This Week in the Mercury
$$$
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
$$$ / News Oregon Unemployment—Slightly Better, But People Are "Giving Up" Looking For Work
Posted by Matt Davis on Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 11:20 AM
New statistics on Oregon's unemployment level out yesterday suggest the state may be moving out of the worst period in its unemployment history. Statewide unemployment is now at 11.3 percent, according to the Oregon Employment Department, down almost a full percent from 12.2 percent in May, at the peak of unemployment.
“It looks like this could be the beginning of a positive trend,” says Christian Kaylor, a workforce analyst with the OED. “Certainly the worst seems to have passed, although I would want to see the trend continue for three to six months to make sure we don’t have some kind of double dip situation.”
Portland's Metro area accounts for more than half of the statewide data, and the Portland figures are due out early next week, so this is a good indicator for Portland.
Kaylor says Oregon has tied its worst unemployment in history, in 1983. "It looked like we were going to pass that number, now it looks like we won't, that we just matched it," he says.
But the country as a whole is now on the 24 month anniversary of losing jobs every month. "That's incredible," says Kaylor. "It's happened in previous recessions for six to 12 months, but for 24 months, that's unheard of."
Unemployment figures may be down, but continued net job loss in the Portland Metro area isn't reversing along with unemployment, either. In the last 12 months, the Portland Metro area has lost 60,800 jobs, which accounts for 5.9 percent of all 975,800 jobs. The unemployment rate peaked in May, "but even since then, we have lost 14,000 jobs in the Portland Metro area," says Kaylor.
So, while the unemployment rate is falling, those numbers suggest people may be leaving the workforce—deciding to stop looking for work, or physically leaving the state. "People may be deciding to go live in their mom's basement, take anti-depressants, and play X-box," says Kaylor. "They have essentially given up."
But there are options! "You could go back to school, or you could join the military," he says.
Analysts expect national net job loss to end in early 2010. "That point is coming," says Kaylor. "But then the scariest question is, when are we going to start seeing these jobs coming back? People talk about 2011, 2012, and 2013, and it gets pretty scary when we're looking that far out at when businesses are going to start hiring again with robustness."
Friday, November 6, 2009
$$$ / News Fandango Can Suck It
Posted by Matt Davis on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 9:53 AM
We've been using Fandango to reserve movie tickets for a couple of years, and every now and then after I've bought the ticket, this woman's voice will come up and say "click yes to claim your free ticket." So I'd click yes. It turns out I wasn't clicking "yes" to Fandango, but to sign up to a program called "Webloyalty," which has been dinging our debit card $12 every month for the last six months. We only discovered the scam yesterday, after reading about it online.
They must do research to figure out the maximum amount they can charge that people won't notice or care about for at least six months. The guy on the phone actually had the nerve to say that if we quit we would no longer be a member of "reservation rewards" and would lose access to all the benefits. What benefits? NONE! They refunded the six months of charges and said "sorry."
Webloyalty told CBS it's operating within the scope of the law, but I'm never using Fandango again. I don't need an explanation, I don't need an apology, I don't need to call their press person and have them how sorry they are, in fact, fuck it, Fandango, you've got a problem? You call me.
Suck it.
So, to recap: I just want you all to know that Fandango is working with a company that scams people out of their cash. Check your bank statements. See anything weird on there? Fandango can suck it. They've earned the opposite of customer loyalty from me. It would really help me if you would tell ten people to tell ten people about this, too. I want thousands of people walking around by the end of today saying how much Fandango sucks balls. In a bad way. Fandango sucks balls in a bad way!
Fandango can suck it.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
$$$ / Politics Timber & Oil Companies Bankroll Anti-Tax Measure
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Alarmingly-named anti-tax group Oregonians Against Job Killing Taxes filed two referenda last week that aim to repeal the tax pacakge the legislature passed last session to patch some of the budget hole for Oregon education, health care and human services.
State politico and Defend Oregon staffer Steve Novick spells out what would happen if voters don't support the emergency $733 million tax package: "If everything gets hit proportionally, it would be the equivalent of 2,000 old people losing care and 20,000 children losing health care coverage." The personal income tax increase will apply to only the 1.7 wealthiest percent of Oregonians and the new corporate minimum tax, which hasn't been raised in 78 years, will make only 12 percent of corporations pay an annual tax of more than $150.
So who are these people who want to take healthcare away from kids rather than increasing taxes on big corporations? Looking at contributors to Job Killing Taxes, it turns out to be primarily lumber and oil companies. Of the whopping $1.13 million the campaign has raised, timber and paper companies donated over $300,000. Oil companies altogether donated nearly $100,000. That makes the Target's $500 donation look like chump change.
The biggest individual contributor to the anti-tax referendum is Timothy Boyle, president of Columbia Sportswear and a trustee of Reed College. BusinessWeek listed his salary in 2008 as $804,231. Both Boyle and petroleum-dealer John Truax gave $10,000 to the anti-tax campaign.
