The
Eagle Has Broken
When Portland city officials bought 1,500 new
Duncan Eagle parking meters in 1997, they thought the
Rose City was getting the latest in smart digital technology--"a
PC on a post," as the manufacturer likes to say. Instead,
it turns out Portland got something closer to a lemon-on-a-stick.
The Eagle 2000 meters have had nagging problems reading
coins that have tiny flaws in them. As a result, the city
has received 275 complaints from citizens about the meters.
Last week, WW learned that the manufacturer admitted
to a bigger problem: The electrical guts of the meters
are prone to malfunctioning because of temperature and
moisture.
The meters suffer from intermittent and unpredictable
electrical glitches that may cause the manufacturer to
replace a key component--a grounding screw--in all 1,500
meters. Problems have also been reported with the same
model in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.
City officials aren't too worried, though: The meters
are under warranty until September, and the fix shouldn't
cost taxpayers any more than the $500,000 they already
shelled out for the mechanical parking police.
"It's not some massive flaw, it's fine-tuning," says
Gorm Tuxen, director of sales for Duncan Industries, the
meter manufacturer, based in Harrison, Ark. Tuxen says
the problems should be solved by a software adjustment
and the implementation of new maintenance recommendations.
"We're still negotiating," says Keith Ehrensing, the
city official in charge of meter security. "It may require
them to send technicians from the factory."
The meter glitch poses another hassle: City officials
may not be able to know if someone who claims to have
parked at a broken meter is telling the truth.
Because the grounding screw problem is sporadic, the
city can't easily verify that a particular meter is malfunctioning.
Mary Volm, spokeswoman for the city's transportation department,
says peeved parkers must complain immediately (by calling
823-7200) about a faulty meter or else they will have
to pay their parking ticket.
In other words, you can't backdate your parking problems.
"Call that number with the 7-digit meter number and address
and leave a message, and the info will go into our log
and to the court," Volm says.
--Bob Young
Tax
Secrets
When the city council votes Wednesday on whether
to spend $33 million renovating Civic Stadium, they'll
do so without having publicly disclosed a big piece of
information--where the money is coming from.
Last week, Mayor Vera Katz and her staff unveiled plans
to give Marshall Glickman's Portland Family Entertainment
group a 20-year deal to run the stadium but she and her
staff have repeatedly refused all media requests to discuss
funding details.
Part of the reason for Katz's reticence may be that not
everyone is thrilled about the plan.
According to confidential city documents obtained by
WW, Katz wants the funding for Civic to come from
an increase--from 9 percent to 11.5 percent--in the Multnomah
County hotel and rental car taxes.
The impact of the proposed tax increase has some local
hoteliers grumbling.
"I'm irritated," says Sam Allen, owner of the Monarch
Hotel and the Inn at the Meadows. "My great fear is this
is going end up costing us business," he says
The tax increase itself is not all that's bothering some
innkeepers. They're also unhappy with how some of the
proceeds will be spent.
The biggest chunk of the new revenues will fund an expansion
of the Convention Center, which they desperately want.
It will also fund the Portland Center for the Performing
Arts, Tri-Met's fareless square--and Civic Stadium, which
is where their complaints lie.
The hoteliers say they originally approached Katz with
the idea of raising money for the Convention Center after
last November's ballot measure failed. Although the Multnomah
County Commission must approve the final version of any
hotel tax increase, the city's higher credit rating and
stake in the Convention Center made it a natural partner.
In the course of discussions, the two sides arrived at
the idea of floating bonds backed by a 2.5 percent increase
in the hotel tax. Later, it became clear that such an
increase could raise as much as half a billion dollars
over 25 years--far more than the convention center required.
In early June, according to Phil Peach, Executive Director
of the Oregon Lodging Association, Katz suggested some
of the money should go to Civic. "I guess the city saw
an opportunity--that might be the understatement of the
year," Peach says.
According to projections prepared by Katz's staff, the
stadium could receive as much as $102 million of the new
tax revenue. That's well above the $60 million officials
say will be required to pay debt service on the renovation
of the 73-year-old ballpark. It's unclear where the extra
money will go--and again, city officials aren't talking.
To some hoteliers, what amounts to a subsidy for Civic
and Portland Family Entertainment is hard to swallow.
