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WINNERS 1. Oregon's zero-population growth advocates found an ally in the feds last week. The Oregon Health Division got a waiver that allows it to expand family-planning services to people who make 185 percent of the federal poverty limit. Projections are that 87,000 more people will be able to get free condoms, birth-control pills and, eventually, vasectomies. 2. Northbound commuters on I-5 last Wednesday were greeted with a new billboard message: "Welcome to Vancouver, Ore., Portland's largest suburb." The slap at Clark County's largest city remained anonymous until Friday when The Columbian, Vancouver's daily paper, 'fessed up and posted Part 2 of its message--"We don't think so"--over the original. Newspaper officials say the ad campaign caused quite a buzz on their side of the Columbia. 3. Local filmgoers got a homier (though still paint-scented) place to check out the Northwest Film Center's eclectic selections last week as the center officially inaugurated its new digs at the Guild Theater.
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LOSERS 1. Portland art lovers suffered a loss last week when the popular, cutting-edge Vita Gallery announced it will be shutting its doors in late January. Though well-trafficked on First Thursdays, the gallery suffered five years of red brush strokes splattering the balance books. 2. Newsweek's cover story on the world's hottest spots for high tech seriously dissed Oregon's silicon forest. Seattle, Boise, Tel Aviv, Bangalore and even (gasp) Champaign-Urbana, Ill., were declared hotter than Portland. Never mind Seattle envy; it's beyond grim when you suffer from Boise envy. 3. It's coming off a first-place season. Its star player, league MVP Natalie Williams, is back on the roster. And with the NBA strike, it's the only pro-basketball team playing in Portland. Yet the Portland Power's home-opener drew 727 fewer fans than last year, when the team was coming off a last-place finish. Ouch.
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Willamette Week | originally
published November 11,
1998