The single largest entity donating to the campaign is Associated Oregon Industries, which funneled $123,000 to the cause. Ironically, points out Defend Oregon, the Associated Oregon Industries circulated a plan in the legislature earlier this year that would have raised taxes. Their plan would have set a flat $300 corporate minimum tax and raised taxes on everyone who makes more than $7000. As Defend Oregon’s Scott Moore puts it, “The number one funder who says new taxes kill jobs wanted to raise taxes on people who were at or below the federal poverty level.”
So how has the organization that decries Oregon's "wasteful spending" been spending all its dough? Well, $550,000 of it went to paid signature gatherers. Another $123, 913 went to hiring one of the most powerful (and pricey) lobbying agencies around: the Public Affairs Counsel, a lobbying group staffed by Mark Nelson (pictured at right) along with Erica Hagedorn and former right-wing Oregonian columnist David Reinhard.
The anti-tax group also seems to have given a lot of its money away to like-minded groups. The campaign finance reports detail $3,000 in expenditures to the Oregon Republican Party and $11,806 given to Oregonians for Food and Shelter, a pesticide/ forestry/agriculture lobbying group.
Oregonians will likely vote on these taxes in January.
Update 3:20PM: Job Killing Taxes media rep Pat McCormick responds that oil and timber companies were the first groups to give major contributions to the group because the new tiered corporate tax on .1 percent of Oregon sales over $500,000 “particularly irritated” those industries. “The tax is particularly disadvantageous to gas stations and other extremely low-volume, high-margin high-volume, low-margin operations. At a time when Oregon is in the middle of a recession, it does not make any sense to be raising taxes,” says McCormick.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
$$$ Why Teens Make More Money Than You
Posted by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Reason #1: You're lazy.
Reason #2: They know a "win-win-win-win-win-win" situation when they see it.
Reason #3: Not scared of pulling in some serious buckage.
Reason #4: Suuuuuuuweet!
Reason #5: Wait a second… I'm pretty sure a couple of these "teens" are actually 47. LAME!!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
$$$ Here's a Hint: That's Not Water
Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 11:19 AM
Water should not have calories. I say this because it seems we’ve forgotten that fact. If you’re drinking some kind of bottled “water” and you’re concerned that it has too many calories, then you’re not actually drinking water. What you are drinking is weak juice. Also, any product that claims to have fewer calories than your current “water” is also not water because, as I noted before, water should not have calories. Zero. Zip. Nada. If you happen to be drinking a flavored beverage without calories, you’re being ripped off. Essentially what you’re drinking is the weakest juice known to man, which is still not water.
The only way we can combat this shit is by being sensible. If you’re working out, all you need is water (unless you’re an elite athlete like Matt Davis who tells me he also requires electrolytes). If you’re a busy executive worried about hydration, all you need is water. If you’re a soccer mom or a hobo or the King of fucking Spain, all you need is water.
If you want flavor, drink juice. Actual juice. Or eat a piece of fruit and then drink a glass of water.
You want vitamins? There are plenty of multi-vitamins on the market. Pick one. You are not so busy that you need to put vitamins in your water. In fact, if you’re taking vitamins in pill form, you’re using the water to swallow them anyway. It’s essentially the same thing.
Why am I getting so worked up? Take a gander at this press release I just received:
HINT naturally and light flavored water is a great way for your readers to get a flavor-fix without the nasty, useless calories and carbs, and with no added sugar it’s the perfect beverage to keep you hydrated without the stress of calorie-counting.
You know what else is the perfect beverage to keep you hydrated without the stress of calorie-counting? It’s called water. It’s free at numerous Benson bubblers across the city. But then again, Miley Cyrus and Victoria Beckham would never be caught dead drinking water.
- They All Drink HINT.
Sometimes, I’m pretty sure we’re all doomed.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
$$$ No Raise for Oregon's Least-Paid Workers
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 11:39 AM
- This was (almost) last year's hourly wage increase.
Since voters passed Measure 25 back in 2002, Oregon's minimum wage has been linked to inflation: as inflation rises, so must the minimum wage. But this year, the Consumer Price Index (a measure of inflation) declined 1.48 percent, so our lowest paid workers (except, of course, legions of unpaid interns) will continue receiving $8.40 an hour. Last year, workers on the lowest rung got an extra 45 cents an hour cost-of-living increase. That's nine mini Tootsie Rolls an hour!
Think tank the Oregon Center for Public Policy notes that while increasing workers' take-home pay benefits the economy because we're able to buy more stuff, Oregon still has the second highest minimum wage in the country. We're 15 cents an hour behind Washington state's minimum wage but a whole $1.15/hour ahead of the national minimum.
