WINNERS 1. The State of the Union, State of the State and State of the City addresses are tough acts to follow. Still, Metro exec Mike Burton managed to snag good press for his State of the Region speech last week by calling attention to some dire--though unsexy--needs. For one, he stressed that cities like Gresham don't have enough money to plan for the growth they're expected to accommodate. For another, Burton said a chunk of the Oregon income tax paid by Clark County commuters ought to go toward maintaining our roads. 2. After hitting the books, local prep hoop star Brandon Brooks will be on the floor for Jefferson High when the fourth-ranked Democrats host No. 1 Benson Wednesday night. Brooks' bad grades kept him out of the first 16 games, but last week he was declared eligible--just in time for the sold-out game. 3. One of Portland's smallest ad agency's just picked up one of the city's biggest clients. Terry Coates, a self-described "one-man band," will take over The Oregonian's multimillion-dollar account, ending the paper's 60-year relationship with Cole & Weber. Coates, who left C&W in the mid-'80s to start his own agency, says he's familiar with the O's operation, having worked on special projects for the paper.

LOSERS 1. We'll miss the beer, we'll miss the 220 jobs and some of us will even miss the smell. But the closure of the Blitz Weinhard brewery will really hurt Portland sewer users--in the pocketbooks. The Blitz brewery made 1.3 million barrels of beer last year and paid $1 million in sewer fees to the City of Portland. (Fees are based on water use and discharges, both of which are high in the beer biz). Without that $1 million, the city will be forced to raise sewer rates for everyone else or make some cuts in the Bureau of Environmental Services, the city agency that collects and spends sewer money. 2. You snooze, you lose. Tickets for Neil Young's upcoming shows at the Schnitz went on sale Saturday morning and sold out in several hours. Young's fans needed more than an alarm clock and a heart of gold to harvest tickets for the March 8 and 9 acoustic performances. The cheapest seats were $49. Whatever happened to "rockin' in the free world"? 3. Ears flapping, tongue hanging, tail wagging--have you ever seen an unhappy dog in the back of a pickup? We didn't think so. But you can count on those lawmakers in Salem to outlaw most everything that's fun and all-American. Last week, Rep. Barbara Ross of Corvallis filed a bill that would force pooches in pickup beds to buckle up--or else their masters will get hit with a $75 fine. What's next? A road-rage fine if they bark?

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Willamette Week | originally published February 10, 1999