"Maybe we've finally met the real Charlie Hales. Or at least the Charlie Hales who's figured out that winning in Portland without facing a scandal-damaged opponent (sorry, Jefferson Smith!) means connecting with people outside the city's more-moneyed neighborhoods."

I believe that our street presence and "inside" presence accounts for these shifts. and that's why we need to keep doing both. If we don't show up, it DOES mean that all the "deciders" will veer toward the "more-moneyed," in particular the developers and the rest of the Portland Business Alliance.

Hales could give everybody a nice big fat raise, with the money saved by canning eighthundred sorry police asses.