Moda Center. Seems like the voters have recently made it clear that the majority doesn't want to pay for sports arenas, and our State electeds are totally ignoring that.)
Hey, don't forget, they're going to abandon Keller Auditorium, too. And build a new public theater down by Portland State. Probably another three quarters of a billion. At some point, even the banks are going to say no.
DeleteUggh, that entire scheme is so offensive.
DeleteI always like to bring-up 'What About The Infrastructure' at meetings about these idiotic proposals, imagine those costs with just the Zidell Yards redevelopment.
Voters are figuring out by now that ODOT's situation wasn't as dire as they'd claimed it was, when we were voting on the transportation package. The developer / team will want us to pay for it, but with the current sentiment about the Moda + the transportation bill bullsh*t, I don't see that happening.
(But this goes back to why, as I said above, we need to know what deals the CA is making, "administratively".)
I really get tired of listening to politicians acting like promoters who promise future improvements when they can’t fix current problems.
ReplyDeleteDitto to that. Unfortunately, too-many voters still fall for it - politicians selling us on fun-&-fabulous new projects, while the 'boring stuff' like roads & sewers are literally crumbling under our feet.
DeleteI think the Romans referred to it as "Bread and Circuses".
DeleteI need a gas mask. It all stinks!
ReplyDeleteThe mystery is why both local legacy media and the council rolled over on this guy. But DEI hires always get a pass--until it's time for the six-figure severance payoffs.
ReplyDeleteThe local media is imbedded with DEI. So, it’s no surprise that they have a fellowship with the politicians
DeleteWe need to create our own dashboard to keep track of all this BS. You could have it prominently on a side bar. Of course a sub-committee needs to meet at a retreat and iron out the details over cocktail weenies and mimosas...
ReplyDeleteWhy is the bar so low wrt the food. I woulda thought it would be prime rib at ringside with all the goodies...
DeleteWe need another committee to agree on the menu...
DeleteLet's put together a task force to craft some concepts for a committee structure.
Delete...and spin up a dashboard so that no one but us can understand the "progress"...
DeleteIn my experience, dashboards (at least in the public sector) are used by people that don't really understand the data to try to impress people that understand it even less. Which seems about right for Lee3 and the city council, or the voting public.
DeleteThat was my point exactly.
DeleteLooks like the culture change from Trump 2.0/Proud Boys/Patriot Prayer was more successful than they admit. But they won't be happy until there's a Mussolini type mayor and shut down of public schools and health clinics. Public libraries probably too.
ReplyDelete