Best Christmas present ever, Luke and Maxwell?

Go Ducks!

I have been on vacation this past week, and spent much of it happily watching college football on TV with my sons. Thank you, Comcast, for broadcasting re-runs of the entire Ducks season. I was at all but one of the home games, and watched the away games on ESPN or the networks, so I missed Ducks Athletic Director Mike Bellotti's commentary on Channel 37 each week. Fascinating. Plus, it is way more fun to watch the games knowing they have happy endings.

My son Luke pointed me to this very sweet interview (Thanks, Ross Hamilton of the Oregonian) featuring assorted Ducks including amazing freshman LaMichael James.

In it, LaMichael talks about "watering the bamboo". It's a reference to a motivational speaker Coach Chip Kelly brought in, Greg Bell, who tells listeners to Water the Bamboo. Watch the video, if only to see what a nice young man LaMichael seems to be. Bell's site states,

"Water The Bamboo is really just a metaphor to remind us that all great success takes time and work. When you water giant timber bamboo in the first year, you see nothing. In the second year, you see nothing. In the third year, you see nothing. In the fourth year, it will suddenly rocket 90 feet in just 60 days! Bamboo farmers know you need to water the bamboo a long time before you see any sign of success."

Like football players, it seems to me my team in City Hall will need to keep nurturing the values we believe in, in order to hope to see exponential growth in four years.

Since I have been working downtown this past year, I've become more familiar with questions like the title of this post, often posed on street corners by earnest-looking, young-looking people with clipboards. Minutes are a scarce commodity in my life now. We have around 580,000 people in Portland, and most days up to 100 Portlanders contact me requesting action on something, in addition to the tasks my staff and I already have on our To Do list from managing my bureaus and working with my colleagues on issues. So on the street, I smile and keep hurrying on, even when the question asked is something more heart-tugging like, "Do you care about children?". One minute can represent the amount of time it takes to read an email, or ask one of my staff to call back someone who left a message for me on the topic-du-jour.

In other situations, my answer to "Can you spare a minute?" is often, "Of course! How can I help you?". My current job is much like my previous ones over 27 years in nursing. To be effective, I need to know what is bothering people, and what they would like me to do about it. A minute spent listening to a constituent often results in having the capacity to fix a problem I didn't know existed before.

Still, perhaps because minutes are precious and must be well spent, part of my morning routine each day continues to be to click on

and the other five related pages linked on tabs from The Hunger Site. On these pages, a click once every 24 hours shows you've seen Thank You page, whose sponsors then give money to the worthy causes. It's free to you, except for the minute of your time. Can you spare a minute, for that?

Answers to common questions are here. I've purchased Fair Trade and other products from the site, and have always been very pleased with the quality and value. They are currently promising shipping to arrive by 12/24.

If you have a few more minutes to spare this fine December Sunday, please visit:

* Be Fire Smart.com and take their quick quiz, which will then help Portland Fire & Rescue win a $10,000 grant (closes tomorrow, 12/21/09)

* Your Voice survey on community technology needs (closes tomorrow, 12/21/09)

* the Portland Plan survey

Can you spare a minute, in your own home with no further obligations?

* If someone you know needs emergency social services including housing or shelter, call 211.

* For frequently-updated emergency information on weather, school closures, and other community challenges in Portland, go to PublicAlerts.org

* For assistance in Portland's public spaces, if you are concerned about someone needing professional mental health attention, call Project Respond, 503-988-4888.

* Downtown, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., for other issues not needing police officers, call Clean & Safe staff at 503-22-4PETE (503-224-7383).

* During City of Portland business hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, call 503-823-4000 to find information about any City, County, or Portland Development Commission issue or service.

When was the last time a graduate of one of Portland's high schools was a candidate for the Heisman Trophy?

I don't know the answer to that question, but I am thrilled that Grant High School alumnus Ndamukong Suh is one of five contenders for college football's highest individual honor, the 2009 Heisman Trophy to be announced December 12 and awarded December 14.

