The word "design" was not uttered once here. Doesn't ANYBODY care who designs the bridge and how it looks? I care very little whether there's 12 lanes or 8, but it better not be ugly. The CRC committee desperately needs to reach out to a world-class architect.

Brian,

Ed Garren mentioned design: the bridge is designed like a "hybrid Lexus."

I didn't include it in the post, but Walter Valenta, a member of the design advisory committee, actually gave some testimony about design. He said, basically, as the project cuts down its cost it should not sacrifice design quality: "What’s very important as we tighten our belt is that we don’t sell out our values as a community."

Too late. Oops. I wrote that. I meant to just think it.

Since when is the Port of Portland building private property? It's owned by a regional government. By that logic, Portland City Hall is private property, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Portl…

Also, more like _lame_ Pollard. What are you getting out of it? How about billions of dollars so your residents don't have to spend as much time in traffic. At least until the new bridge fills up again in another couple three decades.

“Portland said we want light rail and tolls. You’re getting it. Vancouver said we want 12 lanes. What the hell do we get out of this deal?”

Hmmm, someone seems to have been paying attention and participating in the process. I guess we'll wait another couple of years until Portland and Metro politicians figure it out. Adams and Bragdon (Adagdon? Bragdams?) are like children in a room of adults.

Out of curiosity Sarah, did Adams and Bragdon let anyone else speak? It must be very hard for Sam not to be the Chair of this committee. Does he try to bang an invisible gavel before realizing it's not there?

Advice to critics, show up at the beginning of the process instead of waiting for it be done. Also, a little wisdom on how the world works: if you're working on a big project with 10 stakeholder groups, the result is going to be a compromise for everyone. That's how the world works, children. It's flawed, but without it, nothing would get done.

Blabby: believe me, nothing is going to get done. No bridge for you. You can take that to the bank. Portland and Vancouver have never agreed on the important details of this project, and now that Vancouverites have made it clear they expect everybody else to pay for a bridge that mostly benefits them, trust is evaporating and compromise is crumbling. More condescension from you will certainly accelerate the mistrust and bickering, and sink this CRC mess sooner. Keep up the good work!

First, let me clarify, the "Lexus Hybrid" comment was a metaphor for the entire original proposed project with regard to it's integration with the Hayden Island Plan, not an approval of, or comment about the specific design of the bridge.

Now, more importantly, some "back story" for those of you who may not have heard about the attempts of CRC to exclude as much public testimony as possible.

I arrived at the Port Building around 8:35 AM with Pam Naugle, a neighbor. The sign in sheets and table were already in place, we both signed in. Marcela Alcantar was also signing in.

The young man who was staffing the table asked us if we were going to testify, and we all said "Yes" and took the small testimony slips to fill out. While doing so, we mentioned that we had come early to make sure that we would be first on the list to testify because we knew time would be limited.

The staffer, Dennis Sandstrom explained that there would be no order for testifying, "We're going to put them all in this box, shuffle them around and then pick folks at random" was the explanation we were offered. He went on to explain that the reason this method had been chosen was "It's more democratic."

I explained that I had a leadership position with the project (Co-Chair of the Hayden Island Plan Steering Committee, member of the Community & Environmental Justice Group) and he said that wouldn't matter, that a decision had been made. Several other persons were told this as well, all the way up to just before the meeting.

I called Mayor Adams and left a message for him, informing him of this issue, and also made a statement to the Channel 6 news.

When the room opened up, the I heard CRC staff try to tell Channel 6 that they were not allowed to bring their cameras into the room. I confirmed this with the cameraman on our way in, the news teams just ignored this "request" by CRC staff and went in to film anyway.

In addition, Sharon Nasset made an announcement in the room just before the meeting started, that our public testimony was being picked at random by the project.

Because of the pressure exerted by all of us, and the presence of the media, the process was changed, and everyone got one minute to testify. A staff person came to me and asked me to fill out a second slip, apparently the first one I filled out could not be found.

My name was called a second time at the very end of the testimony, but I had already spoken. Ms. Nagle and Alcantar, the first two people to arrive, were among the last five to speak.

I share all of this because of the blatant attempt to manipulate public comment, circumvent democratic processes, and exclude the press from the meeting. This is one more example of how CRC continues to circumvent democratic public processes in order to push through their agenda.

In the face of this, they wonder why increasing numbers of people have lost trust in the project, and are so angry about the process.

I hope that an investigation can be done to find out who at CRC ordered this protocol for the meeting, and that person can be censured in an appropriate manner, including prosecution of any laws that were broken. I am not a lawyer, but this could be considered "Conspiracy to obstruct Justice" or some other violation of public meeting laws. Whoever ordered staff to do this needs to be held accountable, even if is just some time off without pay.

I am calling on our elected leaders to not just let this sweep under the rug, and let it go. No matter what one's position on the CRC, the decisions should not be made in an illegal manner, or one that specifically attempts to exclude public concern and testimony.

Regards, Ed Garren, MA, LMFT
Candidate for Portland City Commission, seat #3
www.EdForPDX.com