Dirk, can you get us this 'recent independent survey' that shows our combined water and sewage bills are 'comparable' to other west coast cities?
This doesn't wash at all to conversations with my friends up in Seattle or down in California.

So Kent Craford --the guy who earns his living representing the people who've polluted the Willamette River for decades --is mad because a City Club report was written by a utility executive?

At least the City Club committee are volunteers.

Who's writing YOUR reports, Kent? How about your paychecks?

Craford is the worst kind of corporate shill and anybody who buys his snake-oil is crazy.

Euphonious, the committee may be volunteers, but Sam Adams has been rumored to be getting $90,000 a year.

Well that is a shocker... I thought he was living in a hovel, eating worms and dirt.

Seriously though, what possible relevance does Sam Adams' salary have on this? I'm not big fan of the City Club, but I'm aware enough to know who sits on their committees and writes their reports: lawyers, realtors and other downtown do-gooders and busybodies.

They may be narrow-minded and provincial, but they're not owned by anybody.

Kent, on the other hand, is a Republican lobbyist who represents the Portland Harbor polluters, and I bet he makes a lot more than 90K a year protecting their interests.

frankieb: it's cited in the report: http://bv.com/docs/management-consulting-b…

So the measure suggests a new board that we elect, and the City Club recommends a new board that the Council appoints.

Sounds like they aren't that far off the ballot measure after all. So the remaining question would be: is it better for us to elect the board or have a commissioner appoint it?

That report shows Portland ranking anywhere from 45th to 47th out of 50 cities for the worst rates.

Blabby: You're right. I've updated the post to that effect.

Hey, actually reading the report before parroting the talking points. How novel!

I stand corrected on Seattle, as it is more expensive than our system.
But I wonder how all those damn desert cities are able to provide cheaper water than we can here in the wet NW?

frankieb: I'm no fan of our water rates, but dealing with the excess of water we get in Portland is one of the reasons it's so expensive.

@frankieb: Federal subsidies. Phoenix gets its water via a canal system largely built by the feds, at little direct cost to the ratepayers who benefit from it. Much of the rest of the desert southwest is the same. Think of it as their equivalent to the (dwindling supply of) cheap hydroelectricity we get from BPA.