Pot Luck

Metro (OR) Pres. Bragdon heads to NYC... (4.00 / 2)

Streetsblog NYC reports -

Portland-area Metro Council president David Bragdon will be the next head of New York City's Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability.

[...]

Bragdon has led Metro, the only directly elected regional planning organization in the country, since 2002. As president, he's managed a broad portfolio with many parallels to PlaNYC: regional planning, including the administration of Portland's urban growth boundary; recycling; the preservation of natural areas and water quality; and parks. According to Jonathan Maus at Bike Portland, Bragdon paid special attention to parks and trails and strongly supporting walking and cycling.

David Bragdon was widely considered to be the main challenger to current Portland Mayor Sam Adams (I'd still back Sam) in 2012, but that obviously won't be happening now.

Bragdon's a good guy, and he'll do a good job wherever he goes.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 02:11:18 AM UTC

what, you like BOTH of the candidates? (4.00 / 2)

Where the hell do you live, anyway? Portland?

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 04:38:23 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm kind of annoyed with Sam. (4.00 / 2)

He's so unfocused. And he seems to make decisions by not actually making a decision. I can't believe he let the Beavers get away. There was no good reason not to build a baseball park over by the Rose Garden. Nothing useful is going to happen with Memorial Coliseum. That area's a dead zone. A handful of architects and vets put up a fuss and Sam folded immediately. Geez.

He's not recovered from the big lie. There is no good reason for him to still be in such a defensive mindset. Most people have moved on. If he doesn't get crackin' he won't be re-elected and he probably shouldn't.

This city needs to make a whole lot of decisions, both long and short term, about how it faces the future. We need a strong mayor with a sound vision. That's what Sam sold himself as. He's had a year and a half to pull himself back together.

My support for Sam is no longer a given. I'm in wait and see mode these days.

And please let somebody good run against Randy Leonard in 2012.  

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by: caseyOR @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 04:39:04 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Dead zone... (4.00 / 1)

Yeah, it definitely is over there.  Part of it, though, is the apparent single-minded focus on keeping the area an "entertainment district".  What I'd do with the 'Glass Palace' is set up the Portland Public Market there.  We can sure as hell support one just as much as Seattle and Vancouver, BC and San Francisco can.

The Morrison Bridgehead site along the waterfront would certainly be better, but there's really no other large-scale, potentially high-impact project I could think of that would make a better use of the Rose Quarter dead zone.  The tradeoff would be worth it there imo, as long as we also did something with the Morrison Bridgehead massive-surface-parking-lot-wasteland, as well.

As for the Memorial Coliseum itself, I've come around on my thinking there.  I'd oppose demolition, too (see my sigline).  That building is, unfortunately, a stain on the earth and a prime example of what was the lowest point of the single worst, anti-human era in architectural history... but sometimes we've gotta do the whole 'lemons-to-lemonade' thing, you know?  And as much as I love baseball and will miss the Beavers, I'm not quite sure a minor league baseball team, in and of itself, contributes much to a city in the end.  Yes, a huge sports freak just said that. :)

What would happen in the park when the Beavers weren't playing?  That would be a dead zone for all but 60-or-so days a year, too.  The real problem re: the Beavers situation, imo, is Major League Soccer's stupid insistence upon the fact that every team must have its own soccer-specific stadium.  Yeah, so that could sit idle 350 or so days a year (has anybody addressed this issue yet?)?  They deserve a Red Card on that! ;)

As for Sam, I agree that he can and should be more aggressive in getting things done.  

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 19:46:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Excellent follow-up piece... (4.00 / 1)

...on Bragdon -

In appointing David Bragdon, the president of the Portland-area Metro Council, to run the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, Mayor Bloomberg turned to an established elected figure with a track record of progressive planning. What will he bring to New York City?

Streetsblog spoke to livable streets advocates on both coasts to find out.

What's more, running Metro meant Bragdon was in charge of the Portland region's urban growth boundary, which strictly regulates where growth can occur. "There's a lot that is really laudable in PlaNYC," explained Byron, "but it's not really a plan. It's really a checklist. It doesn't make hard choices." Portland's plan, in contrast, actually forbids development in some places. Bringing in that perspective -- knowing how to craft a plan with teeth -- could help push an updated PlaNYC toward a more comprehensive and enforceable form, she argued.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 18:47:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

More pics of my cats (4.00 / 2)

"What are you looking at?"