$8.40 an hour still isn't enough to raise a family on, though, says the public policy group. Working full time, you would earn $17,472— that's $900 below the federal poverty line for a family of three.
Monday, August 24, 2009
$$$ / Fashion Mayor Adams Courts Fire-Conjuring Chinese
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 4:34 PM
Part of Mayor Adams' "Green Jobs for Everyone!" economic plan is to attract a major sportswear retailer to Portland within five years. Via Twitter, Adams mentioned this afternoon that he's got his eyes set on a this Chinese company:
I don't know anything about this Li Ning Company Limited but I deeply crave the skills they will bring Portlanders. Not shoe-stitching or sweat-wicking-jersey-making skills but their apparently superhuman abilities to control and commune with fire. On their website, calm athletes hande basketballs of fire, tennis balls of fire and even fly through fire with nothing but the help of inspiration slogans.
- Bring this man to PDX!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
$$$ / TV Spielen Sie Baseball? Leverage is Casting for Extras (Again).
Posted by Will "the Intern" Radik on Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 4:16 PM
Leverage is filming in Portland for two more episodes in season two. This time, in addition to regular people, they're looking for... baseball players and Germans? From Casting Director Danny Stolz:
In addition to all general types of real people, we are also looking specifically to find male baseball players 18-30 yrs old, baseball coaches and umpires as well as men and women of ethnic diversity, especially East indian, Middle Eastern, and German.
The casting has been taken over by a different company, Extras Only, who also handled the casting for The Untitled Crowley Project (the Harrison Ford/Brendan Frasier one) and Twilight. Even those who have previously been extras on Leverage must reapply at extrasonly.com with the project code "LEVERAGE."
Also, here's an exciting glimpse into German baseball, which is played on an indoor basketball court. I saw it on YouTube, so it must be true!
Monday, August 17, 2009
$$$ Thanks for Your Help!
Posted by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey on Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 11:18 AM
As Sarah reported, Lee Perlman will not be prosecuted by the district attorney's office, and so has respectfully declined your donations to help with his bail/legal bills. Generous Mercury readers raised $396 (which would have been matched dollar for dollar by the Mercury), and that money is being returned to the donors as we speak. However! While our monetary help may have been unnecessary, I'm still thinking of making this T-shirt to sell at flea markets.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
$$$ / Artsy The Duffy Lucas Interview
Posted by Matt Davis on Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 8:02 PM
Once, he was a kid dancing to Sussudio. Today, if it's possible, he's even more incredible than that. I first saw the Duffy Lucas tapes last week, a grainy Youtube that originally aired in 1986. Yesterday, Lucas and I connected via Facebook, and this evening, he gave me the interview you've been waiting for. Since then.
I should really charge you to hit the jump button.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
$$$ In Which Duffy Lucas Communicates With Me
Posted by Matt Davis on Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 11:18 AM
Last Monday, I introduced you to Duffy Lucas. Some readers familiar with the Google suggested I contact Lucas via Facebook. Having heard nothing back, I assumed Lucas was none too pleased to be reminded of his former glory—presumably he is now washed-up, a has-been, I thought.
I was wrong. My effing Spam filter appears to have spazzed shit up, evidently assuming that anyone named Duffy Lucas must be marketing penile extensions or Viagra. An understandable computer error, but an unforgivable one. I am on tenterhooks.
Steve, I know the news section is due in for edits, but this clearly takes precedence. And I may as well pitch my 6000-word feature on this subject, right now.
Update, 11:24am:
Here's the email he sent:
Subject: Sussudio
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 11:44:06 -0700Hi Matt,
So you found me…lol. Yes that is me on your blog spot. I am just amazed at the legs that little clip has gotten. It has been featured all over the place. So just what did you have in mind regarding this interview? I’m all about having fun with something I did many moons ago, but am also wary of going down the humiliation path. Thanks much in advance and will look forward to hearing back from you.
Sincerely,
Duffy Lucas
Hmm. Wary of going down the "humiliation path." Personally I think we can take the path less traveled, Lucas, and will be in touch.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
$$$ / Music Making Money Off Michael: Too Soon?
Posted by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey on Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Now ordinarily I'd say that it's WAY too soon to make money off the death of Michael Jackson… but c'mon, you guys! Have you checked out this amazing "Thriller" lithograph from the highly regarded and esteemed "American Historical Society"? And how Michael is pictured "wearing a white suit that's as pure as his heart"? I think you'd have to be some kind of monster not to pay the low, low price of $10 for this one-of-a-kind collectors item, that, if you order right now, you'll also receive a "super bonus" commemorative lithograph that pictures Michael Jackson in his regal attire—"an image fitting for a man who sits on the throne of music royalty." If you are truly mourning his death, and want to insure his entrance into heaven (because we all know where he's going otherwise) ORDER NOW!!!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
$$$ / SEX Your HUMP! Submission and You
Posted by Wm.™ Steven Humphrey on Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 2:47 PM
Have you started on your submission for HUMP! yet? NO?!? And you have no idea what I'm talking about?? Let's remedy that.