From the University of Nebraska web site:

Suh was a two-way star at Grant High School, where he earned Parade All-America honors and was voted the 2004 Portland Interscholastic League Defensive Player of the Year and the state Class 4A Defensive Player of the Year. As a senior, Suh had 65 tackles, including 10 sacks and recovered four fumbles. He also starred on the offensive line for Coach William Griffin, helping the Generals to a 9-3 record and a berth in the state quarterfinals. Suh earned first-team all-league honors on both offense and defense, and in addition to his defensive accolades was a first-team all-state pick on offense by at least one media outlet. Suh also earned first-team All-PIL honors on both offense and defense as a junior and was an honorable-mention all-state pick as a junior.

Suh’s mother, Bernadette, is from Jamaica, while his father, Michael, hails from Cameroon. In the Ngema tribe in Cameroon, Ndamukong means “House of Spears.” Suh was born on Jan. 6, 1987, and he will earn his degree in construction management this December. Ndamukong was named to the 2009 Big 12 Commissioner’s Spring Academic Honor Roll. He has volunteered with Nebraska’s local hospital visits and also recently volunteered his time as a speaker at Pound Middle School.

He sounds like yet another fine athletic graduate of Portland Public Schools we can all be proud of. I am not sure who I will be rooting for in the Holiday Bowl on December 30, when the Cornhuskers play Arizona. I usually cheer for the PAC-10 team, and I want to be a gracious winner after the Ducks squeaked/quacked past the Wildcats in overtime. But still, a Portland Public Schools superstar is someone to applaud.

The Street Roots Auction is now on line! From their site:

Wanting to improve your quality of life and help out Street Roots? Look no further.

Plus, with your support you'll be helping empower social justice media and economic development for people experiencing homelessness and poverty throughout the Portland region.

The auction includes a framed 16 x 20" photograph of Portland roses and clouds, taken from Oaks Bottom by the incomparable Steve Fritz. Bid on it here. It's cropped from this photo:

Street Roots is a wonderful organization doing excellent work both supporting people experiencing homelessness with meaningful jobs, and providing all Portlanders with well-researched, well-written articles covering subjects you won't find anywhere else. Buy a copy of Street Roots every two weeks, send a subscription and/or additional donation, and bid on their auctions today.

I do not like campaigning.

In both of my campaigns for a seat on the Portland City Council, I felt like a puppy sitting in a cage at the Humane Society, paws against the wire, tail wagging, eyes pleading, “Pick me! Pick me!”. I found the constant rounds of two-minute interactions frustrating and unsatisfying – always on to the next one, rather than building a real relationship with the person I’d just met. I continually thought of a better way to answer a question in a debate… on the way home, when it was too late. I disliked seldom being able to say, “Clearly, you asked me that question because you know more about the subject than I do – what do you think?”. I felt shallow for even attempting to give the required 60 second answer to a complex question like, “How would you solve the problem of inadequate school funding in Oregon?”.

And yet having campaigned all over the constituency I am now responsible for, makes me a much, much better City Commissioner than if I had been appointed to the position with no campaign experience. I am a better City Commissioner for having campaigned in a runoff election, over the course of more than a year, visiting a wide variety of interest groups and learning more about a broad range of issues. I recognize that the runoff process taught me more than would have been possible if I had been Commissioner-elect. The dynamics change once the power is assigned.

When I ran in 2005-6, my message was essentially, “I am a woman who has twenty years’ experience in all kinds of volunteer and professional roles in Portland. I have done lots of good things in the community. I have nothing against the incumbent or any of the others running in the race, but there’s nobody like me on the City Council, and I want to help get things done, so please pick me.”

Twentyfive percent of the voters agreed. The majority did not. For a while I thought I was done with seeking political office in Oregon. The only civic engagement I did, the summer of 2006, was to volunteer on Lew Frederick’s campaign for Multnomah County Commissioner. I had attended multiple debates with Lew and other contenders for the seat, during the primary. I recognized in Lew a kindred spirit. Someone who was running not to embark on a political career, but to serve the community he loves, with the knowledge he had developed over decades of participating in Portland's many communities.

Volunteering on his campaign, I found Lew Frederick to be as honest and real behind the scenes as he appeared on stage.

