Good As Goldschmidt? Ben Canada has assembled an impressive team in his first year as Portland Public Schools superintendent, but one job he's been unable to fill is that of human resource director. The district selected four finalists for the position earlier this year, but each either declined the job or was vetoed by selection-committee members. The vacancy is creating headaches on the negotiating front: Substitute teachers have worked without a contract for 16 months, and classified employees, including secretaries and other clerical personnel, have yet to begin talks since their previous contract expired June 30. The latest name to surface for the HR job, however, is causing consternation in the ranks. Steve Goldschmidt, the younger brother of former mayor and governor Neil Goldschmidt, was interested in the job earlier this year but didn't make the final four. Now Goldschmidt, an associate professor of educational policy and management at the University of Oregon, is reportedly in talks with Canada about the position. The possibility of Goldschmidt's hiring has teachers steaming. Goldschmidt is well-known in union circles for his role in the 1987 Eugene teachers' strike, which lasted 22 days and is the longest in the state's history. He represented the Eugene school district in those negotiations and continues to do contract bargaining, currently on behalf of the Ontario school district. WW was not able to reach Goldschmidt. District officials declined to comment directly on his prospects, saying only that he is one of a couple of candidates being considered. Portland Association of Teachers President Richard Garrett was less reticent. Garrett says he's dismayed that Goldschmidt is even being considered for the job. PAT voiced opposition to his candidacy earlier in the process and, if anything, is now more adamant that the job should be filled by a person sensitive to teachers' concerns. "We're looking for pacification, not confrontation," Garrett says. --Nigel Jaquiss Toastering a New Era Gordon Davis and Viki White were walking home on First Thursday when they spotted an unexpected piece of art: a bright yellow toaster sitting on top of a utility box on Northwest Hoyt Street. Taped to it was the Portland Yellow Appliance Program manifesto, urging them to take the toaster home with them. "In this day and age," it read, "why should everyone have to buy their own toaster oven, lawnmower or television? How often do people really use them?" The roving conceptual art project, which hit the streets of the Pearl District last week, takes its inspiration from the Yellow Bike Program, a highly publicized (though questionably effective) volunteer effort to fix up donated bikes, paint them yellow and leave them in public places for Portlanders to share. "Why just bicycles?" the PYAP manifesto asks. "Why not the other necessities of modern urban living?" Which explains the yellow toaster. "We found it so hilarious, we brought it inside to show all our friends," says White, who throws a First Thursday party each month. She says city lobbyist Marge Kafoury liked it so much, she took it to City Hall. Still another neighbor was devising a scheme to sneak a yellow lawnmower into a friend's moving van, thus spreading the program to the state of Arizona. Yellow appliances could still be seen on street corners and in parking lots in the Pearl District late Sunday evening. The movable installations seemed to glow, casting shadows in the early fall night. An old pushmower, a highchair, an exercise bike in front of 24-Hour Fitness: They were ghosts from the garage given new life, recycled in the spirit of Portland. --Michaela Lowthian Tree People Take A Stand Protesters came out of the woods Tuesday to rail against The Oregonian's depiction of them as ecoterrorists. The activists--who have been maintaining protests in the Mount Hood National Forest for more than 170 days--also charge that the Forest Service's response to the daily's recent four-part series has put them at risk. There are two protests in the forest. One is about six miles up Forest Service Road 4615 and is a tree-sit on a platform 150 feet above the ground. The other, about four miles up FSR 4614, is an elaborate road-block consisting of a labyrinth of ropes that supports two manned platforms ("Out on a Limb," WW, Sept. 1, 1999). Since shortly after the protests began, gates to the roads have been closed by the agency. But on Oct. 8, in response to requests from hunters, the agency opened the gate to FSR 4614, also known as Squaw Mountain Road. So far, there haven't been any angry showdowns between men with guns and tree huggers, but the protesters are worried, and they hold The Oregonian responsible because the Forest Service has picked up the rhetoric of the article. "We want it to be made clear to The Oregonian that it's not acceptable to call peaceful protesters terrorists. It puts people in danger," says Ivan Maluski of Cascadia Forest Alliance, which is spearheading the protests. The same day it opened the gate, the Forest Service announced that unknown ecoterrorists had sabotaged roadside culverts behind the roadblock, which would cause a washout in the event of a rainstorm. Maluski says he was not aware of the culverts being blocked until the Forest Service pointed it out. He says that such an action is not part of Cascadia's strategy. At this point, it's unclear how long the activists will remain in the woods. On Sept.10, Forest Supervisor Gary Larsen wrote to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden's office, denying Wyden's request to cancel the sale. Wyden plans to take the case to Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. In the meantime, the activists are taking advantage of the open gate to stock up for the winter. A convoy with food, firewood and other supplies will head up to the roadblock on Saturday. --Patty Wentz Following The Money A report issued this week suggests that when it comes to Oregon politics, you get what you pay for. Undermining Democracy, a report issued by Oregon Action, is a comprehensive analysis of the 1999 legislative session that connects campaign contributions to laws that were passed or blocked. The report states, for example, that of 40 environmental bills passed by the lawmakers, 36 were anti-green. Oregon Action links this to the nearly $1.7 million that anti-environmental groups donated to candidates in 1998, which made up 13 percent of the total statewide contributions. Oregon Action is an outgrowth of the now-defunct Oregon Fair Share and is affiliated with groups such as the Oregon Environmental Council, 1000 Friends of Oregon and Jobs with Justice. The report also says big money is turning off voters; according to a survey, 64 percent of Oregonians say the candidates with the most cash, not the best ideas, win. The 1998 election cycle had the lowest voter turnout in history. That same year, more than two-thirds of the total campaign contributions came from donors who gave $10,000 or more. For a copy of the report, call Oregon Action at 282-6588. --Patty Wentz Clothed Caption Orgy TV it isn't. Sure, there were a few limp references to muff diving and jacking off, but it seems the man is mellowing. That's right, Spaggheads and Spagghaters. The saucy, vexing, nudity-embracing, balding little fellow known as Jim Spagg is back in the public-access eye after a nearly five-year hiatus. Once a powerful repellent to the refined, Spagg is getting downright palatable via his new show, Humanity School of Understanding, which premiered Oct. 9 on Portland Cable Access. Unlike Spagg's past programs, which included the aptly titled Nude Scene and Naked Truth, there are no crotch shots, bared breasts or cavorting nude figures. Only vestiges of vulgarity linger from those raunchier days, though Spagg's signature daffy antics and "happy doodles" greeting are fully intact. But in a grand departure from his notoriously immodest past, Spagg manages to stay clad throughout his allotted hour. As he (arguably) waxes profound on the ecology, consumerism, peace on earth, acceptance of others and self-discovery, Spagg rattles around to the tunes of Monkey Fur and Love Load, which dispenses everyone's favorite, "Fat Ass Woman." A few male callers (who note that Spagg's female sidekick is "hot") want to know if the host is going to bring back his infamous fleshy fare. "Nude shows are a part of my history," Spagg bellows back. "I'm an artist, and I was expressing myself. Now those shows aren't going to be made anymore, although, who knows, we might come up with a Best of Spagg type of thing. Life is strange." --Inga Sorensen - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published October 13, 1999