Old FURIOUS nads! by The One True b!X

It’s no secret that in general (although not without exception) I’ve supported the premise of urban renewal areas. But I have a question for Neighborhood Notes and for Patricia Gardner: Is there a point at which downtown and northwest Portland will declare that enough has been done via urban renewal dollars? Will the words “we can take it from here” ever be uttered? At no time have I seen supporters of extending urban renewal areas (or creating new ones) in and around downtown explain when the perpetual support for urban renewal in their neighborhoods should expire so that money can begin flowing to other parts of the city. Without such a firm commitment, it’s difficult to believe that they ever will proclaim that they’ve had their full share.

Now, I get that the tone of the Willamette Week piece on the Dozono poll question (study the Secretary of State’s city elections manual if you want to play along at trying to determine if anything wrongful transpired) is significantly different than that of the Portland Tribune piece on the matter. And perhaps that’s why some see it as little more than a Willamette Week smear tactic against a potential Sam Adams opponent. But to compare it to last year’s Bob Ball debacle is asinine. Whether or not one believes that Willamette Week wants to keep opponents of Sam Adams out of the race, the only thing that knocked Ball out of the race was Bob Ball himself. He was, remember, running around in private trying to smear Sam Adams. If one is so righteously opposed to smear tactics, it would be wise to not conveniently drop that fact into one’s personal memory hole in one’s attempt to criticize Willamette Week.

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So the director of the “Independent” Police Review slammed in a new report for pretty much never bothering to do anything of an actual independent nature to look into allegations of police misconduct? You know, the one who left her job today on the same day the report was released? She’s taking a new one at the Police Bureau itself, “monitoring police conduct in a new Office of Professional Standards”. Read the first sentence above to understand why the Bureau itself might feel comfortable hiring her. Clearly a reward for a job the Bureau considers well done.