As you may have read last week in an article penned by Dan Savage, HUMP! is the northwest's premiere and funnest amateur porn contest. Started in Seattle by our sister paper The Stranger, HUMP! is a film festival featuring funny, sexy and HOT home-made porn made by people just like you. Submissions are 5 minutes or less in length, and as soon as the festival is complete the originals and master DVD is destroyed onstage—so no worries about being branded a porn star for life! (You can also use clever disguises, if you like.)
The best part? Even though you're from Portland, you're totally eligible for the $2000 grand prize, AND the cream of the crop finalists will be shown in a special, fun-filled weekend of screenings (Oct 24-25) here in PDX at Cinema 21, hosted by Dan Savage himself!
Ask anyone who's seen HUMP! in Seattle, and they'll tell you it's a wickedly filthy fun time. But you can't win if you don't enter, and the SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS SEPTEMBER 21, 2009! For all the rules, regulations and more, check out the official site right here.
So don't just sit there! Grab a partner, a camera and get butt-crackin' with HUMP!*
*Not named after me.
Monday, July 13, 2009
$$$ / Film QUICK SOMEONE GIVE ME $50,000 ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Erik Henriksen on Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 11:05 AM
Yeah—the goddamn Ectomobile is on eBay.*
I must own it. I have dreamt of driving this car for 23 years.
Via Laughing Squid. Also, thanks to Will "The Intern" Radik for alerting me to this situation, which obviously is of the utmost importance. Will, once I own the ECTO-1, you shall be the first person I take for a ride.** Just FYI, we will be playing this at maximum volume the entire time, so you should probably memorize all the words:
Mistah FAB - "Ghost Ride It"
*Fine, smartasses. It appears that it may not be the Ectomobile, but rather a replica one that was once used at Universal Stuios. I DO NOT FUCKING CARE. SEND ME YOUR MONEY.
**It will be a nice change of pace for you, I imagine, from the usual intern tasks I assign you, most of which admittedly involve me forcing you to guess which symbols on the backs of cards, and then me giving you an electrical shock every time you answer, regardless of whether or not your guess was correct.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
$$$ / Politics We Have Half An Economic Development Strategy!
Posted by Matt Davis on Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 5:38 PM
As Mayor Sam Adams has been pointing out frequently over recent weeks, Portland hasn't had an economic development strategy in a decade. But it does, now! (Sort of...)
Last year, 39,550 people moved to the Greater Portland area. At the same time, the Greater Portland area lost 38,510 jobs. We're expecting unemployment as high as 17 to 18 percent next year, with job growth of around 10 percent in the next five years. Compare that to a city like Austin, with an aggressive economic development strategy, which is expecting job growth of 15 percent over the same period.
We're losing ground.
Nevertheless, the new strategy got a big fanfare this afternoon. People wore yellow stickers saying "I SUPPORT PDX ECODEV" in council, there was a slick video presentation, and then another PowerPoint presentation. If I didn't know better I'd say I was being sold something. Here's a visual representation of the plan, the result of hundreds of hours of outreach to local businesses:
The plan aims to create 10,000 new jobs in the next five years, by focusing on enhancing the competitiveness of businesses in four traded sector industry concentrations: Clean Tech and Sustainable Industries (CTSI), Activewear, Software and Advanced Manufacturing.
"We're getting a lot of attention, and that's great. But we know that the quality of life we've created here does not necessarily translate into job creation," said Erin Flynn, Economic Development Director of the Portland Development Commission, introducing the plan.
"The New York Times loves us. The Wall Street Journal ran a big article on us," she said. "The coverage we're getting tends to focus on lifestyle, on quality of life, and on our quirky bohemian character. We love that, but we also want people to know that we're a great place to do business, so we're going to be launching a campaign to that effect."
Strikingly, Mayor Adams said an implementation plan will begin work in the fall. Flynn also said she and the team will be back before council then, to essentially spell out exactly how the strategy is going to be achieved. In other words: We know we want jobs! We think we know where those jobs are going to come from! We've got a great team of graphic designers! But we'll get back to you in a few months on how, exactly, all of this is going to work.
Obviously we'll keep a keen eye on the implementation plans.
"Tomorrow the headline is going to be about renaming a street," said City Commissioner Nick Fish. "But this is really important...without a strategic plan, how do you describe what's the right focus?"
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
$$$ Kentucky Fried Chicken
Posted by Matt Davis on Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 3:20 PM
Corey Feldman has won the weird contest. But consider a culture that produces a eulogy like this:
Monday, June 29, 2009
$$$ / Fashion / Portland / TV Are You "Hip and Fashionable"?
