Weekend Update July 28-29

Wow, check out the Oregonian‘s City Hall Blog! Like the print version’s coverage of Portland news, it seems re-energized with Jim Meyer and Andy Dworkin taking over as the City Hall beat reporters. Maybe these articles were also in the print version, and I missed them through being in Ashland for several days watching plays with my daughter, but there’s a detailed report on biofuels subsidies, and a couple below on a street improvement seemingly primarily to get Portlanders to IKEA (sorry, I still don’t get it with the fascination with that store). Interesting, detailed reporting. I was impressed with the new team’s first week’s coverage in the printed newspaper, too. I read it in Ashland, glad to be able to keep up — while at the same time wondering if any Southern Oregon residents except ex-Portlanders would have any interest in such non-local news. No wonder residents outside the Metro area think we’re too full of ourselves.

There’s an interesting comment, third in the response list, on Anna Griffin’s last Oregonian‘s City Hall blog post on the City Hall beat. She wrote regarding whether Mayor Tom Potter will run for re-election. Someone purporting to be from the Tribune‘s Sources Say feature posts an assessment of what Anna wrote compared with what they published. Read the link, the nuance is fine. To me, it shows again how important the particular words chosen to say something can be. On the issue of whether the Mayor will run again, I think when he says he hasn’t yet decided and will do so in September, people should accept his words on face value. Haven’t you ever been in a situation where the answer to a life decision came gradually, over time, rather than in a light-bulb moment?

Anna Griffin and Ryan Frank, the two Oregonian reporters previously assigned to Portland political issues, seem to be interested and doing good work in their new assignments, too. Maybe shuffling has some positive aspects.

Jack Bog’s blog reviewed this Fred Leeson article from the InPortland section of the Thursday Oregonian this week. Apparently businesses in South Waterfront are surprised there’s not enough parking. It was planned that way. South Waterfront wsa sold to and by the City Council as a place with mostly jobs, not homes, and it was assumed there would be a high percentage of employees taking transit to work, as in the rest of downtown. Plus, transportation planners thought visitors would take the Streetcar and tram, despite my (and others’) oft-repeated comments that getting to either would not be convenient for most bus travelers coming from outer neighborhoods – even those in SW Portland outside of the downtown area. As noted in a Willamette Week article in September of last year, “Bob Durgan, an Andersen Construction executive who represents the Zidell family (owners of 33 waterfront acres at the north end of the Central District), says City Council also made a very expensive mistake early on by granting Williams’ wishes to expand the scope of condo development without requiring developers to pay for improvements to handle the increase in traffic larger buildings will cause. “These guys got off scot-free,” Durgan says. “

Fred’s article also comments on new residents and a member of the Portland Design Commission lamenting slow progress on the neighborhood park and Willamette Greenway. Welcome to the real world in the rest of Portland. The South Waterfront district Urban Renewal budget prioritized funding transportation improvements, including the streets, streetcar and tram but not the Greenway trail. If I remember correctly, NO money was allocated initially for Greenway improvements. Which again, members of the Planning Commission said was a mistake, at the time.

Hmm, this turned into an Oregonian edition of Weekend Update. Never mind.