Logo
ISSUE #35.04 • NEWS •
[MURMURS]

Lights! Cameras! News!

Recently in "Murmurs"

BY WW EDITORIAL STAFF | 503-243-2122

[December 3rd, 2008]

More street folks, but also more windmills and more Hollywood ! From the budget Gov. Ted Kulongoski unveiled this week, gone would be Eastern Oregon’s 60-bed Blue Mountain Recovery Center ($5.3 million savings) for the mentally ill and long-term care statewide for 4,000 seniors ($119 million). But the guv does want to give $5 million in new money to the Arts Commission and film office and $4 million for a “wind demonstration project.” Human services providers booed. “There’s huge human impact here,” says Oregon AARP director Jerry Cohen.

Still outraged by Proposition 8 in California and looking to show support for gay rights, the national Join the Impact group is holding candlelight vigils across the country, including Portland. On Dec. 20 at 5 pm, demonstrators will gather in Pioneer Square. Organizers ask protesters to wear shirts that say “Second Class Citizen” and stay silent instead of yelling and bringing signs. For more info, go to pdxjointheimpact.wordpress.com.

Man-bites-dog department: One new tax proposed by the Oregon Housing Alliance for the 2009 legislative session is drawing some counterintuitive support, A $15 fee on all documents —think house deeds, mortgages, etc., recorded at the county level—is backed by normally tax-averse Oregon bankers, Realtors and the Oregon Home Builders Association. The new proposed levy is projected to raise $10 million annually for affordable housing. “It’s about time we had a dedicated funding source for affordable housing,” says Home Builders lobbyist Jon Chandler, whose group opposed past affordable funding proposals such as a real estate transfer tax.

City Hall is pushing back on Portland Public Schools’ move to amend its policy guiding the sale and redevelopment of “surplus property” (i.e., closed schools and vacant lots). “A community-centered school functions much like a major department store in a shopping center, in that the community school serves as an ‘anchor’ to attract and retain families,” Gil Kelley, Portland’s planning bureau director, wrote PPS board members in a Nov. 18 letter. Kelley says any decision on surplus property “needs open and deliberate decision-making.” Point taken. The school district has extended until Dec. 15 the public-comment period on the proposal.













icon Story continues below

advertisement

advertisement

A few Hollywood District residents are mad that a Dollar Tree store might be moving into the old Trader Joe’s location on Northeast Sandy Boulevard. One anonymous resident is dropping off fliers urging residents to call Dollar Tree, New & Neville Real Estate, and Trader Joe’s, which still occupies the lease, to voice concern. The gripe against Dollar Tree? A belief the area doesn’t need another discount retail store. The flier’s author instead wants more family-friendly the Children’s Gym. New & Neville wouldn’t comment on how many calls it’s gotten.

Thank you, readers! Your generosity for WW’s Give!Guide in this year’s brutal economy has been incredible. As this issue of WW went to bed, you’d given more than $198,000—more than $100,000 ahead of last year at this time. For real-time updates—and to learn about the 55 nonprofits involved in this year’s effort, as well as our thank-you incentives—check out wweek.com/giveguide. In the meantime, you have through Dec. 31 to donate. Please keep the generosity coming!

Rate This Story
1 average/1 vote

 
read all 1 comments | add your comment
 

RECENT COMMENTS ON “Lights! Cameras! News!”

1

Hollywood needs *something*, anything to occupy the empty spaces we have. Let's face it, though, Hollywood is not Hawthorne. We're a neighborhood of chain retail and fast food. But then... there is...

Beulah, Dec 3rd, 2008 8:25am
 
 
 





Recently in Willamette Week
December 31st 1969Washington State | The Canada of Oregon has it all—a Stonehenge replica, a longboarder's concrete wet dream and dark, damp underground lava caves. Vive les rocks.
December 31st 1969Oregon's Outer Edges | Crater Lake. Hell's Canyon. Wallowa and Steens mountain ranges. Hell, yeah.
December 31st 1969Central Oregon/High Desert | No rain, plenty of snow, obsidian flows and great local beer. The folks from the real eastside know how to unbend outside.
December 31st 1969Great Cascades/Columbia Gorge | With plenty of room to roam—and hot springs for your weary feet—it's the place to ramble and relax for the weekend.
December 31st 1969Willamette Valley | Monks, tracks, tubing and wine make the fertile strip a virile place to play.
December 31st 1969Stumptown | Tons of public parks, an extinct volcano and nude beach volleyball to keep you jolly. Get out and collect those merit badges, without leaving the city.
December 31st 1969The Coast | The beaches are public. You own them. Go play—hike in the old-growth forests.
December 31st 1969Cycle Tour 101: Your on-bike guide to Highway 101 | To ride the greatest bike route in Oregon, you need to get out of Portland.
December 31st 1969Doggin' It | What happens when a Portland running club jogs with pooches from the pound?
December 31st 1969Over the Edge | Sam Drevo will paddle yr ass.