Even at this morning’s city council meeting, Mayor Sam Adams couldn’t escape the idiocy of sportswriter John Canzano and his ill-timed rantings about the departure of the Portland Beavers.
Citizen Charles E. Long sat down across from the council and proceeded to read some of the choicer lines from Canzano’s Monday Oregonian column into the record, especially passages questioning Adams’ leadership heft.
At one point, Adams gave a chuckle. Everyone else kept reviewing notes at their desk, save for Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who held the thinnest of polite smiles.
During a break in the meeting, I caught up with Adams outside the council chambers to ask him what he thought of the contretemps—including yesterday’s awkwardness, when Adams called into Canzano’s sports-brute talk show and found himself subjected to the worst kind of schoolyard bullying.
Keep reading to see what hizzoner had to say:
- John Canzano is hungry.
“I do a lot of interviews that are contentious,” Adams told me.
And then he launched into a defense of his record on baseball: 20 locations reviewed, with three seriously considered: Memorial Coliseum, Lents and Beaverton. In the end, the city wasn’t willing to ditch Memorial or make up a $30 million funding gap to see a new stadium erected.
“I involved the whole city,” says Adams. “The 11th-hour complaining by folks like John would’ve been more useful during those discussions.”
Adams got in some of his best lines during yesterday’s radio show. Canzano raged against things like, oh, urban renewal projects and mass transit, calling them impractical and seemingly backed by “a small circle of elites.”
Adams fired back, telling the Bald One he was “beginning to sound like a Tea Party spokesman there.”
And, for the record, Adams doesn’t think bike lanes are “silly” and that the $613 million figure for the city’s bike plan covers 25 years of improvements and would be dwarfed by a similar accounting of infrastructure improvements over the same span. (Update: Original post trailed off after “similar.”) He also notes that the aerial tram’s cost overruns were mostly paid by its users, not the city.
“My job is also to invest in lives,” says Adams.
Of course, everyone should probably just shut the fuck up about all this. And Adams probably shouldn’t have called in—taking on a radio shit-talker on his home turf is always no-win—thus fanning the flames of idiocy. Because this clearly is what Canzano wants: our lips and tongues repeatedly caressing the syllables of his name.
I hate to say that I am on sam’s side when it comes to this argument by canzano. However, I wish someone would have the same pulpit to make the argument “Why should the city fund any private companies start up?” But this whole topic is a mute point now.. that is until merritt begins (openly) talking about the UFL team he wants to bring here.
Are you missing a word after “…and would be dwarfed by a similar .” ?
“would be dwarfed by a similar .” Similar what?
This is the predictable result of inviting a gossip columnist to a policy discussion
@ Monkeybeat: “Why should the city fund any private compan[y’s] start up?”
If the city determines that a private company needs a larger than average capital investment to bring about a larger than average benefit to the city in eventual tax returns, or prestige, or quality of life, or employment, or something else desirable to the city, then why SHOULDN’T the city be able to invest in a project like that?
If it’s a stupid idea, it won’t get funding. If it’s politically unpopular, it won’t get funding. But if it’s a good idea and politically popular, and we’ve got the money to do it… why the hell not?
And spare me the “we shouldn’t because we could be doing x, y or z with the money.” I’m talking about the simple ability to invest in private-public partnerships, not personal preferences for how the city should deploy that ability.
Glad to see the mayor is continuing his commitment to the innovative use of verbs (“I involved the whole city”).
I actually believe John Canzano is living proof that evil is real, that it exists in our world, and that we have good reason to be wary. His popularity grows, his influence waxes, and yet the majority seem to show no concern. How can he be considered even nominally legitimate? Though he be just a sportswriter, he is evil I tell you, and he should be stopped.
Canzano is merely responding to what his audience wants, which is not an exploration of the facts of an issue, but rather the scapegoating of the mayor for an outcome that was probably the best decision for the city as a whole.
Canzano sounded like (because he is) a ranting fool, spewing out such idiotic gems as “wasteful tram, transit and bicycle projects” despite the fact that funding those things really didn’t impact the stadium decision. Adams asked John to connect those dots and Canzano simply brushed off the question.
The bottom line is that too few citizens in Portland were excited enough about AAA baseball to make finding a new stadium site a top priority for the city, let alone show up to watch a game. I regularly went to Beavers games and save for the nights when the beer was cheap, it was a pretty lonely time at Civic Stadium.
If Portland really wanted a baseball team, the Beavers would average more than 500 fans at a game.
I’m surprised people are taking Canzano so seriously. The guy is a joke to read because his articles are written to troll people who are in power or large fan bases that he wants to enrage.
Anyone remember a few years back when the wife of the Oregon Ducks football coach yelled at him, and he turned it into three columns worth of material claiming she is a drunk and that is why her son got a DUI. The guy aint class, and shoudln’t be taken seriously.
John Canzano is Lars Larson with cleats.
@Rusty! +1
Canzano sucks. EOM
“My job is also to invest in lives,” says Adams.
Just threw up in my mouth a bit there.
Two people I can’t stand yelling at each other. I can’t actually listen because they both give me hives.
Commenty Colin: “If it’s a stupid idea, it won’t get funding.”
CC, stupid ideas which lose a bunch of public money get funded ALL THE TIME around here. That’s practically the PDC’s mission statement. I would direct you to a little place called the South Waterfront.
Christ on a crutch, where do those Oregonlive commenters come from? I don’t know why but I can’t stop reading them.
@catandbeard: OregonLive doesn’t have a rigorous vetting process for members of its online community. Not like here in Blogtown…
@ Blabby, you’re right, I should have stuck “ideally” in there. Still, my point is that plenty of adequate checks on the process exist.
@CC and @Blabby – OR, his point is that we should fix those existing checks when they don’t work, instead of saying ‘no city funding evar’ like Monkeybeat was preaching.
@Commenty Colin — But the city always chases economic development losers like I think the last one was Bio-Tech. In a city without wet labs.
Oregonian and radio, aren’t they over by the spats and buggy whips ?
Sam is not a politician, he is a gay wanna be that never will be. All he cares about is kissing the asses of minority groups, in hopes that he will be remembered at re-election. Sorry Sam, your time as Mayor is counting down, your name in this town is mud, maybe your rump ranger buddies in Frisco will give you a job after you lose this job.
Typical Canzano, starting a controversy where there was none and then inserting himself into the story.
It’s sad that this guy not only has a job with the Oregonian, but 95.5 the Game and KGW as well. Oh, it’s not like there’s a total conflict of interest here with Canzano working for 95.5 the Game, which is owned by a Paul Allen company. Living proof how small of a market Portland Oregon is terms of sports and sports journalism. Portland is the only place where a hack journalist, Nor Cal puke, can manage to not only get a writing gig but two other jobs as well.
Too bad most Oregonians are giant pussies and so they’ll never get on his employers for hiring this idiot.
Motherfucker should stick to writing about the Blazers instead…I use those bike lanes asshole!
Canzano makes five times what the mayor makes annually. He’s also more credible, and has more clout.
Canzano makes five times what the mayor makes annually. He’s also more credible, and has more clout.