VOTING WITH YOUR TOMATOES

RE: The upcoming mayoral race; see News,, as well as blogtown.portlandmercury.com for ongoing coverage.

DEAR MERC—Are there enough voters for Eileen Brady at two dollars a tomato to power her to the mayorship? Or are most of us glad to live within walking distance of a Fred [Meyer]'s? Where we don't have to pay two bucks for a tomato. Jefferson Smith for mayor. Who doesn't want 10 lanes of Vancouver drivers blasting their way through the heart of our fair city?

 -Brian A. Cobb

VOICEMAIL, PLEASE

RE: "Return of the Voicemail" [News, April 26], the latest of the Mercury's periodic sampling of the most eyebrow-raising voicemails left for Mayor Sam Adams.

DEAR MERCURY—Look, I know it seems trivial to GIVE A SHIT about the neighborhood you live in. The whole reason for living in Portland is connected to the small businesses here, including mom-and-pop convenience stores! That's right, I pay fucking taxes, I have a two-year-old, and really don't want a motherfucking 24-hour 7-Eleven on my street. By the way, thanks for mentioning us, because none of the people who left Sam a message about this has heard back. Enjoy your fucking Slurpee, assholes

-Celeste Bicknell

WHAT THEY LIKE ABOUT YOU

RE: "If the PPA Says 'Yes,' Can Smith Say 'No'?" [Hall Monitor, April 26], regarding the implications of the Portland Police Association and Portland Firefighters Association's endorsement of mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith.

Actually, what they said was that they liked his philosophy of prudence and protection for the general fund, and that he would be a good steward of its budget. What [PPA President Daryl] Turner said about wanting someone who listened and was collaborative instead of adversarial was exactly what Randy Leonard said about what makes a good mayor. To roughly admit all that upfront, and then undercut it as a way to bolster the thesis that it's really policybased business as usual... weak sauce. Interesting that there's no mention of Occupy in all this. Is the crony of the cops union really the same guy who stood up for the encampment and what it stood for, the longest and loudest? And if he's in thrall to the cops, why not be in thrall to the labor unions and go ahead and say build the bridge? Why intentionally oppose it knowing you'll lose the endorsement (which he did, of course, to the person who most enthusiastically said, "Build it!")? Why be ethical with one union and corrupt with another? Doesn't make any sense—unless he's actually thinking it through, taking a position, and sticking to it based on his values and the values of Portland, endorsements be damned. And maybe some endorsers just like that about him.

-posted by torridjoe

GIVING THE KIDS A PASS

RE: "Transportation Tension" [News, April 26], regarding the face-off between Mayor Sam Adams and TriMet over proposed budget cuts that would eliminate a program providing free rides to Portland Public high schoolers.

The cost of the YouthPass program is in my opinion highly overstated. Yeah all those passes would cost that much to buy on the open market, but if they don't have free passes a lot of those kids are not going to buy them/ride the bus. Since all the routes will remain the same the cost is actually only the amount of money kids who receive the passes will actually spend on bus tickets, a much lower number. TriMet should acknowledge this, do some due diligence with the city to come up with a more realistic representation of the lost revenue, and bargain from there.

-posted by econoline

Kudos to Mayor Adams. TriMet has proven time and time again that it is incapable of managing its budget or making decisions in the public's interest. Our tax payer-funded service has been hijacked by a union more interested in paying out its unrealistic pensions and medical benefits than in carrying out the services it was chartered to provide. I don't always agree with Mayor Adams, but he has shown himself to be an effective politician. He should re-tweet this article for sure.

-posted by ImplosiveFarts

CONGRATULATIONS TO IMPLOSIVEFARTS for providing us the opportunity to write "ImplosiveFarts"—twice! ImplosiveFarts (three times!) wins this week's letter of the week and two tickets to the Laurelhurst Theater, where your fellow audience members will no doubt opt for implosive over explosive.