Posted by Erik Henriksen on Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 3:28 PM
So that Leverage show that shoots here? They need extras—specifically, "hip and fashionable men and women to be fashion show attendees, fashion designers, buyers, magazine editors, etc." They're also looking for "runway models" between 18-30 years old who "NEED TO KNOW HOW TO WALK THE RUNWAY." (Christ, I get it, stop shouting at me. That's the last time I show off the walk I learned from Top Model.)
And yes, they're paying—which in times like these, justifies posting notices like this one on Blogtown. Hit the jump for the full press release and all the details.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
$$$ / Food / Ethics The Art of Dine and Dash
Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Thu, May 28, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Sunday evening, Arcata California. My wife Kitty and I are in Mazzotti’s Italian Restaurant on the main square, and we want nothing more than enormous plates of carbohydrates, which the menu promises in spades. As we consider which monstrous dish of starch to order, we are both struck by the conversation at the table beside us. They are very close, and very loud. It’s not as if we’re trying to eavesdrop, it’s just impossible to not listen. And what’s remarkable about the conversation isn’t how interesting these two people are, but how amazingly pretentious and snobbish they seem to be.
The young man is dressed in tight knickers with a sweater of some sort, and a driving cap. The young woman across from him is decked out in a skin-tight, low-cut red shirt. The young man is going on and on about all the insights he’s gained studying philosophy in Canada. There’s no doubt in his mind that he’s right about everything, and he speaks as if every word is a hundred dollar bill he’s been inconvenienced to pull from between his teeth. He peppers his conversation liberally with the names of obscure philosophers and their obscure maxims in order to prove his points. The young lady smiles, nods, and makes small interested noises.
The wife and I look at each other and get to work on our booze. After ordering, we try to strike up our own conversation, but the table beside us is joined by a third who drags a chair into the brief space between our table and theirs, affectively bridging the psychological buffer zone that offers some semblance of privacy in the intimate setting. The conversation, once merely interminable, now becomes completely unavoidable. Luckily, the third doesn’t stay long. Kitty notices that as he leaves, the young woman immediately pours his wine into her glass. Odd.
Our food arrives: mine, a calzone that dwarfs my head, hers, a startling serving of eggplant parm. For a moment we are lost in our food, but I’m pulled out of my gooey, cheesy, salty reverie by the sudden realization that the couple beside us is now speaking gibberish. It’s some kind of secret code language consisting of single letters and numbers in rapid succession with the occasional wet tongue click. Their tone is strange and conspiratorial. And I suddenly feel guilty thinking they must have caught on that we were privy to their conversation. I try to mind my own business.
We are sharing a waitress with their table, and every time our server comes to check on us, they lean in and interrupt to request something new. So far they’ve amassed on their table: one whole pizza, two pasta dishes, a bottle of wine, cocktails, and various other unrecognizable dishes that have been picked apart and left to cool and congeal.
This time they request coffee—the young man ordering with the kind of entitled flourish I’d come to loath from certain patrons I’d had the misfortune to serve myself in the past.
These two have now become the evening’s entertainment for Kitty and I. Dinner and a show, so to speak. But we’re also trying to do our best to ignore them, make small talk, etc.
When the coffee arrives at their table, the young woman leaves, passing us with a cherubic smile. The young man is left to request the check. When it comes, he spends a few minutes chatting up the waitress. He’s a philosophy student from Canada, blah blah blah, on a road trip in the US, blah blah blah. Oh, and he’ll be paying cash, he informs the waitress. He makes a point of that. Cash.
For all of our interest, Kitty and I don’t notice he’s gone until we realize we’ve been able to speak to each other freely for five minutes. Then several restaurant staff gather at the table beside us:
“Are they gone?”
“I don’t know. The coffee is still warm, should I bus it?”
“No, the check hasn’t been paid and there’s still a lot of food. Just leave it until they come back.”
Minutes pass. They don’t come back. We watch as our waitress angrily snatches the bill from the table, stalking out the door with an angry look and a sense of purpose. We’d just witnessed a dine and dash of significant proportion. The table beside us is littered with the remnants of what was easily a hundred dollar meal. Kitty and I start replaying everything we witnessed. Should we have seen it coming? Could we have warned someone?
We pay our bill and vow that as the night progresses we will keep an eye out for the hoodlums. Later in the evening I think I see the young man exit the bathroom of the bright naugahide bar where we’ve propped ourselves up. I spring from my barstool and give chase, popping out a back door into an alley. I look both ways, but he’s gone. I have no idea what I would have done if I caught him. Eventually our boldness is done in by alcohol and we drift back to our hotel room to sleep.
