The city’s Bureau of Environmental Services is offering a grant of $5 per square foot to property and homeowners who choose to build ecoroofs. Check out the their website for more. I know this, because I too was at the Mercury‘s branch office outside City Hall Friday morning, enjoying the sunshine. I also learned more […]
Green
Posted inBuild Out
Some LEED Buildings Fail to Remain “Green”
Very interesting article in the New York Times today about LEED buildings falling short of green goals. One of the problems with LEED (though Slate spells out a few more) is that it just relates to how a new building is constructed and does not follow up with how the building actually functions day-to-day after […]
Posted inGreen
America! Where Massive Freeways Win Environmental Awards.
Today is a day to reflect on $30 million the state of Oregon no longer has. Yesterday afternoon, the governor rubberstamped $30 million taxpayer dollars for continued planning of the Columbia River Crossing (CRC), funding which several legislators protested setting aside for the big bridge as they slashed budgets for social services, education and just […]
Posted inGreen
50 Pounds of Pure Junk
I just got my new IKEA catalogue! The one I didn’t want or request, the one that was removed from the front porch and directly dumped into the bottom of my recycle bin. It’s annual arrival got me thinking about all the junk mail I receive in a year and I contemplated saving it all […]
Posted inEvents
15,000 Square Feet of Asphalt for the Kids!
Here is what the playground of Vestal Elementary school on 82nd Avenue currently looks like: Eric Rosewall – Depave Last summer Vestal teacher Chad Honl got so upset with kids spending recess on a what amounts to a grassless parking lot that he got the school to tear up one patch of pavement and plant […]
Posted inGreen
Bullshit Alert! Coke’s Hippie-Friendly Bottled Water.
I just flew back and forth across the country and every time I asked for water, the flight attendants handed me one of these bright two-gulp bottles: The peppy branding made me cringe a little, so I turned over the bottle and read this little statement on the back: Uh, what? This bottled water company […]
Posted inNews
Portland Scores 1000 Electric Cars
Oregon has been named a test market by the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation, which today announced achieving $99.8million in federal funds to study electric vehicle usage. The state could be getting up to 1000 Nissan Leaf cars, and up to 2,500 charging stations in 2010, according to a press release just put out by Mayor […]
Posted inGreen
2009 Climate Change Schmuck Challenge
Former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradley Twitters: The challenge he’s referring to is a get rich quick scheme from a blogger who’s willing to bet global warming skeptics $25 dollars a day that the world is getting hotter. Victoria Taft is the charming local radio host who coins phrases like “crap and trade”. But […]
Posted inGreen
The Northwest: Now Less Gassy.
Pat yourself of the back, Portlanders—according to Northwest enviro think tank Sightline you’re each using an average of 40 gallons less gasoline per year than the average American. And, importantly, our gasoline consumption has declined over 15 percent over the last ten years. Check out this graph from their new report (pdf): What do the […]
Posted inNeighborhoods
Big Transit, Big Building, Big $$$
In this week’s paper, I reported on a fight between neighbors, the city and the developer who’s building the four-story Albert Apartment building on the old N. Williams House of Sound site. Neighbors are upset about a variety of things with the project — some lament the gentrification of the area, others that the building […]
Posted inBuild Out
One is Silver, the Other Gold
Tough news for editorial boards who want to raze Memorial Coliseum. As reported on OPB, the 49-year-old building is headed for National Historic Register designation, which will mean any group looking to demolish the Coliseum will have to jump through a difficult new set of hoops. What’s not clear is whether the designation will cover […]
Posted inPolitics
Portland’s Streetcar Born in the U.S. of Fuckin’ A!
Obama Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood came to Portland this morning. Standing next to the nation’s largest platinum LEED building at the base of the aerial tram in the shadow of the South Waterfront manufactured high density community, LaHood announced, “Portland is the transportation capital of the our country, the green capital of our country, the […]