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WINNERS
1. Despite cries of corporate welfare, last week
the Portland City Council awarded Freightliner Corp.
a $6.8 million tax break for a $93 million expansion of
its Swan Island complex and a new corporate headquarters,
the first such deal since the council lifted its moratorium
on these kinds of tax breaks in March.
2. Nordstrom and downtowners got a shot in
the arm last week when the bourgeois department store invited
pop surrealist Kenny Scharf into its windows. Scharf's alien
mannequins, mixed with forward fashion and loud music, displayed
New York color and verve not seen before at 701 Southwest
Broadway.
3. City Commish Jim Francesconi sent a clear
message to any would-be challengers last week. His financial
disclosure statements show the rookie council member has
raised $94,000 in preparation for the 2000 election, more
than any of his colleagues.
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LOSERS
1. Testing enthusiasts got disappointing
results this week. The Reynolds School District in Troutdale
was the only district in the state that required high-school
students to earn a Certificate of Initial Mastery in order
to graduate. It scrapped that requirement after only 20
percent of Reynolds students passed the test last year.
2. The effort to recall Wilsonville Mayor Charlotte
Lehan gained some heat last week. Prison NIMBYs have
long hated the mayor for her part in advocating the city's
Day Road site over Dammasch for the women's prison and are
now claiming the prison will use so much water that citizens
will be forced to choke down the polluted Willamette River.
3. Multnomah County recently extended American
Medical Response's contract to provide emergency services
for another year, but AMR's parent company, Laidlaw Inc.,
has seen enough of the ambulance business. Laidlaw announced
this week it will sell AMR and other assets and take a billion-dollar
loss on the sale.
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