I post this story as a kind of learning tool. In the last week, I’ve wondered about the dine and dash. As a server, I never really thought about it happening to me. But I wonder if it’s ever been a concern for any Blogtownies in the service industry. Are there signals to look out for? Can you catch them before it happens? What are the consequences for a server after someone skips out on the check? On the other hand, I wonder how many Blogtownies have dined and dashed. And do you regret it? Let’s get into it in the comments.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
$$$ / Neighborhoods BREAKING NEWS: Study Shows Beavers Stadium Deal Would Create "Net Job Loss"
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Tue, May 26, 2009 at 5:43 PM
Mayor Sam Adams’ office appears to have sat on an economic study showing that the construction of a Beavers ballpark in Lents would create a “net job loss” for the city. The news comes as Lents neighbors furiously debate whether to delay $42 million in local urban renewal projects to pay for the stadium.
A neighborhood meeting last Wednesday night, May 20, ended with many neighbors frustrated over lack of hard data about the economic impact of the proposed investment. But as it turns out, the city received a jobs study on the stadium two weeks ago.
Mayor Adams’ office asked consulting firm ECONorthwest on Monday, May 11, to figure out the number of jobs the Beavers stadium construction would create in Portland. The mayor gave ECONorthwest only one working day to turn around the study, but its results were not good news for the mayor’s office or the stadium plan: While the ballpark construction would create 453 jobs during construction, the $49 million total investment would actually create a net loss of 182 jobs citywide.
“If those individuals who put their money into baseball via taxes are allowed to put that money into the private market, that same amount of money would actually yield more jobs,” explains ECONorthwest number-cruncher Abe Farkas. The study also showed that 67 percent of the construction jobs would go to people who do not live in the City of Portland.
No one from the city mentioned the study results at neighborhood meetings about the stadium on May 12 or May 20. When one Lents resident at the May 20 meeting pressed for “concrete details,” Commissioner Randy Leonard deferred to Beavers representative Greg Peden, who responded that stadium construction would produce 300 union jobs over two years.
The Mercury eventually obtained the report from the PDC today. Since the study is public record, you can download it here as a convenient pdf.
Mayor Adams’ spokesman Roy Kaufmann says the mayor’s office did not release the numbers right away because conversations needed to happen within the mayor’s office.
“We don’t sit on anything because we don’t like the findings,” says Kaufmann. “Once the mayor’s office received the report we had to vet it and discuss its implications. But the report is based on some seriously faulty underlying assumptions.”
For example, the report compares building the stadium to not collecting urban renewal tax dollars to fund the construction, where in fact, urban renewal taxes will continue to be collected in Lents regardless of whether the stadium is built, Kaufmann says.
“The basic assumptions of this study are fine, given its context,” responds Farkas. “We were asked to look at one small slice—jobs—and there’s no way we could have taken into account all that other stuff given the one or two days we were given to complete the study.”
Meanwhile Leonard’s chief of staff, Ty Kovatch, told the Mercury his boss had not seen the report. After looking at a copy furnished by the Mercury, Kovatch responded: “It is not a very useful report for anyone... we need to get a different report.”
The mayor’s office said it decided not to move forward with a more comprehensive economic study of the baseball idea because that kind of analysis could take up to a month, delaying Major League Soccer deadlines.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
$$$ What Would Lents Cut to Foot Stadium Cost?
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Wed, May 20, 2009 at 4:17 PM
Lents has called an emergency neighborhood association meeting tonight to discuss the issues swirling around Randy Leonard, Mayor Adams' and Merritt Paulson's pitch to use $42 million in Lent's urban renewal funds to cover 80 percent of the construction costs for a new Triple-A Beavers stadium out in Lents park.
The neighborhood association does not have any official say over whether or not the city taps the area's urban renewal funds to build the stadium but, of course, the political team behind the stadium would like to get the neighbors' support for the project (especially if they're outspoken and can provide their own colorful scarves).
But so far, the $42 million deal has been too complicated and divisive an issue for the neighborhood association to agree on a stance. The debate hinges on whether the new stadium is a smart investment for a major chunk of the funds that were originally slated for business revitalization, affordable housing, street and sidewalk repair and the redevelopment of Lents Town Center.
The draft budgets for Lents looks vastly different in stadium/no stadium scenarios. It's worth comparing the budgets yourself - the pdf of planned budget without putting money toward the stadium is here, the "stadium scenario" budget is here. But just to get you interested, here are some snapshots: each column is a year's worth of funding for the projects listed on the left, starting in 2009.
Affordable Housing budget if Lents doesn't fund the stadium and then if it does:
And originally planned business development funding and then with the stadium:
The slashed budgets could be viewed as just delays rather than cuts - hypothetically if the stadium gets built, the development projects won't go undone, they'll just be bumped several years in the future. If you live in Lents, stop by the meeting tonight: 7PM at Lents Elementary.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
$$$ / City Hall Stanford Economist Refutes Stadium Benefits
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Wed, May 13, 2009 at 5:09 PM
Last night when Commissioner Randy Leonard and Merritt Paulson pitched the plan to use $42 million in Lents Urban Renewal funds to build the AAA Beaver's ballpark in Lents, the discussion hinged on whether the pricey stadium will actually revitalize the Lents neighborhood. Today Stanford economist Roger Noll told me, "The answer to that question is 'No.'"
