Toss-ups
When you're talking about the local government in Portland, you have to be careful about using superlatives. Just when you think you've encountered the worst, along comes another outrage to rival the first.
This week's news stories illustrate my point. For instance, which idea is stupider?
1. Covering the Rose Quarter section of the I-5 freeway, which the state can't even afford to maintain properly, to make room for more unwanted high-rise apartment bunkers, all in the name of the extremely vague promise of somehow restoring the Black neighborhood of single-family homes and low-rise businesses that were run out of that location around 60 years ago.
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2. Building a new civic auditorium in partnership with Portland State University, when the university is so broke that it's laying off tenured professors and eliminating majors, and when the drain on public funds will mean that the Keller Auditorium and its adjacent landmark fountain will inevitably be left to rot.
And it isn't just dumbness that sparks the neck-and-neck competitions. There's also hubris. For example, which of these two incidents better shows off the arrogance of the current occupants of City Hall?
1. Holding a "public conversation" about changes to the Lincoln statue on the South Park Blocks, where the public is given no meaningful chance to have its say and the bureaucrats and their allies waste everyone's time pontificating about their own opinions and their own virtue.
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2. Completely ignoring long-established processes and rules surrounding street renaming, so that the ridiculously named "Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard" can now be called the even more absurd "Campesinos Boulevard," a moniker devised by the civic mastermind that is Loretta Smith.
Hard to pick winners, isn't it? All you can ever conclude is "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard (or those are biggest jerks I've ever seen)... until tomorrow."
A freeway cap and another arts facility with no customers? I’ll raise you a $650 million dollar Moda center money pit plus building the most expensive city high schools in American history if we are evaluating “dumb jerk” awards. Here’s a suggestion for our genius political leaders, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, arguably Oregon’s most revered institution, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Last year over 99,000 patient visits occurred, touching virtually every Oregonian. Hospital leaders are beginning talks with the legislature to fund desperately needed facility upgrades. Let’s spread the word and invest scarce public funds in something we can all be proud of and rally around.
ReplyDeleteCommon sense has never been a platform of Portlandia.
ReplyDeleteKinda like Nike. Go woke go broke.
DeleteI can't pick just one!
ReplyDeleteIt's also important for voters to know that, if you look through & listen to public testimony on agenda items (I do, plus I regularly send in testimony), you'll find that they're going-against a strong majority on some important issues.
The street renaming thing is a recent example - there was huge-support for it go back to SE 39th, but they had a few pre-arranged speakers come & speak in favor of Campesinos, and then voted against what was an obvious majority.
These clueless / corrupted / self-involved people on the Council are causing irreparable damage. They have got to get out of their-own echo chamber, and forget about the ridiculous idea that they've got what it takes to have a political career.
*It's super-easy to provide testimony, folks, and you don't have to give personal info or be a Portland resident. Just click on an upcoming agenda item, once it's posted - https://www.portland.gov/council/agenda
(You can also view others' testimony, and the outcome/votes of previous agenda items, there.)
A Towering....oversight
ReplyDeleteDonnie-
I walked out of the Mark Pavillion at the Portland Art Museum with you the other day, leaving early from the mis-labeled, "Lincoln's Return: A Public Conversation." When you asked, how's it going?, I said, "better, now that I'm leaving this charade." I came upon Bob Weinstein's account of the evening, and I think he captured it well, and with restraint. I rarely, if ever, walk out of an event or a movie, or a play early, but I did Tuesday night. The city's Eric Fredrickson was condescending at best, and I could string together a whole list of adjectives in addition to that, many of which would apply to the panel as well, not withstanding their credentials, which did not supersede a general lack of maturity and respect for the audience, for the most part.
Of course, I think Lincoln was, and is, a towering figure, not comparable to Atiyeh or Katz, by the way, but rather than genuinely hear that kind of perspective, we were all lectured, essentially, about how ignorant we were. Yeah, I was insulted, but by the time I got home the more I reflected on the evening, the anger gave way mostly to despair that there's not much I can do about the insularity of a city bureaucracy out of touch with its populace.
I would willingly sign a referendum to demand a voice of voters on Lincoln, as stupid as I generally believe using a referral for this matter would be.
But you can do something about it. And you should. You were there. Everyone there-- moderator and panel included-- immediately recognized that what was on the billing, was not what was executed. I would ask that the City try again, and genuinely listen to the hundreds people who cared enough to attend.
Donnie Oliveira has had some challenges with transparency & the public process, so it's not particularly surprising that he appeared to be serving some agenda other than what the majority wanted, in the meeting.
DeleteWe can all just imagine how he's representing the voters' wishes in the (totally non-transparent) Moda negotiations.
His job at the mercy of Raymond Lee. He's probably quietly calculating his severance.
DeleteAnd now, after all-that, the Mayor says they will, "restore it to its original pedestal".
DeleteFrom today - https://www.portland.gov/mayor/keith-wilson/news/2026/9/10/city-portland-return-lincoln-original-plinth
Sadly, the stupid we shall always have with us.
ReplyDeleteThe only mystery is why the rest of us continue to expect that our public servants act the way they do...and have for as long as anyone can remember. Get used to it; they're not listening because they don't have to. They run the show. Don't like it? Hit the road.
ReplyDeleteProbably not as egregious as the above examples, but certainly an example of a complete failure to read the room was raising the Arts Tax on 60% of the people. And IIRC, at least one clowncilor promised the price increase would come with an easier way to pay, which has not materialized. The fines will go up, too, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteThis D3 voter is so fed up with this nonsense that she will not be voting for any candidate who does not promise to axe this tax. They got their street fee. Now, they need to make a small gesture to lower a tax, and the Arts Tax is the obvious choice.
In recent years, a lot more people are getting fed up. I wish the media would acknowledge it.
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