That was quite surreal. Adams gets points for not only allowing that crazy moment in city council, but for encouraging it. Doesn't the guy kinda look like Kenny Rogers? "Laaaaaday I'm your knight in shining armor..."

Great deal for Portland. Well done, Council.

If the city is REALLY on the hook for ONLY $12 mill, that is a pretty good deal for the city. Hopefully it shakes out that way.

And get that guarantee from the Paulson's in an iron-clad agreement. The fact that everyone uses the phrase "personal agreement" instead of "contract" worries me.

BTW, Leonard's quote about Merritt is straight up creepy.

My mistake on Mazzioti. I've been on vacation and forgotten his dark hair. It's Peregrine's attorney.

Nick Fish said $35million, so does Bloomberg. Still, what's $10million between friends.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aiY…

This is a good reason to recall Sam. Firing him is the only citizen input he won't be able to ignore.

Paulson and his supporters have created an immense amount of ill-will against MLS with the way they've ramrodded this proposal through. Do they sincerely think they're going to prosper after alienating half the town?

Also, props to Amanda Fritz for bringing some KISS leadership to a city council that desperately needs it.

Oh. Also... Amanda Fritz is great!

Thus a 100 year tradition of baseball in Portland dies at the hands of yet another flavor of American minor league soccer. I look forward to the rationalization spectacular when, a few years down the road, the MLS folds and joins the roll of Portland's long history of junk sports triumphs.

That Jeremy Wright is one classy young man. You say there are another 1,000 like him out there? Well, that is certainly something to cherish.

Sheesh....

It's neither Don Mazziotti nor Peregrine's Attorney. It's Greg Peden from Gallatin Public Affairs.

You have not attended nearly so many Council sessions as I have, Matt. Best of show was the guy who set fire to the podium in Connie MaCready's reign, followed by judicial review of the great lobster fight at PDX.

It's theater, man!

What she said. It's Greg Peden. I normally have an excellent memory for names.

Jimbo PDX, after years and year of soccer haters accusing soccer fans of being hooligans, the younger generation of fans now believes that is the way they should behave. It is a sad evolution because they are driving away long-time fans of the sport and replacing us with unknowledgeable ruffians who excel at threats and intimidation. Imagine if baseball began pandering to drunk WWF-style fans with no understanding of the rules or respect for the history, and more focused on fighting opposing fans and taunting the umpires.

So the soccer haters are to be held responsible for this terrifying new generation of threatening ruffians... OK, that makes sense.

COMMENT DELETED FOR UNNECESSARILY ABUSIVE LANGUAGE. (Plus he gets a yellow card for poor sportsmanship.--Editor)

1) This is dumb.
2) How bout instead we turn PGE Park into a roller derby stadium? I think it will be more lucrative! And fun!
3) Amanda Fritz for mayor!

If you can't pick Mazzioti out of a lineup you probably shouldn't be writing about anything that goes on at city hall.

Can someone please tell me why you soccer fans are still so mad?

14,000 fans at the game last night. Portland Lover is right. Clearly this "younger generation" of fans is keeping everyone away.

Actually what I said to Matt was "you ran a great campaign, but you lost"

And anyone in attendance now knows what a disaster Amanda Fritz is as a councilor.

Give 'em hell Fritz! If she ever ran for mayor, I'd drop everything and do what I could to get her in there.

anybody who agrees with Commissioner Fritz is probably better off joining her in a hippy nudist colony, because that kind of utopia is the only place where she she might just have a chance at getting her insane ideas pass, let alone heard.

Wait… how does insuring that city council did it's job and Paulson pay his fair share constitute "losing?" Thanks Matt, for staying on top of this, and helping everybody win.

Thank God for Fritz.

looks like mary@ wants to join that nudist colony

She's transforming into Mildred Schwab. (Which isn't a bad thing...)

Follow up with a pictorial definition of the word "blighted". It was disconcerting to read our politicians don't have a clear and common understanding of the meaning of this word. Perhaps the confusion illustrates there isn't much blight in Portland. Still, it's probably worth a tour, and I have a map.

Portland is unsophisticated in these matters. A guy like Paulson, and the people he has access to, know this very well. We just got reamed.

