BARGAIN BUS STOPS

TriMet is putting its defunct transit mall shelters—the mushroom-shaped glass-and-metal pergolas—in the recycling bin. Anfield & Sons Metal Recyclers in Northeast Portland will dismantle the shelters and send the metal to Schnitzer Steel Industries (the glass will be "pulverized," says TriMet spokesperson Mary Fetsch). The recyclers reportedly paid $750 for the shelters, far less than they cost to build in 1977 (one source pegged the original cost at $100,000 each, based on inflation, but the Mercury was unable to confirm that number by press time). TriMet is keeping one shelter, at SW 5th and Salmon, which may become a newsstand.

On Tuesday, January 16, there were just 30 of the stops left, awaiting their fate in a temporary graveyard at NW 4th and Hoyt behind the Greyhound Bus Terminal. Meanwhile, a man who refused to be named looked on in frustration, saying TriMet had turned down his offer to pay $800 for one of the shelters—which he had wanted to transport to Hawaii for use as a hot dog stand. "It's such a waste," he said. MATT DAVIS AND AMY JENNIGES

RACE BIAS?

City council finally heard the controversial PARC report on cop shootings last Wednesday, January 24 (the hearing was delayed from January 10, because the report had been made public just that morning—activists objected, saying the city auditor's office might have been trying to sneak it past council without giving the community sufficient chance to respond).

The report shows that cops are shooting less people—an average of 5 per year between 2003 and 2006, down from an average of 9.2 per year between 1997 and 2002—but council members, like Sam Adams, were disappointed the report did not explore officers' "conscious or unconscious bias" when it comes to pulling their guns. When pushed on why the statistics did not include race, Police Chief Rosie Sizer responded: "I think there's no empirical solution to any of this, but we're game for the discussion." MD