And the second time I ran, I knew that the people marking their ballots need more than “I am a woman who has done good things, who will add some diversity and do good things on the Council”. Voters deserved to know not only who I am and what I’ve done in my life, but also what I planned to do for them. Because I had been through the fire of the first campaign, the rough ideas I had about the important issues facing Portland, had been refined into clear understanding and direction. Talking about using taxpayers’ money wisely to fund basic services, jobs and schools, and increasing public participation in making important decisions weren’t just campaign soundbites. Those principles were the core of why I had the courage to run again. I wanted to get those things accomplished on the City Council.

There is only one nominated candidate for the vacant State Representative position in House District 43 who has been refined by the fire of campaigning in House District 43. Lew Frederick won the district in the 2006 Multnomah County Commission race. And the reason he won it is not just that he is a great person, who would add unique diversity since there are no African-American men in the Oregon Legislature. It’s not just that he has decades of experience, as a volunteer and professionally, investing in issues that people in District 43 care about. Schools - Oregon Board of Education member, former Portland Public Schools employee. Jobs - small businesses owner and Urban Renewal expert, co-author of research on the Portland Development Commission’s influence on Northeast Portland. Arts and Culture, and Sciences – Board member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and of OMSI. Human Rights and workers' rights - former union steward, longtime community organizer. Citizen and political involvement - extensive investment in and work for the Democratic Party, Board member of the Bus Project. The reason Lew Frederick won District 43 is that he addressed the issues voters in District 43 care about. There is no other candidate for appointment to the vacant seat in District 43 who has refined their thinking, their approach, and their plans through campaigning, and who has proven to have earned the trust of voters in District 43.

As a Portland City Commissioner, I know that the entire Metro-area delegation is pivotal in deciding how the Legislature will act. That is one reason I am posting this endorsement. I want the new House Representative for District 43 to be someone with experience at the grassroots level, with a history of service to House District 43. Someone committed to staying in House District 43. Lew’s priorities are schools, good jobs, and health care. They stem from his life experiences. Those priorities are the ones I believe should be the Legislature’s in 2010. I believe they are the priorities of voters in District 43.

Leadership requires heart, brains, guts, and memory. The Multnomah County Commissoners should appoint Lew Frederick in HD 43 because he is more qualified, more experienced, more well-rounded, more prepared, and more campaign-tested than any other candidate.

More information about Lew Frederick for HD 43 here

(Yes, there is a World Toilet Summit. And it's important. ~ Amanda)

Friends,

Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human. This simple message is resonating. Now PHLUSH has been asked to share with the world some of what we have learned together here in Portland.

Thank you for cheering us on this far. Would you now consider helping us get to Singapore?

Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human, or PHLUSH, has been invited to make two presentations to the prestigious World Toilet Summit in Singapore in December 2009.

Old Town Chinatown's public restroom advocates are busy preparing 20-minute presentations entitled, "Public Restroom Design for 21st Century US Cities: The PHLUSH Principles and Innovations in Sustainable Design: Case studies from Portland, Oregon."

The invitation came as surprise to PHLUSH, a committee of the Old Town Chinatown Neighborhood Association whose efforts have focussed on downtown Portland. World Toilet Summit organizers had noticed the group's work in urban restroom design on their website, www.phlush.org .

In order to participate, PHLUSH must now raise funds to permit two of its Co-Founders to travel to Singapore.

Tax-deductible donations are being received by Neighbors West-Northwest, a coalition of twelve Portland Neighborhood Associations that serves as fiscal sponsor for PHLUSH. Neighbors West-Northwest is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization accepting donations on line here - add special instruction “PHLUSH” before hitting send.

Or, by check to Neighbors West-Northwest, 2257 NW Raleigh St., Portland, OR 97210; put PHLUSH in memo line.

For the past four years, PHLUSH has worked to increase public restroom availability through well-focused citizen advocacy and practical, informed collaboration with local officials. The only organization of its kind in the United States, PHLUSH now has the opportunity to promote Portland and its acclaimed urban design and livability. Furthermore, participants will become familiar with the latest sustainable sanitation technologies and gain access to technical experts on issues ranging from composting toilets to proposed amendments to plumbing codes.

Please help PHLUSH take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity to exchange expertise with participants at the 2009 World Toilet Summit.

Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human (PHLUSH)
c/o Old Town Chinatown Neighborhood Association
115 SW Ash Street #400G, Portland, OR 97204
503.984.4081
phlush@oldtownchinatown.com
http://phlush.org/

As you have perhaps noticed, I haven't have much time for anything not related to City of Portland business for the past 7.5 months. My current goal is to post more interesting Portland-centered articles on my City blog, here. But recently, I received a message with words of encouragement from former U.S. Representative Les AuCoin, who included in his email a link to his wife's site,

Photos by Susan

I've added a link in the sidebar of this site. Check it out - beautiful photographs.

Hi, friends, remember me? We used to talk here every day. I've been... busy. It was nice to have three days off this past weekend, to remember other important things -- such as telling Portlanders about interesting items on the City Council Agenda.

Last week, the Portland City Council passed a Resolution calling for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take another look at whether there are health impacts related to wireless emissions. It passed 3-0, with Commissioners Fish and Leonard absent. Today, my colleagues on the City Council allowed me to suspend the rules to vote again on the Resolution. This passed 5-0:

677 Request the federal government to update studies on potential health effects of radio frequency wireless emissions in light of proliferation of wireless use (Resolution introduced by Commissioner Fritz)

For many years, nationwide regulations have prohibited consideration of potential health concerns when siting wireless facilities. As far as we know, the Portland City Council is the first local jurisdiction in the nation to ask the FCC to consider further evaluation of this policy. We ask the FCC to seek advice from other federal agencies charged with assessing health and safety issues, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Note, the City Council's resolution does not say there ARE health impacts from wireless facilities, rather it asks the FCC to take another look at the issue. I believe it is a responsible request in light of ongoing studies and citizen concerns.

This Resolution is in response to input from Portlanders. I heard health concerns when defining new regulations for cellular facilities on lots, back during my service on the Portland Planning Commission. In January, I was assigned the Office of Cable Communications and Franchise Management in my City Commissioner portfolio, and again I heard from citizens worrying about potential health effects.

One of the first issues my team and I set about tackling was new regulations for siting wireless facilities in the public right-of-way. There was a contentious hearing on the previous proposal last December, covered here and here on this blog (in the days when I thought I was busy with the campaign and its aftermath - HA!). Although staff had intended to direct siting of new wireless facilities in residential areas "only as a last resort", many citizens testified at the hearing in December that this goal was not met. From January through last week, I worked hard with staff in my office and in Cable, and with expert advice from the City Attorney's office and from noise and zoning experts in the Bureau of Development Services, to revise the proposed contracts.

The City is not allowed to prohibit (or make it so difficult or expensive it has the effect of prohibiting) any carrier from providing wireless service anywhere the company wants to operate. The revised regulations direct new and replacement antennae on utility poles to locate first choice on highways and in industrial areas, last choice in residential areas. The maps are hard to read on line because of the scale covering the entire city. We're changing the colors to make it slightly easier, and citizens can call the Cable office (use the all-purpose 503-823-4000 information line) with questions.

If a company wants to locate an antenna on a utility pole in one of the 80% of streets classified as neighborhood streets, they must pay an additional $2,000 application processing fee, show the existing coverage in the area, meet with the Neighborhood and Business Associations, and report on the application what they heard and whether their siting was modified in response. This doesn't give neighbors as much power to affect applications as in land use reviews.... but siting wireless facilities in the right-of-way can't be land use reviews under our current system. I believe the proposed language goes as far as possible in encouraging siting of wireless facilities away from residences, while remaining legal. Both industry representatives and neighbors provided valuable suggestions that were incorporated into the proposal. Special thanks to Kathy Fuerstenau of the Cully Association of Neighbors, and Chris Duffy of Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association, who are among many citizens providing tremendous grassroots leadership on this issue.

Over the course of several months refining the proposal, with meetings with neighbors and industry representatives as well as many incoming emails, I heard over and over that neighbors are concerned about potential health impacts. So at the same time as we held hearings on new regulations for siting the facilies, with increased fees ($90,000 per year in additional revenue to the General Fund, for the existing 60 poles carrying antennae, up from $3,500 to $5,000 per pole annually), I proposed the following Resolution:

While I was busy with civic engagements in Portland last weekend, Steve went to an event in Eugene, and made a side trip to Crater Lake. Beautiful.

