This morning Amy linked today's Oregonian article (which is in the running for Best Unintentionally Hilarious Headline 2008 - check it out) detailing how the construction company hired to build the new NE offices of Planned Parenthood quit the project after protests from Catholics and others who use phrases like "abortion mill". What's missing from the article is this crucial fact: the construction company backed out more than a month ago.

In early May, the construction company's announcement thrilled pro-life websites. Since then, though, the Planned Parenthood has remained on construction schedule and is actually saving money by using its developer as a general contractor rather than hiring a new agency to replace the one that jumped ship. Liz Delapoer, marketing director for Planned Parenthood, was flummoxed as to why the Oregonian ran the story today with no time or date context about when the pull-out occurred. "I'm surprised to see people taking an interest," she said, "This happened back in early May."

Here's a sketch of the imagined building, which should be breaking ground this October at the corner of NE MLK and Beech and in full operation by early 2010:

Also bothersome on the reporting of this story: pro-life groups portrayed the pull-out as a victory, where their fetus-waving protests actually made a difference.

But according to the developer, Bob Walsh, he quit the project not due to morals but because he feared crazed and violent protesters. From the Oregonian:

When Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette signed on as the anchor tenant, Walsh said, he called builders in other cities who had dealt with aggressive anti-abortion activists. He was told that protesters had gone as far as staking out contractors' homes.

"It's disruptive and very threatening," he said. "I just didn't want to put my family through that."

That sounds more like "coercion through fear" than "grassroots victory".

Yes, I AM obsessed with suburban cops on our public transit today. From Transit Sleuth:

So when I was strolling down into town last weekend I stumbled upon this absolutely ridiculous disrespect the Beaverton Police paid to downtown Portlanders waiting for the Streetcar. This police officer, who probably didn't need to be downtown in the first place - who knows - parked right in the tracks in a completely illegal way. You might ask why did he park this way? Well I'll tell you, it was because he parked here and strolled happily into the Pita Pit across the street. Meanwhile the streetcar operator like a good little citizen sat there, not running the whistle and waited.

Prius Fever is the new phenomenon sweeping the country--with Toyota's green model in short supply and gas at $4 a gallon, car dealers are prepared to offer ridiculous terms for a used Prius. Local transportation activist Bob Richardson and his partner bought a new Prius in 2006, when gas was $2.60 a gallon. Thirty months later he is convinced he made the right choice, having just been offered a 1998 Volvo S-70 GLT sedan in mint condition with the works, in a car-for-car exchange.

The first showroom Richardson walked into, a dealer offered $22,000 for the car. But the offers kept getting better and better, he says. Then, the Prius Fever hit Richardson. "It was time to sign on the dotted line, but I got a knot in my stomach. I couldn't do the deal," he says. "I had become emotionally dependent on the car, more so than I could have imagined." So he's keeping the Prius. What would you do?

Suburban MAX cops don't have to testify to Portland's internal affairs cops if they see a Portland cop doing something out of line on the MAX. From Mercury's news story this week:

Officers from Milwaukie, Hillsboro, Beaverton, and Washington County work in Portland on MAX with Portland's TriMet cops under intergovernmental agreements. But because of the way those agreements are written, those officers are subject to a lower standard of oversight than regular Portland cops. If a fellow Portland cop had witnessed the fight, for example, they would have been compelled to testify to Portland Police Bureau's internal affairs detectives.

Now, the City of Portland appears to be trying to renew the controversial contracts for suburban MAX cops without public discussion, by placing four items on the Wednesday's consent agenda:

1.*928 Authorize an Intergovernmental Agreement between Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon and the City of Hillsboro for transit police services (Ordinance)
2.*929 Authorize an Intergovernmental Agreement with Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon and Washington County for transit police services (Ordinance)
3.*930 of Oregon and the City of Tigard for transit police services (Ordinance; amend Contract No. 52503)
4.*931 Amend an Intergovernmental Agreement with Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon and the City of Beaverton for transit police services (Ordinance; amend Contract No. 52520)

But wait! Thanks to an observant Amy Ruiz, who spotted the items, CRC chair Michael Bigham has asked council-recommended CRC members to contact their respective commissioners and have the Trimet agreements pulled from the consent agenda, so the public can comment on them. Let's hope council is receptive. [NOTE: I feel like Amanda Fritz, writing this post. But it's important. So I'll talk "consent agendas" if I want to...]

A furious email this morning from Michael Goldman, who tried to take water into the Multnomah County Bike Fair at Colonel Sumner Park yesterday, but was DENIED.

Dear Multnomah County Health Department,

I would like to complain about an OLCC rule that put many attendants of today's Multnomah County Bike Fair (MCBF) in jeopardy. I attended the fair with my friend who naturally brought a large bottle of water to stave off the heat of today's very high temperatures, as did I. We were both told that we would not be able to bring in outside containers whether they contained water or not due to an OLCC rule against outside containers in a beer garden. Some poor MCBF volunteers had to go around telling people who responsibly brought their own water to empty their containers to comply with OLCC rules.

I hope the various health departments in this state overrule a very irresponsible rule that makes hydration at events with alcoholic beverages in hot weather onerous and dangerous.

As a young person who is aware of both the age of the OLCC and its commissioners, I believe it to be inevitable that such an anachronistic state power will be discontinued at least by the time my generation fills the voting records and capitol building. In the mean time, I would hope the greater and more reasonable concerns of the state and municipal health agencies keep the OLCC's idiocy to a minimum.

Sincerely,
Michael Goldman
Portland

"I reviewed their plan today and did not see anything in their plan that stated they were going to prohibit water bottles," Ignowski continues. "However, I did read that they were going to serve water in paper cups and beer in water bottles and plastic cups. This may have been another reason why they prohibited outside containers."

Whatever. In Saturday's heat, they should have changed their policies.

Via FOX, which wrote "butt" instead of "ass" in their headline: "As Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were kissing and making up last Friday, Bill Clinton might have had other ideas, according to a report in The (London) Telegraph. The paper reports that even as the former president and the current presumptive Democratic nominee prepare to meet to make their own amends, Bill Clinton reportedly told close friends Obama can "kiss my ass" to get his support." Do they have any idea how much money they could raise if this happens, and they film it?

Did the White House block a Pentagon plan to find Osama bin Laden?

Be careful if you drive out of Oregon: Both Washington and California have new laws on cell phone use while driving, which take effect tomorrow.

Floyd Landis lost his final appeal, and officially lost his 2006 Tour de France title.

Oil hit $143 a barrel.

Walsh Construction pulls out of building the Planned Parenthood clinic on NE MLK, citing aggressive anti-abortion protesters. Like this guy:

Bill Diss, one of the organizers of the local protest, said the effort is designed to remind the businesses involved in the project whom they're working for. He called Planned Parenthood a "killing center" that targets young girls, teaching them about sex and masturbation, which he called "the gateway drug to lust."

Today: Not as hot as yesterday.