"We're giving all this money to Marshall Glickman, the
friend of the people?" says Stephen Gentner, whose family
owns the Imperial and Mallory hotels. "I think we should
call it Rip City Stadium."
Even if PFE brings Triple A baseball and professional
soccer to Portland as promised, the lodging industry doesn't
think it'll get much of a payback. Gentner says the Mallory,
located right next to the stadium and owned by his family
since 1943, has never gotten much business from the succession
of minor-league teams that have played at Civic.
Negotiations over the final version of the tax increase
continue, but with nervous hoteliers facing a glut of
new downtown rooms, Katz's projects may have priority
over the hoteliers' objections. "Hotel taxes used to be
a way of promoting industry," Peach says. "Now they're
a way of backfilling budget shortfalls."
--Nigel Jaquiss
Foot
Soldiers
Border disputes are always messy, especially
in the medical world. Just take a look at the bizarre
fight over Senate Bill 606, where podiatrists and orthopedic
surgeons are waging a pitched battle for control of a
key anatomical province--the ankle.
Currently, Oregon law restricts podiatrists to providing
care for the foot, but it remains vague on an important
question: Does the foot include the ankle? Yes, say the
state's 70 podiatrists, who are not medical doctors but
do receive extensive education and training on the lower
extremities.
SB 606 would grant all podiatrists the right to treat
ankle injuries non-surgically and allow qualified podiatrists
to perform surgery. "We treat ailments of the human foot,
and the ankle is part of the foot," says podiatrist Gerald
Peterson, who notes that 34 other states let podiatrists
operate on the ankle. "The $64,000 question is: 'Where's
the magic line?' It's always been a gray area, and we
want it clearly defined."
Podiatrists have tried for years to pass a law explicitly
granting them tarsal rights, but they face a David-and-Goliath
fight against the powerful Oregon Medical Association.
The state's orthopedic surgeons insist that podiatrists
are simply not qualified to expand their domain to what
Bob Dernedde, executive director of the OMA, calls "new,
uncharted areas."
Orthopedic surgeons, who are MDs, suspect that if podiatrists
are allowed to establish a beachhead on the ankle, they
will soon creep up the leg and lay siege to an even more
sensitive area--the knee. "It's called gradualism," says
Dernedde.
Podiatrists deny having designs on the knee. All they
want, they say, is to be allowed to operate on the ankle
if they can demonstrate they've had the proper training
and certification. SB 606 has passed the Oregon House
and Senate and now sits on Gov. John Kitzhaber's desk.
Perhaps he should call in the United Nations.
--Chris Lydgate
Drug
Money
Prices on prescription drugs are more competitive
than ever, as long as you buy enough.
Just ask Beaverton resident Tammy Dobson. After capping
two of her teeth, Dobson's dentist wrote her a prescription
for six Tylenol 3 tablets, which contain codeine. Dobson
had her prescription filled at the Rite Aid pharmacy at
the corner of Southwest Allen and Murray boulevards.
Taken aback by the $9.98 price, she called around to
a number of other pharmacies.
Each of the seven drug stores Dobson called--including
Fred Meyer, Albertson's and Hi-School Pharmacy--offered
a cheaper price than Rite Aid. But that wasn't the biggest
surprise. She also learned one of the industry's best-kept
secrets: Most pharmacies have a minimum charge for prescription
drugs. At Rite Aid that means that even if a prescription
has a retail value of only $1 (as was the case for Dobson's
six tablets), the consumer will pay $9.98.
Dobson confronted the manager at her Rite Aid, who told
her that not only was the pharmacy under no obligation
to post its minimum price, it was under no obligation
to tell customers that it had one.
Mike Patrick, president of the Oregon Pharmacy Board,
confirms that pharmacists are free to set minimum prices
and are not required to disclose them in writing.
Patrick, a Safeway pharmacist, says that for larger purchases,
pharmacies are very competitive on price. He was surprised
to learn that minimum prices in the Portland metropolitan
area range from $3.99, at Bi-Mart, to $9.98, at Rite Aid.
Patrick says there are reasons pharmacists charge minimums.
"The cost of labor and administration is the same regardless
of quantity," he says.
For her part, Dobson agrees that pharmacists should be
allowed to cover costs, but she says consumers should
have a right to know that they're being charged a minimum
price because of it.
"They're making a killing, and customers don't even know
about it," Dobson says. Rite Aid officials declined to
comment.
--Nigel Jaquiss
