Since my last post, two things worth noting have happened. One, my hard drive bit the dust: 2500 un-backed-up photos, unretrievable. I'm debating whether it is worth the large sum of money it would take to send it off to the nearest clean room. Or whether I should just practice the art of non-attachment.
The other thing is that I'm feeling bored with the general format I've been using: photos with minimal text. I'm thinking of doing more straight-up architectural and urban design criticism, among other things.
In the meantime, for anyone who needs some pointers for who to vote for tomorrow, just look at my front yard. Or scroll below the photo.
**To begin with, Chris Smith and Jim Middaugh are no-brainer votes for the two competitive City Council races. In Smith's race, there are a number of strong candidates, several of whom would be fine on council. Unfortunately, Amanda Fritz looks to be the front runner -- she has not impressed me at all, with her outsourced anti-outsourcing brochure, her Republican Party endorsement, her lack of clarity on mass transit and bikes, and her vaguely "law and order" back-to-basics platform with literature featuring photos of police badges. A bit puritan 1950's NIMBY for my taste. Smith, on the other hand, is an accomplished civic activist who is extremely knowledgeable on transportation issues and led the fight against the strong mayor measure last year. Middaugh is up against labor lawyer Nick Fish. A tough choice, but I'm voting for Middaugh because he will most directly represent me as a bicyclist and he, like Adams, has a youthful energy that this city needs after 4 years with a lackluster mayor like Potter, who has let his own sore ego sabotage the city and has not displayed the sort of leadership and wisdom one would expect from someone of his age. And Randy Leonard, well, you gotta love that guy, even when he's threatening to personally drive a truck up to the tram tower and pull it out of the ground.
**In the current race for mayor, I simply hope that Sam Adams tops 50% of the vote, so that we can avoid a run-off and many more months of Sho Dozono's Potter-redux shenanigans: I won't even go into it, other than to say that anyone advised by a lobbyist like Len Bergstein will never get my vote, and I don't ever want to hear him say "pet project" again. Oh, and the suggestion that fighting Walmart sends the signal that Portland is "anti-business". Adams is a hard-working, visionary, well-spoken, balanced-transportation-system-loving, wonky guy who loves this city, knows his numbers, and deserves a shot at guiding us at an important moment in our history. We need someone with guts and verve in the mayor's office.
**Last but definitely not least, I strongly urge anyone who has yet to vote to write in Joe Cortright for Rex Burkholder's Metro Council position. Burkholder, much to my dismay, has been drinkng the Columbia River Crossing Kool-Aid: Joe Cortright is the local economist doing his best to expose the faulty reasoning and dodgy numbers being used by proponents of this mega-sized freeway project that deserves to go the way of the forever-unbuilt Mt Hood Freeway.
The other thing is that I'm feeling bored with the general format I've been using: photos with minimal text. I'm thinking of doing more straight-up architectural and urban design criticism, among other things.
In the meantime, for anyone who needs some pointers for who to vote for tomorrow, just look at my front yard. Or scroll below the photo.
**To begin with, Chris Smith and Jim Middaugh are no-brainer votes for the two competitive City Council races. In Smith's race, there are a number of strong candidates, several of whom would be fine on council. Unfortunately, Amanda Fritz looks to be the front runner -- she has not impressed me at all, with her outsourced anti-outsourcing brochure, her Republican Party endorsement, her lack of clarity on mass transit and bikes, and her vaguely "law and order" back-to-basics platform with literature featuring photos of police badges. A bit puritan 1950's NIMBY for my taste. Smith, on the other hand, is an accomplished civic activist who is extremely knowledgeable on transportation issues and led the fight against the strong mayor measure last year. Middaugh is up against labor lawyer Nick Fish. A tough choice, but I'm voting for Middaugh because he will most directly represent me as a bicyclist and he, like Adams, has a youthful energy that this city needs after 4 years with a lackluster mayor like Potter, who has let his own sore ego sabotage the city and has not displayed the sort of leadership and wisdom one would expect from someone of his age. And Randy Leonard, well, you gotta love that guy, even when he's threatening to personally drive a truck up to the tram tower and pull it out of the ground.
**In the current race for mayor, I simply hope that Sam Adams tops 50% of the vote, so that we can avoid a run-off and many more months of Sho Dozono's Potter-redux shenanigans: I won't even go into it, other than to say that anyone advised by a lobbyist like Len Bergstein will never get my vote, and I don't ever want to hear him say "pet project" again. Oh, and the suggestion that fighting Walmart sends the signal that Portland is "anti-business". Adams is a hard-working, visionary, well-spoken, balanced-transportation-system-loving, wonky guy who loves this city, knows his numbers, and deserves a shot at guiding us at an important moment in our history. We need someone with guts and verve in the mayor's office.
**Last but definitely not least, I strongly urge anyone who has yet to vote to write in Joe Cortright for Rex Burkholder's Metro Council position. Burkholder, much to my dismay, has been drinkng the Columbia River Crossing Kool-Aid: Joe Cortright is the local economist doing his best to expose the faulty reasoning and dodgy numbers being used by proponents of this mega-sized freeway project that deserves to go the way of the forever-unbuilt Mt Hood Freeway.
Labels: chris smith, jim middaugh, joe cortright, Portland elections, sam adams
posted by andrew at 11:20 AM
5 Comments:
thank you! the b.m.
what about the measures??
^^ Yes on the first two, no on the third one.
thanks drew!
One out of four! Ouch! Fritz's runner-up appears to be Charles Lewis, my second-least-favorite choice. Fish kicked ass, gets to fill the vacant seat immediately, and, if Jonathan over at bikeportland is correct, may ally himself with Potter for the next 7 months of suffering -- which would be really shortsighted of him. And Novick lost his bid to challenge Sen. Smith in November.
Well, at least Sam won handily. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do as mayor (removing or burying the Eastbank Freeway, anyone?), and hoping that he doesn't have to deal with an obstructionist council.
Good riddance to Potter at the end of the year. He gets a C- grade from me. It would be lower had he not pulled us out of the JTTF and worked hard to open City Hall's doors to PDX's minority and immigrant communities.
Post a Comment
<< Home