Nazis, terrorists and gamblers join the listening circle.

[July 23rd, 2008] Winners

1 No money? No problem! Backers of the proposed $4.2 billion Columbia River Crossing project notched another victory last week when the Metro Council voted 5-2 to support the bridge proposal. Like the Portland City Council, Metro asked—in a non-binding kinda way—for more local control and green amenities. And lest we forget, nobody’s figured out exactly who’s going to pay for this CRC. How about if everyone sends Metro all their free credit card offers?

2 Portland cops can thank City Commissioner Randy Leonard for finding a way to let them keep taking vacations on short notice. Last week, Leonard sponsored a resolution that helped out by shifting $511,000 from the city’s rainy-day fund. The money will cover police OT, which has spiked this year on account of presidential candidates motoring about town. At least Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) just hangs around the airport when he’s begging for contributions.

3 Profs at Portland State University finally reached a contract agreement with administrators after many months of contentious salary negotiations. The new deal comes with wage increases of 8.75 percent over two years and means PSU will avoid a strike. Meanwhile, students stretched and yawned.

4 PDX neighbors rejoiced as long-term plans for a third runway at the airport got frog-marched off to an undisclosed detention area. As reported in the Portland Tribune, a task force found lagging landings and takeoffs at PDX and rising gas prices. That adds up to making a third runway at best unnecessary, and at worst just another excuse for the airlines to devise some new B.S. ticket surcharge.

LOSERS

1 Remember “nice old” [b]Peter Egner next door? Well, in news that stunned Egner’s ex-neighbors in West Linn, it turns out the 86-year-old faces potential deportation if the feds prove charges that he helped a Nazi death squad kill 17,000 civilians during World War II. At this rate of finding bad guys, the feds will find Osama bin Laden sometime in 2067.

2 Degenerate and/or sucker Oregon lottery playersface a new temptation starting in January when the Oregon Lottery will introduce a raffle. The odds will still be horrible, of course. But just think—every time you buy a ticket, you’re helping pay for the treatment of someone else’s gambling addiction. It warms the heart.

3According to walkscore.com, Portland is America’s 10th most-walkable city. Perhaps to spare prideful Portland pedestrians, The Oregonian neglected to mention that we’re also ranked behind Los Angeles—that’s no typo—for overall walkability. We could fix this if Metro seriously considers the Score’s proposal to turn the CRC into a six-lane pedestrian-only bridge.