As you may have noticed, I don't have much time for blogging these days. Or reading newspapers or surfing web sites, for that matter. I happened across this on KATU's web site, and I think it's sweet enough to take a couple of minutes to post.

This is a press release courtesy of the Winterhawks

After 33 years of dedicated service, the space in the Winter Hawks’ team name has announced its retirement. In honor of its outstanding service, the organization has decided not to hire a replacement space, and the team will now be known as just one word, Winterhawks.

The space had been a Winterhawks fixture since the team moved to Portland in 1976, before which time they were known as the Edmonton Oil Kings.

“When the team moved to Portland in 1976, my predecessor, the space in Oil Kings, told me to serve the position with honor, and I feel like I’ve done that. It’s been an incredible run, but it’s time to move on,” said the space. “There have been so many highlights over the years – two Memorial Cups, the 9-1 win in Seattle this year, it’s hard to pick just one. I would, however, like to lay to rest the rumors on the Internet that differences between myself and the team’s new management led to my departure. That innuendo was completely false, and I wish the Winterhawks – wow, that’ll take some getting used to - nothing but the best.”

“I did my best to talk the space out of retirement but its mind was made up, and we certainly respect its decision. After 33 years the space has earned the right to call it a day.” said Portland Winterhawks President Doug Piper. “Through thick and thin the space has always been there. Even though in this economy we’d probably find a number of qualified applicants, we know we can’t possibly replace everything the space has done for us, so we’re retiring the position altogether.”

AmandaFritz.com has omitted the space for years. The author regrets the error.

This photo was taken at Kelly Point Park, where the Willamette joins the mighty Columbia. Today, Portland observes World Water Day, with events starting with a walk alongside the Willamette at 1 p.m. Many fun, free, family-friendly activities - please participate!

The theme of World Water Day this year is "Trans-boundary waters", meaning water that crosses national borders. The mighty Columbia is one of 263 transboundary lakes and river basins worldwide. It flows from the ice-fields at the base of the Canadian Rockies, more than 1,200 miles to the Pacific Ocean at Astoria. The Columbia River watershed is home to over 700 species of reptiles, birds, fish, and mammals.

Some facts from the World Water Day PDX site:

* Worldwide 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and each year, more than 2.2 million people in developing countries die from preventable diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

* The weight of the water container that women in Africa carry on their heads is equivalent to the baggage weight allowed by airlines (20 kg/44 lbs)

One additional fact I learned when researching the issues, is that of the over 1 billion people who lack access to fresh clean drinking water, most live in Asia.

Yes, 'tis folly, I just took a half hour away from budgets and answering emails, to set up brackets for the mens' and womens' NCAA basketball tournaments.

Join me in attempting to predict the winners:

Mens' Tournament : Go Vikings (click on link to sign up, by March 19)

Women's Tournament : Loved the Fire (click on link to sign up, by March 20)

Both have password portland, all lower case.

Games start March 19 and no entries after that, so sign up soon if you'd like to play along.

Congratulations to the Jefferson High School men's basketball team, this evening winning the State 5A Championship. As expected, the team showed high style not only in how well they played, but also in being gracious winners. A credit to their families, coaches, school staff, and our city.

My City web site is having some kind of technical problem, not allowing me to create a new page. So here is the preview of this upcoming week's Portland City Council Agenda. I'm glad I have options, for web postings and other stuff.

I'm going to be particularly interested in the first of three Citizen Communications:

87 Request of Steve Gunther to address Council regarding Maintenance Bureau opportunity to protect the Willamette River (Communication)

My staff and I have devoted much of the past month to researching the problems and potential solutions on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, to propose the structure and scope of the new Office of Healthy Working Rivers. We will try to contact Mr. Gunther before the Council session on Wednesday, to find out more about his ideas than we will be able to hear in three minutes during the hearing.

The first items on Wednesday, after Citizen Communications, are a series of commendations regarding staff and citizen work during the December/January snowstorms. My office has received a number of complaints about neighborhood streets not being cleared, and that is certainly a valid concern. And buses didn't run on time. And there was confusion about which City staff were working and whether they would be paid if they couldn't get in. Mayor Adams is asking workers and community members to evaluate how improvements will be made, for the next events. But many citizens are unaware of the extraordinary efforts and teamwork given by staff and volunteers during the storm, and it's important that side of the story is also told. That's what the 9:30 am Time Certain items will do.