I can't resist petting this tummy

And my third little girl, in case you didn't see her when I posted this one earlier today:

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 03:53:27 AM UTC

love the pics.. (4.00 / 3)

can't imagine life without pets..

just sent you an email about a friend looking for someone with urban ag experience to help her write a grant.

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 10:56:21 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Agreed, I've got 2 of my little girls cuddled (4.00 / 2)

up with me right now. They are totally my best friends.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 15:05:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

even though one of them bites me (4.00 / 2)

and another one pees on me when I take her to the vet

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 15:05:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

my dog's 14 or so (4.00 / 3)

and this last problem with  vestibular syndrome has me facing a life without her. She's walking again but still tilting.

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 15:22:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

They're just... (4.00 / 1)

...showing you how much they love you.

;)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 18:24:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Pavlovsk Experiment Station to be bulldozed for housing development (4.00 / 2)

After Court Rejects Appeal, Russian Crop Collection Faces Destruction

Aug 11
Science Insider

MOSCOW-A unique collection of European fruit and berry crops could be destroyed after a court in Russia gave permission today for land at a research institute in St. Petersburg to be turned into a housing estate. Moscow's arbitration court rejected an appeal by the Pavlovsk Experiment Station-part of the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry-to halt the takeover, meaning one of the two plots under threat could be auctioned off to property developers as early as 23 September.

Biodiversity experts have criticized the construction plans, saying they will devastate a priceless collection that cannot be moved in time. More than 90% of the station's 5000 plants-including almost 1000 varieties of strawberries and hundreds of strains of fruit and berries that are extinct in the wild-are thought to be unavailable elsewhere.

The Vavilov Institute issued a statement after today's ruling saying it would pursue a final appeal to the federal arbitration court over the 90 hectares of plots concerned, but campaigners have expressed little hope of victory. "To move the collection of fruits, berries, and ornamental plants would take at least 10 to 15 years," Fyodor Mikhovich, director of the research station, told Rosbalt news agency. "Nobody's going to wait that long to build houses [on the plots]. They'll want to do everything immediately."

I would just love to hear the argument for why it's so damned important to build houses on this particular 200 odd acres (a hectare is 2.471 acres; 90 hectares is about a third of a square mile).

People do stuff like this, I swear they deserve to starve.

 

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 04:36:45 AM UTC

stupefying (4.00 / 2)

That stuns a guy into silence, almost. I can't rightfully say much about it, though, because a U.S. court probably would have done the same thing. The U.S. Supreme Court certainly would have done the same.

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by: count @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 04:42:26 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

good adjective (4.00 / 2)

I was looking for one.

I'm sure this is very good news for Monsanto.  

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 04:43:15 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

nice piece in The Awl on this (4.00 / 2)

The Pavlovsk Experimental Station

(excerpt)

Anyway, the Vavilov Institute plans to appeal the lower court's ruling to the Russian Supreme Arbitration Court, so the decision can still be overturned by a judge or by government intervention. (Maybe it is time to start leaving notes on Medvedev's LiveJournal?)

Or not, and there will be bulldozers, and then there will be houses for sale in Pavlovsk, with prices based on market mechanisms and whatever fixes are in place, with some extra for profit. People will move in and eat toast and jam and drive to work, and maybe the children who live in the houses will feel nostalgic about them later, especially after they get razed for a bigger development. That feeling you get when you remember your family sitting in the kitchen, all of you together before you were old, that's another valuable thing that has no value. Who knows? Maybe one of these children will grow up to write a moving play called The Residential Housing Development Orchard, and a hundred years from now the world of the future, drunk on bio-pellet wine, will applaud its performance.

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 06:15:41 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yeah, i was gonna say... (4.00 / 1)

...this sounds positively New Jerseyan, unfortunately.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 18:26:58 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

oatmeal (4.00 / 1)

I just bought some Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats. At list price ($2.39/lb), it would have been much cheaper than McCann's ($4.45/lb) or even Quaker Oats, which now has steel cut oats in the store ($3.79/lb).

I got the one package for half price when I checked out using my store card. This was a surprise because nothing on the shelf, on the package, or in the weekly sales circular indicated a sale on this product. I need to buy more before someone discovers that the computer is messed up.