Bonds at 9% that we don't even start paying for 8 years? Right around that time that Paulson gets to stop paying rent? We just got reamed.

We are seriously children playing Wall Street. The full extent of this f*ck-up, and the long term consequences are hard to describe.

This recession is just beginning, and it's like we can't fund stupid crap fast enough. Street cars? Check. New bridges for street cars while the Sellwood Bridge collapses? Check. PDC subsidies for developers to keep building in the midst of the worst real estate oversupply we've ever seen? Check. Millions more just to STUDY the idea of a convention center hotel in the midst of the worst hospitality industry downturn we've ever seen? Check. Tens of millions to secure a team from the least stable professional sports league in the country? Check.

We are f**king morons. We frankly deserve to get dry-humped by the alpha males. Because they're much much much smarter than we are.

Yes Blabby we are much smarter than you. You can thank Fritz for those extra urinals because this alpha is gonna give you a swirly......

You know what I like best about this "reporting," Matt? That it did such a good job of capturing what's really important. For example, I counted about 14 separate paragraphs in your post. Of those, a full 7 of them -- half of your piece -- was dedicated to Amanda Fritz and her criticisms of the deal. You know - the one who lost the vote by a 4-1 count? You gave about as much coverage about Gil Frey as you did those that actually voted in favor of the deal (and again, won by a 4-1 count).

That's fantastic coverage. That's like reading a Supreme Court 7-2 opinion and glossing over -- oh, I don't know -- the actual holding and rationale of the opinion, and instead focusing on the quirky dissent.

Once again, great work. You've set a real high bar for yourself, and amazingly you once again met it.

A commenter named "Ugh this town" over at WW, summed it so perfectly I must repost his comment here.

"Ugh this town" writes:


“Portland City Council Approves $43 Million for Purchase of Magic Beans”

Portland (AP) — The Portland City Council has, on a 4-1 split vote, approved a proposal to purchase 12 magic beans from a local purveyor, with an option for up to 4 more magic beans at an additional $12 million. “We’re really excited about this, ” said Commissioner Randy Leonard. “The guy said that they’ll literally grow money after they’re planted. Wow.”

When asked to provide research on the actual revenue generated by other cities which had purchased the beans, the council responded by flatulating on a post-it note and affixing it to this reporter’s forehead, on which was written “DOUSH” [sic].

If the magic bean plan goes well, the city council is planning to forward the net profits to a Nigerian prince they’ve met on the Internet, who promises to be able to triple the investment.

You know Blabby...the way you just quote what gets said over at Jack Bog's blog is really uncanny. You pretty much say whatever he says word for word. It's really amazing. You wouldn't be...no you couldn't be him...

No, I said I got that at WW. (That's short for Willamette Week. Welcome to Portland.) I can't help it if Jack Bog is right. When you're right, you're right.

Enjoy your soccer, Blacked Out. I know you would support it if it literally cost $2 billion. No amount is too great to force your personal hobby onto the backs of the taxpayer.

so we either get hippie nudist utopia with Amanda or conservative nudist soccer with Sam, Dan, Randy?

I feel a made for TV special coming on.

Ah. Real football. Too subtle and sophisticated for Joe Gun-packing Sixpack.

Requires an attention span,

the ability to focus,

and the brains to understand what's going on without some necrotic ex-jock explaining every freaking play to you.

Real football will never make it in this country.

To Joe NFL Sixpack: Since you're so used to having everything explained to you in words of one syllable or less, this is an in-sult.

Sound it out.

Then have someone explain it to you.

The best part about this long, protracted process is watching blabby and Davis get their hopes up and then lose over and over again.

The best part for me was seeing Matt and others not allow the wishes of some very selfish people to overrun what was best for everyone.

this was such an entertaining fiasco. but if portland gets f*cked in the deal, i will remember someone stood up against it(that and the god bless the USA bit). i thought fritz was crazy when i first met her on a picket line. i never thought she would make it to where she has today but being there she seemed like the most rational person in the decision and i am glad she's where she is. i think most of the people on the council would love to retire and milk a cash cow like vera is doing or at least learn the ropes from economic vampires. maybe i'm wrong but it seems like another case of feather the nest and f*ck the rest.