News That’s Pregnant When Teenagers Are, Too.

[September 3rd, 2008]

Last week, Gov. Ted Kulongoski announced that the City of Portland will help preserve air service connecting Portland to Coos Bay, near the exclusive Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, and Klamath Falls. Kyle Chisek, an aide to Mayor Tom Potter, says the city will chip in $300,000—$213,000 for Coos Bay and the rest for K. Falls—from its “rainy day” fund. Lest Portlanders worry their tax dollars are subsidizing wealthy, Bandon Dunes-bound golfers who make up a big chunk of Coos Bay fliers, Chisek says the money will help persuade SkyWest Airlines, which serves the cities, to keep its 300-person maintenance hub at PDX.

Among the fruits of Mayor Tom Potter’s seemingly directionless and now-almost-forgotten VisionPDX effort: more Street Roots vendors. Included in the $102,500 “Vision into Action” grants the City Council will award Sept. 3 is $10,000 to help expand the homeless advocacy paper’s distribution, create an East Portland satellite office and increase the number of Street Roots vendors from 75 to 100 by July. “We feel like a lot of the street population is moving to the east side,” says Street Roots director Israel Bayer, explaining the need.

The Portland City Council is scheduled to hear a presentation Wednesday, Sept. 3, by San Diego transplant and Snoop Dogg critic Darrell Smith about his new “’Stop Pimpin’ Human Rights Campaign.” “This pimping mentality has been pushed by BET, the corporate media, hip-hop,” Smith says. “They turn these ex-pimps into folk heroes. The reality is a pimp is a sexual predator.” Smith insists he’s not fishing for a grant, but would like some official help getting his message out, perhaps through signs on the MAX reading, “Pimpin’ Is Slavery,” which would, in fact, be one of the least weird things Murmurs has seen on TriMet.

Forget Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain. Turns out Portland has its very own presidential candidate in its midst: a Southeast Portlander going by the Jehovah’s Witness-style name “Watchman,” who’s been dropping handwritten campaign literature at neighbors’ doors since July. Running as a write-in candidate, the Watchman’s platform, in its entirety, is this: “Put Bible teaching in schools. No more use of radio active [sic] materials in the United States. No more abortion. Provide land in the cities for people to stay on as long as they want for free. Provide studio apartments for the poor when possible.”