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by: count @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 04:38:54 AM UTC

steel cut oats (4.00 / 1)

Does anyone use steel cut oats for oatmeal? I made a mess on my first try, even though I thought I used a large saucepan and tried to watch it. I used soaked and rinsed oats - very foamy.

I'd better start from the beginning without soaking, and learn how to handle this stuff. Maybe use a rice cooker?

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by: count @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 16:23:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I've never... (4.00 / 1)

...been much for oatmeal myself, but I cheat.  I use the quick-cooking ones, and sometimes even instant (Nature's path Organics) packages.

(hanging head)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 18:31:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Elizabeth Warren (4.00 / 1)

OK, so I have a thing for women named Liz or Lisa. Been thinking a little more about Jill's diary, The Obama Admin Thinks I'm on Drugs

Despite mumbling something about watching too much Maddow and Olbermann (he didn't name those names), Gibbs has stood by the The Hill interview. He meant what he said. I think this is a clear sign that neither Elizabeth Warren nor Sheila Bair has a chance of being nominated for Chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Forbes Magazine opposes Warren. Heck, Forbes opposes the Bureau itself, on the basis that any Chair will be driven to become a populist like Juan Peron. President Obama will try to placate and appease Steve Forbes (wonder how that will work out), secure in the knowledge that his base should be happy to accept crumbs from the Obama table, if we only knew what was good for us. He won't nominate Warren, and he'll throw Bair under the bus for insurance.

I hope I'm wrong.

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by: count @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 09:51:01 AM UTC

I hope you're wrong too. (4.00 / 2)

and did you see Rachel Maddow last night about not giving a Flip about being part of the professional left and DADT?

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 11:05:36 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

DADT (4.00 / 1)

I thought last night Maddow made about as strong a case as could be made for executive action on DADT. How could Obama hear that and not feel deep shame?

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by: count @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 11:15:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

he probably does (4.00 / 2)

but shame is NOT something Presidents ever admit. Have you seen the movie Frost Nixon?

Since my husband died 3 years ago, my life has had many twists and turns that include therapy and some other rather unconventional paths that my "professional left" friends find weird (I just wrote a blog piece called Twists,Turns and Tragedy ) Like having my enneagram done. Enneagrams are a way to describe human behavior that therapists who studied eastern philosophies and or were Sufi's started learning and using in the 70's. I find it extremely useful for myself in understanding why I do things, but more importantly alternate ways of responding differently. I'm a point nine which is the peacemaker. We 9's don't like conflict and will do anything to avoid. I see a lot of point 9 in our President especially in dealing with R's

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 15:16:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Professional Left (4.00 / 2)

Jane Hamsher already has had business cards printed up.

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by: count @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 11:22:40 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

love the comment (4.00 / 2)

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by: LeeN @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 15:18:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Back in Jalisco... (4.00 / 3)

At least 150 Jalisco state police in full riot gear evicted some 800 people living and working in the beach community of Tenacatita and the neighboring village of Rebalsito in the early hours of August 4.

"If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove" Cheyenne

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by: Maracatu @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 18:04:58 PM UTC

Tenacatita (4.00 / 1)

Villalobos supposedly owns 42 acres, a little more than 100 acres, if he can prove title, but this story must be much bigger than indicated. Tenacatita sits on a point that fronts an incredible bay. Developers will make hundreds of millions of dollars if they can grab the land, and every politician in the municipality knows the enterprise will support millions of dollars in graft, bribes, and corruption. None of it will go to the real landowners.

Gaze upon it, and wonder at the power of greed:

Tenacatita

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by: count @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 22:24:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

corruption (4.00 / 1)

The corruption obviously extends to the state level, since those were state police. What, no federales?

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by: count @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 22:26:33 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

SE Portland Sunday Parkways... (4.00 / 1)

This Sunday, August 15!  I'll be an "Intersection Superhero" (should I bring my cape?) somewhere near Sunnyside Park.

A 2-way route of city streets open to walk, bike, roll, run, jump & skip - without having to watch out for cars! The 6-mile Southeast Portland Sunday Parkways route will have two loops, connecting Laurelhurst, Colonel Summers and Sunnyside Parks, plus the Hawthorne Street Fair.  Food, music and activities are located in the parks and along the route.

Come on out and join us, 10 AM - 3 PM.  And volunteer if you can!  I'll have a photo diary up Sunday evening, of course...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 00:34:13 AM UTC