MONEY MATTERS
HELLO SARAH [MIRK]—I was reading your piece “Suspension of
Belief” [News, Sept 24] yesterday online and noticed a factual error.
You noted that the [Columbia River Crossing bridge] has spent $131.06
million to date. This figure is the amount of money allocated to the
project for planning and project development. The second portion of our
response to your public disclosure request included a breakout of
spending by project category and included a total for the money
expended to date on the project: $72.8 million. I would appreciate it
if you could correct the online version.
Carley Francis, Outreach and Planning Assistant, Columbia River
Crossing (CRC) Project
SARAH MIRK RESPONDS: The states of Oregon and Washington have
allocated $131 million to the CRC and cannot spend that money
elsewhere. Though the CRC staff has not yet spent that entire amount,
it is fair to say that Oregon and Washington have spent $131 million on
the project.
NOT MILKING IT
This article is so poorly constructed it is irritating that Matt
Davis gets paid [“Taking the High Ground,” Feature, Oct 1]. [Ethan]
Nadelmann is nothing like Harvey Milk for several reasons: he is still
alive; no one is born with an inclination to smoke anything since that
is a learned behavior not an innate behavior; finally, no one is beaten
often or to death by groups of pot-phobic people who know or suspect
that someone is a pot smoker.
posted by Anothervoice on portlandmercury.com
REVELATION AND RAGE
I’ve gone off on [Police Chief Rosie] Sizer all week over the Chasse
conclusion. To learn now that she used policy effectively against
excessive force is very exciting [“Not Policing Themselves,” News, Oct
1]. It goes a long way toward mitigating my outrage at this conclusion,
and placating my concerns over what seemed a lack of willingness to
examine policy. I’m now thinking that disciplinary options available to
the authorities may indeed be quite potent. With that said, it’s my
position that there is simply no excuse for anyone involved in the
beating death of another human. The fact that these were our police
only mitigates this. Prison time should have been given to the five
officers, and they should be disallowed from ever policing so much as
the roll of toilet paper in their bathrooms. My speaking positively
about certain aspects of the technicalities here is in no way meant to
reflect anything aside from the abject outrage I feel at the thought of
law enforcers beating people to death on our streets.
posted by Vance Longwell on portlandmercury.com
GRAVY TRAIN
DEAR MERCURY—Ectoplasmic baby gravy [“Try My
Ectoplasmic Baby Gravy by the Ghost of Patrick Swayze,” New Column!
Sept 24]? I will admit that I was extremely excited that the ghost of
Patrick Swayze took his time in the afterlife to write to the
Mercury. However, you should’ve used the new column for
Michael Jackson’s letter instead of Patrick’s! Yeah… Michael
Jackson… very Ectoplastic.
Teo
GET YOUR TICKETS TO HUMP!
The legendary amateur pornography film festival hosted by Savage
Love columnist Dan Savage is coming to Portland for the first time
ever! See the funniest, sexiest, naughtiest, and OMG-iest short films
from throughout the Pacific Northwest, and vote for your favorite
(winners will be awarded up to $2,000 in prize money, so you might want
to take notes on how you can beat the competition next year with your
own film). Screenings will be held at Cinema 21 on October 23 and
24—tickets and details are available at portlandmercury.com!
@Sarah Mirk – Come on, either they’ve spent the money or they haven’t. Here, they haven’t spent the money, so it’s not factual for you to say they have. You claim “they can’t spend the money on anything else.” Why not? Is it tainted? If they abandoned the bridge project today, they’d throw away the money instead of using it on something else? Guy wrote it to helpfully and respectfully point out an error, and you’re basically saying “lalalalala I can’t hear you.”
@Vance – it’s very minor, but I think that should be “exacerbates,” not “mitigates.” They’re opposites.
Sarah Mirk is dishonest. I expect an apology from her, and for her editors to show some balls. And that they can use a dictionary.
The article says:
“Oregon and Washington have so far collectively spent over $131 million on planning the bridge…”
Not only does this clearly mean that the money was spent, but that it was spent on planning, as in the money has been paid to engineers, etc. Apparently, that is not true.
If Mirk just admitted she confused the figures, everyone would understand. She did not, and as such, she and her supervisors, and her publication, stand discredited.
Well, I’m not saying we should hang her…
I’m just so sick of this shit. You can’t get away from it, can you?
Are you referring to the vitriolic flurbling of those who can’t wait to pop the next vein in their forehead over any old hill of beans? It does seem we’re in awfully long supply on that around here.
PS your mom stands discredited