Then there are a bunch of contracts on the Consent Agenda. My staff and I are looking into each one, and asking lots of questions. I am suggesting that items over $1 million should be placed on the Regular Agenda, rather than Consent. Citizens would know more clearly that large quantities of taxpayers' money are being spent, and potential contractors become more aware of the upcoming opportunity to make bids to apply for the contracts, by putting big ticket items on the Regular Agenda.

There's a housekeeping item on Consent, which I note because otherwise folks who follow Council actions routinely will wonder about a change in process:

*105 Revise Council procedures regarding placement of items on the Council Agenda and order of voting (Ordinance; amend Code Sections 3.02.030 and 3.02.040)

Essentially, instead of having items heard in alphabetical order based on last name of the Commissioner, from now on both placement of issues on the Agenda and order of voting will be done in rotation, using the Position numbers of the Commissioners. I'm # 1 (yay!), Nick Fish's position is # 2, Dan Saltzman's is # 3, and Randy Leonard's position title is # 4. The order of item listing and voting will change quarterly. As in current code, the Mayor's items are always on the Agenda first, and s/he always votes last. When I served on the Planning Commission, we instituted a rotation for order of voting. It seems more fair than always using the arbitrary alphabetical order.

This item is listed as an emergency, which is a bit of a stretch, but no harm is done by that in this case, in my opinion.

There are only two items on the Regular Agenda. The first comes from my portfolio:

107 Add definition of Cable Communications Utility (Ordinance; amend Code Section 7.14.040)

What this does, is clarify that phone-like services delivered over the Internet through the use of cables in the city's rights-of-way are subject to the City's franchise fees. It will result in new revenue to help pay for basic services in transportation maintenance and other general fund services, to the tune of at least $600,000 annually.

The other Regular Agenda item is similar to one last week, assessing properties for sidewalk repairs. My staff and I are collecting the data on which addresses are being cited, to monitor patterns in assessments relating to geographic and other demographics.

There are no meetings Wednesday afternoon or Thursday this week.

I want a new t-shirt, emblazoned with

"My husband took the day off to take photographs at the zoo, and all I got was this stinkin' rat."

At Chris Smith's request, I've added the RSS feed option to all pages of my City web site with significant potential for changing oontent.

Please let me know if anyone who uses this function needs further changes.

Please let Chris know (by posting a comment here, which I'm confident he'll respond to) if you would like more information on what an RSS feed is or how to use it.

Mayor Adams has posted the Press Release with his decision to return to work on Monday, on the front page of his City web site. Here is my response:

Yesterday, two young women were killed and seven people injured in gunfire on Portland's streets. Recently, a man with no home froze to death in a cemetery, while hundreds of people live on our streets every day. Portlanders continue to lose their jobs due to the recession. The City Council must soon decide how to cut up to 7% from the City's $3 billion budget, while maintaining and even improving basic services in all 95 neighborhoods and 35 business districts. Addressing these serious issues is part of my job as a City Commissioner.

I believe Sam Adams has skills and knowledge that Portland needs to face these difficult times. Mayor Adams has made his decision to stay in office. It is up to Sam to see if he can rebuild the trust which has been damaged, to allow him to be an effective leader.

The independent investigation by the Attorney General's office will determine whether any unlawful actions occurred in the past three years. When that investigation is complete, the citizens of Portland and city leaders will have complete information to use to decide whether sanctions should be imposed. The citizens of Portland may choose to sign recall petitions, and to vote after June 30th on whether the Mayor elected in 2008 should remain in office. I trust these processes to work to find the best outcomes in this matter.

In the meantime, I will get back to work with Sam Adams as Mayor, to deal with the major challenges facing Portland today.

NOTE: Due to the absence of two members of the Portland City Council on Wednesday, no hearings are scheduled at the usual times that day. All business will be considered on Thursday afternoon.

Coming soon: Plans for more evening meetings, with a schedule for visits in neighborhoods in all parts of Portland.

