Matt,

You still have yet to answer why you wholeheartedly supported the deal to use $200 million dollars in taxpayer backed bonds to build the new University of Oregon Basketball stadium yet for some reason have led a campaign against using about $57 million in taxpayer backed bonds to build two stadiums right here in Portland.

I'm really curious why?

Because he's a hypocritical troll?

Just spit-ballin' here.

For information as to what Finnegan is referencing.

http://mattdavisopenshismouth.com/2008/11/…

In other words when Davis' wife works on publically funded stadiums he's all for it and won't say a word. Maybe there is a different angle to all of this. Is Davis pissed because Merritt didn't hire his wife Sue to get permits approved etc...

Really?

Wasn't aware of the whole wife angle. Wow....

So Matt - you REALLY need to answer now.

Otherwise you need to stop "reporting", opinionating or referencing this whole issue. Your credibility is shot to hell until you explain yourself.

There's been a bunch of references to the Matt-wife-stadium thing, I don't know if he'll ever clarify/explicate/whatever...

He's cool using $200 million public tax dollars in Eugene for U of O to get *another* stadium while OSU, PSU, SOU, EOU, OIT, and WOU's facilities are total shit. He doesn't raise a stink about $200 million publically funded stadium when his wife is involved. He was totally silent.

Now there's a deal for 2 stadiums in Portland for $85 million and the loans are personally backed by the guy who wants to move forward with the project, the city of Portland will never get a better deal than this and all Davis does is spend months doing everything in his power to misinform people about the project by putting everything he felt supports his position, doesn't look into anything that might not support his opinion, and uses Jack fucking Bogdanski as a source.

And you think we're nuts...

Now I get it. Soccer hooligans trying to bully someone. Big surprise.

I don't think local banks, least of all Credit Unions, should be what "we" should ever be fearful of. I'm not so sure about big "banks."

I'll push for a higher upfront from Paulson and explore what support there is for putting a baseball or soccer stadium near or on a river. What do you think regulars?

If on a river, use a landfill as an option to build from the river instead of tying up traffic.

I still can't believe the dimensions to this story. I have yet to read a credible narrative that spells it all out, i.e. the intentions behind all the players involved..

In the meantime, I hope Continuity of Services still stays in the picture.

I haven't seen anything on here about the new Convention Hotel that Sam wants to build. It was reported on by KGW.com yesterday. Sam has already given the OK to spend $4 million on planning. It's supposed to cost about $200 million and Sam says it will pay for itself in 5 years. I find this hard to believe as it would have to generate $40 million a year over and above operating expenses. I think the $4 million could have been spent in many better places right now. If Portland must have a new Convention hotel, seems it would be better to wait till the economy improves, and conventions are actually happening. Although Sam did say that there would be no work started for at least 2 years.

@ujfoyt

I'm not so sure about that hotel either. I think the theory is that we have lost out on a lot of big events in the past because we haven't had a hotel like this that is big enough to house all the media, people involved with the event, etc... That's exactly why the Rose Garden was never used for a NBA All-Star game after it was built. Despite it being the best arena in the NBA at the time there isn't a hotel in town big enough to hold everyone involved.

2001: "3. The City and OAC acknowledge that the Memorial Coliseum will need to
continue to operate for up to three years and that some capital improvements are
needed immediately in order to continue operations."

To date nothing has been done. There is nothing new or rushed about this project...other than the reporting of what's going on here.

http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/i…

@Common Sense
@Common Sense
So you're saying I insulted Davis for completely ignoring anything that has been done in the past as far as the MC is concerned and totally supporting a $200 million publically funded stadium when his wife worked on it but not supporting an $85 million deal where the millionaire is promising to cover the end results when his wife didn't cover it.

FYI I actually really like the reporting Davis does. I think he has done some amazing work on some horrible problems with Portland's Police Department. He's just devoted his efforts from things that matter (like the death of James Chasse) to trashing the best stadium deal any country in America is going to see.

So who exactly am I insulting? You for being completely uninformed on anything other than blowing BS on a comment board? I guess I'm guilty joker.