A Lents neighbor last night questioned Leonard about what sort of research the city has done into the real economic impact of a stadium in Lents and mentioned a Brookings Institute study (pdf) that found stadiums have "an extremely small (perhaps even negative) effect on overall economic employment and activity" in a city.
Leonard responded that besides the "intuitive" benefits of a stadium (like, for example, the pride of Lents children who get to grow up in "the home of the Beavers"), a Stanford study of the Major League Baseball stadium in San Diego found it was a "tremendous success" both for the city and the team. Leonard and Paulson noted that, yes, the San Diego stadium was major league, not AAA, and in downtown San Diego, not several miles away from the urban core, but say it is still a comparable case.
Well, says Roger Noll, a Stanford econ professor who co-wrote the Brookings Institute study, the study Leonard is leaning on is correct in some ways. But it doesn't mean a AAA baseball stadium will be a good investment for Portland or Lents.
"The way minor league teams make a substantial amount of their income is concessions. The point of a modern stadium is to keep all the money spectators are spending within the stadium, not in the area around it," says Noll. "A baseball stadium is going to bring people just before or just after the games to a bar in the neighborhood. That's all there is."
The key point of the Stanford "tremendous success" study is that the stadium did well because "substantial urban redevelopment was integrated at an early stage into the overall project." Noll says the only stadium he knows of that's benefited its surrounding neighborhood is Fenway Park in Boston, which is too small to have a substantial concessions stand so people head out to neighborhood restaurants. So if you build it, they will come - but HOW you build it determines whether they'll come and spend money in the neighborhood.
But even then, Noll notes, "Stadiums just don't work as an engine of growth. The best they can do is redistribute wealth within an urban area." That means Portlanders will spend their entertainment budget on baseball in Lents rather than, say, a movie downtown. "Some neighborhood's gain is some other neighborhood's loss." The benefit of the San Diego stadium is arguable. According to Noll, many stores in the downtown Gaslight District (itself an urban renewal area) have closed recently because stadium-goers hogged all the parking and the District's former customers went elsewhere.
If Lents's Urban Renewal fund does gives $42 million to the Beavers stadium, it will mean slashing their entire planned budget for affordable housing and small business development in 2010 and 2011. "This is a risk," said Leonard last night. "I know that there are cameras here and that there's a chance that in five years I might be sitting here strapped to a chair, forced to listen over and over to what I've said here today."
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
$$$ / Media Forbes Says Portland 12th Most Overpriced City
Posted by Matt Davis on Tue, May 12, 2009 at 5:05 PM
The New York Times may celebrate Portland for its frugality, but it turns out the city is only cheap for out-of-town visitors like your mother and that flashy jet pilot she's taken up with since pop succumbed at last to black lung.
Portland is America's 12th most overpriced city, says Forbes Magazine, beating San Francisco. Yes, it may cost fewer actual dollars to live here, but there's no houses affordable to those working the few low-paying jobs that do exist. Tomorrow I may even tell you something you don't already know—like the fact that the most expensive city on the Forbes scale is Los Angeles, California. Oh, you guessed that, too?
Forbes, it seems, simply went to coffee shops around the country asking how many of the baristas were "really" actors, writers, and musicians. Then matriculated the data through an Excel spreadsheet to give it an air of legitimacy.
Still, cheer up, loser! You can save money with the Mercury's new MERCPERK$ program! AND download our new Cocktail Compass iPhone application, to save money on booze at the nearest liquor emporium. Then, save the difference in a Roth IRA and in 25 years, you too may have enough to put a downpayment on a chicken coop in Lents. Yes, Lents. The place where nothing grows and the people are oversensitive to derisive throwaway remarks about their neighborhood made by bloggers. Lents! The ultimate shithole of the world! It's not even really Portland, is it? Etcetera.
Monday, May 4, 2009
$$$ / Politics Just Noting.
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Mon, May 4, 2009 at 12:07 PM
First our economy falls apart and now a survey shows many Americans are blaming the mess not on Bush, not on Alan Greenspan but, ah yes, on the Jews. The Boston Review asked 2,768 adults a simple question: “How much to blame were the Jews for the financial crisis?” The results are insane:
"This is not the first instance of an economic downturn sparking anti-Semitic sentiments," notes the Boston Review, which also finds in its survey that Americans are more likely to oppose tax cuts to big business after being told that ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff is Jewish. "The media ought to bear these findings in mind in their coverage of financial scandals such as the Madoff scam. In most cases, religious and ethnic affiliations have nothing to do with the subject at hand, and such references, explicit or implied, ought, then, to be avoided."
via PubliCola
Friday, May 1, 2009
$$$ / City Hall Who Got Cut From the City?