This week's Agenda is here. It starts with this Time Certain:

40 TIME CERTAIN: 2:00 PM - Declare the purpose and intention of the City to rename the Convention Center Dock the Kevin J. Duckworth Memorial Dock (Resolution introduced by Commissioner Saltzman)

A benign item, with the following item in the Resolution giving me particular satisfaction:

WHEREAS, The City Council-approved Park naming policy was followed, a letter was sent to the Kerns Neighborhood Association, the Parks Naming Committee, comprised of citizens and city staff, reviewed, deliberated, and approved the request.

It is so nice when policies that citizens, staff, and elected officials have worked on for months, turn out to be used and useful.

Y'know what? I have just realized I am writing this on my community-organizer-Amanda's blog, as I have almost every weekend for over two years. It needs to go on Commissioner Amanda's site, so comments go into the record. Please continue reading over here.

I spent the morning planting trees with Friends of Trees in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood of SE Portland. It's east of I-205, north of Foster Road. We met at Zenger Farm, a working urban farm with many interesting sustainability features such as solar panels for the building's porch, and vegetated swales taking stormwater runoff from the parking lot. The tree planting was COLD. Usually, before the first tree is sitting at the proper height in its hole, surrounded by rich brown mulch, I've shed several layers due to the exertion of hauling and digging. Not today. I hurried back to the carpool car after installing the last tree at the Gilbert Hydropark, anxious to get out of the wind.

Still, it is always fun and rewarding, volunteering with Friends of Trees. I met a sweet couple from Bridgeton in North Portland who came over to help, and learned more about the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood from chair Mark White and tree-planting leader/land use chair John McDonald. We drove along SE 136th, a busy transit street with literally hundreds of new homes being built along it.... and no sidewalks. This area had huge increases in density zoned in the Outer SE Plan,with no plan for providing the infrastructure necessary to support it and make it livable. "20 minute neighborhood"? Not so much, when you have to walk in the middle of the street to get out of the mud, and the nearest grocery store is a couple of miles away. I will keep looking for ways to fix this problem. At the very least, I would like to see the sidewalk built in front of a new home, before the "For Sale" sign is allowed to have a "SOLD" sticker placed.

So what does this have to do with the title of this post? It relates to how I rewarded myself for getting up early on a Saturday. Once I thawed out after returning home, I headed out to Value Village. I love those stores. I love getting designer clothes at pennies on the dollar, I love the friendly attitude of the employees, I love the way the stuff is laid out the same easy-to-find sections in each store. I love that I can donate and shop, and in both, help mentally-challenged people. And I especially love that I didn't have to spend a fortune (cough, Sarah Palin), to buy clothes more suited to Portland City Hall than those I wear for planting trees. On Veterans' Day (one of the four annual Value Village everything-half-price days), I purchased seven skirt suits, two jackets, one silk dress (Retail price: $350, Value Village: $3.50) and one winter coat, all designer brands, for $62.50. Even though it cost twice that much to get them all dry cleaned, a bargain. On another expedition, I bought the red Tahari suit I wore for my swearing-in ceremony, for $12.50. According to eBay, it retails for around $400. I wasn't quite so fortunate today, but I did find a new-with-tags-saying-$88 skirt for $4.99. And across Pacific Highway, at the Salvation Army "Boutique Store", a new-with-tags-saying-$288 suit, for $17.50. Plus perhaps the most important score, a sparkly jacket to wear to Mayor Adams's Gala party at the end of the month (information, and buy tickets, here) . It's hard to find glittery clothes, except at thrift stores. And call me old-fashioned if you will, but I think the return of the Mayor's Ball calls for sequins.

There were many more people thrift-store shopping today, than I've ever seen except on Value Village sale days. Although I like saving money and reusing/recycling, I recognize that fewer people are employed with my purchases than if I bought new. Since I've been making even more effort to buy local over the past few years, I have been dismayed to find how few products available in stores are made in the USA, let alone in Oregon. I don't have mugs for guests in my office yet, because all the Portland/Oregon ones I've looked at are made in China or Thailand. I found precisely one mug made in the USA, in the dozens at Value Village today. No, actually there were two. I decided not to buy the Hilo Hattie's one, so we don't have to be reminded on a daily basis of how much warmer it would be in Hawaii.

My review of this coming week's Portland City Council meeting Agenda is here. I hope to update it, after my staff have looked into some of the items in more detail on Monday and Tuesday.