This post co-written by Matt Davis. Mayor Sam Adams’ office appears to have sat on an economic study showing that the construction of a Beavers ballpark in Lents would create a “net job loss” for the city. The news comes as Lents neighbors furiously debate whether to delay $42 million in local urban renewal projects […]
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Posted in$$$
What Would Lents Cut to Foot Stadium Cost?
Lents has called an emergency neighborhood association meeting tonight to discuss the issues swirling around Randy Leonard, Mayor Adams’ and Merritt Paulson’s pitch to use $42 million in Lent’s urban renewal funds to cover 80 percent of the construction costs for a new Triple-A Beavers stadium out in Lents park. The neighborhood association does not […]
Posted inCity Hall
Stanford Economist Refutes Stadium Benefits
Last night when Commissioner Randy Leonard and Merritt Paulson pitched the plan to use $42 million in Lents Urban Renewal funds to build the AAA Beaver’s ballpark in Lents, the discussion hinged on whether the pricey stadium will actually revitalize the Lents neighborhood. Today Stanford economist Roger Noll told me, “The answer to that question […]
Posted inMedia
Forbes Says Portland 12th Most Overpriced City
The New York Times may celebrate Portland for its frugality, but it turns out the city is only cheap for out-of-town visitors like your mother and that flashy jet pilot she’s taken up with since pop succumbed at last to black lung. Portland is America’s 12th most overpriced city, says Forbes Magazine, beating San Francisco. […]
Posted inPolitics
Just Noting.
First our economy falls apart and now a survey shows many Americans are blaming the mess not on Bush, not on Alan Greenspan but, ah yes, on the Jews. The Boston Review asked 2,768 adults a simple question: “How much to blame were the Jews for the financial crisis?” The results are insane: “This is […]
Posted inCity Hall
Who Got Cut From the City?
Mayor Adams’ budget is an impressive political balancing act. It cuts $8 million, it cuts 159 jobs, it squeezes in $2.5 million for soccer and somehow no one is pissed off. At the press conference this morning, Commissioners Fritz, Leonard and Fish all praised the budget for placing public safety and housing as top priorities […]
Posted inDrunk
Everything You Need For Derby Day (Except the Money)
I pointed to the huge grassy meadow enclosed by the track. “That whole thing,” I said, “will be jammed with people; fifty thousand or so, and most of them staggering drunk. It’s a fantastic scene — thousands of people fainting, crying, copulating, trampling each other and fighting with broken whiskey bottles. We’ll have to spend […]
Posted inTransportation
Behold! The Transit Mall’s $2000 Trash Cans!
The transit mall downtown is opening for genuine MAX traffic soon and it is lookin’ good. Really good. The kind of good only lots of money can buy. There’s been a lot of discussion at the city over the cost of the the “furniture elements” of the transit mall – the trashcans, bus shelters, benches […]
Posted inBikes
Statewide Bike Funding: Possibly Doomed.
There’s been a big hubub this week over who or what killed the Idaho Stop Law, I wanted to add in two cents about some bike policy that’s maybe more important to the state and maybe also doomed. I blogged yesterday about the Bicycle Transportation Alliance-backed bill to increase state funding for bike/ped infrastructure (bike […]