Recently, I was asked what Tom Potter’s mayoral legacy would be. My answer should have been something like, “Why the hell are you asking me? I don’t have any insight—I just write stupid jokes about him being old!” Frankly, I hadn’t spent much time considering Potter’s legacy but, as luck would have it, I unwittingly […]
Scott Moore
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Hall Monitor
Mind the Gap
When it rains, it pours. On the same day that Mayor Tom Potter announced that he wouldn’t be seeking reelection next year, news broke that the gap in Commissioner Erik Sten’s front teeth scored a 10 out of a possible 10 from international gap-rating website LuckyGap.co.uk. Sten heroically beat competitors like Maya Angelou, Elijah Wood, […]
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Welcome to Retirement, Potter
Mayor Splits; 2008 Race Begins
Four years after beginning his journey to city hall, Mayor Tom Potter has announced that after a single term in office, he’s calling it quits. Within minutes of his announcement, all eyes turned to the candidates who’ve now been handed a major opportunity to run for office. When the 67-year-old Potter returned from a two-week […]
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Streetcar: Full Speed Ahead
“Low-Confidence” Plan Heads to the Feds
For the second time in a month, city council last week batted around funding figures for the proposed $147 million Eastside streetcar extension, which will bring the trolley over the Broadway Bridge and down MLK to OMSI. The hearing, on Thursday, September 6, was crucial—the following day was the deadline to submit a funding plan […]
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Hall Monitor
Finally Making sense
Could it be that, after years of unabashed Giuliani-ism, Portland’s lawmakers are finally set to embark on a public safety policy that actually makes some sense? Hold off on jerking your knee just yet, liberal, but there’s a strong chance that the city’s Drug-Free Zones (DFZ) will be on their way to extinction by September’s […]
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90 Percent Perspiration
Learning from SF’s Sweat-Free Mistakes
Last Wednesday’s (August 29) city council hearing on a proposed sweat-free resolution, which would prevent the city and its contractors from doing business with sweatshops, was filled with joy and celebration. Anti-sweatshop activists got more than they expected from Commissioner Sam Adams. But one looming dark cloud was quickly swept under the rug; during the […]
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Donkey Fight!
Gloves Come off in Senate Race
In July, when Jeff Merkley entered the race for US Senate, Steve Novick—who’d been in the race since April—invited Merkley to travel the state with him, arm in arm, making joint appearances to talk about the need to replace Republican Senator Gordon Smith. It was a noble gesture, a signal that the Democratic primary campaign […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Cinema Pedaliso
No Lycra Required at Bike Film Fest
Portland can claim any number of magazine-bestowed honorifics that describe just how great the city is for bicycling—”Best Biking City,” “Most Bike Friendly City,” “Bike Capital, USA,” etc. But for all the velo-love, there’s one glaring hole in our rep: Throughout its seven years of existence, the Bicycle Film Festival has never come to Portland. […]
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Twilight Zones
Will Council Sunset Drug-Free Zones?
In exactly one month, the city’s controversial Drug- and Prostitution-Free Zones will expire, forcing city council to decide whether or not to renew them. And for the second time in two years, Mayor Tom Potter’s office has broken a key promise—the creation of an oversight committee to examine the law’s fairness. Under the Drug Free […]
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The Waiting Game
City Council Candidates are Waiting on One Man
A field of candidates is lining up for the 2008 city council race, hoping for the rare chance to run for an open seat and inject some new blood into Portland’s lawmaking body. But their fate—and the fate of city council’s future—hinges on the decision of one man: Mayor Tom Potter. Here’s why: If Potter […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Time Bomb
Previewing Earth’s Demise with The 11th Hour
It’s time to face facts—we’re all royally screwed. For all the tireless work of celebrities (Al Gore, Laurie David, Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder, etc.), it’s going to take an environmental disaster of biblical proportions to change our wasteful ways. And by then? It’ll be too late. I suppose that’s not the message I was supposed […]