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Fri, May 1, 2009 at 5:02 PM
Mayor Adams' budget is an impressive political balancing act. It cuts $8 million, it cuts 159 jobs, it squeezes in $2.5 million for soccer and somehow no one is pissed off. At the press conference this morning, Commissioners Fritz, Leonard and Fish all praised the budget for placing public safety and housing as top priorities and it looks like while every commissioner took cuts in their bureaus, the budget negotiations all left them with something they wanted.
So what 159 jobs are we losing, exactly? Well, at least 60 of the jobs are vacant positions that the city just isn't going to hire new people for. When the economy started getting grim, a couple bureaus slowed down their hirings knowing they'd be asked to cut jobs in the future.
The mayor's budget is a dense 24 page spreadsheet, but as far as I can tell in my perusal today, the most notable cuts are from the Bureau of Transportation, which is cutting 61 positions. Some of those people can hopefully be transferred to other places in the city, but the way to budget reads now we'll lose 10 street cleaners, four sidewalk inspectors, six people who run the abandoned auto program (which hauls eyesore cars left in the streets), five street pavement repairers and a handful of other city infrastructure-maintenance people.
From the Police Bureau, Portland is losing a canine officer (did you know one canine officer costs the city $98,535 a year? Now you do.), a crime analyist, a criminalist and an officer on arson detail. That plus the 24 people transferred or laid off in the closing of two police precincts. Fire and rescue is also losing five positions. BUT Commissioner Leonard's negotiating kept one fire station from closing and secured one-time funding for two rescue units that were slated to be axed.
More breakdown on which departments are slated to lose jobs - and which aren't - below the jump.
$$$ / Drunk / Games Everything You Need For Derby Day (Except the Money)
Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Fri, May 1, 2009 at 4:48 PM
I pointed to the huge grassy meadow enclosed by the track. "That whole thing," I said, "will be jammed with people; fifty thousand or so, and most of them staggering drunk. It's a fantastic scene — thousands of people fainting, crying, copulating, trampling each other and fighting with broken whiskey bottles. We'll have to spend some time out there, but it's hard to move around, too many bodies."
- Hunter S. Thompson, The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved
I always wanted to bet on the ponies, but I never got up the gumption to go out to Portland Meadows to watch the races. Add to my horse betting desire a strong thirst for mint juleps and you can rest assured I’ll be in the Rialto tomorrow for derby day.
It’s the 135th year that the derby has been run at Churchill Downs. That’s a whole lot of fancy hats, drunken Kentucky Colonels, and fortunes lost and won. I doubt I’ll ever get to Chruchill Downs to watch the race in person, but I feel as if a modicum of that excitement can surely be found in the standing-room only crowd at the airy Rialto. It ain’t wild enough to be the infield, and it sure as hell isn’t cultured enough to be the clubhouse, but Portlanders love to play dress up and you’ll see your fair share of ladies in fancy hats and guys in strikingly non-ironic neckwear.
But the real thing is happening in the off-track-betting venue next door, where the real gamblers hang out. To them the derby is just another horse race in a string of races happening around the country. There are no fancy hats. There is little neckwear. These are the die-hards and hanging out with them is sure to educate you in an aspect of the human condition you may have disregarded.
But lets think about something happier. Lets think about winning! Friesen Fire is considered a favorite for tomorrows race. He’s good on a messy track (forecast calls for rain), incredibly fast, and has a trainer who brought in runners-up in the last two derbies (Eight Belles ruined my trifecta last year). But in order win money on Friesen Fire you’ll need to know how to place a bet. You can find a perfectly reasonable tutorial from About.com here.
Not going to the Rialto but still want a mint julep? Here’s your recipe (From the Mr. Boston Official Bartenders Guide):
4 sprigs mint
1 tsp Superfine Sugar
2 tsp water
2 1/2 oz. BourbonIn glass, muddle mint leaves, sugar, and water. Fill glass with shaved ice or crushed ice. Add Bourbon. Top with more ice and garnish with mint sprig.
Not interested in staying home or going to the Rialto? EaT Oyster Bar is throwing a derby party featuring a $15 all you can eat catfish fry with hush puppies, coleslaw, Texas toast, and $4 mint juleps. From 12pm to 5pm.
Now all you need is a fancy hat. Don’t look at me. Look here.
| Most Popular | I, Anonymous | Best of the Merc |
|---|---|---|
|
Need Scooter Service?
We sell and repair scooters, and have a full service department specializing in Chinese brand scooters; we work on all brands of scooters, however.
Band of the Week
Bombs Into You
About Portland Mercury
RSSGoing to Seattle?
