WINNERS 1. Here are just three reasons Gretchen Kafoury will end her 8-year stint as a city commissioner on Dec. 31 a winner. She did more than any one person in Portland to make low-income housing a priority for local governments. She attained a batch of goals in her final months--ranging from new fire stations to anti-discrimination protection for transsexuals. And she inspired young people like former aide Erik Sten and her daughter Deborah Kafoury to carry on her legacy. Bonus point: She dissed WW reporter Bob Young in front of a City Club audience last month. 2. In the same week that North Portland residents nuked Paul Allen's amphitheater proposal, they scored a major new employer. Adidas America announced plans to move its American headquarters, including 500 workers, to the former Bess Kaiser Hospital on North Greeley Avenue. 3. For someone who insists that he's not the leader of anything, Craig Rosebraugh sure attracts attention. The local messenger boy for the Earth Liberation Front got more national exposure last week when the New York Times Magazine ran a profile of him (written by Robert Sullivan), including a full-page color photo. Rosebraugh was thrust into the spotlight in November when he passed ELF's communiqué, which claimed responsibility for the Vail resort fire, to the media.

LOSERS 1. Portland Power, we hardly knew ye. There are a lot of theories why the American Basketball League folded during the NBA strike, but whatever the reasons the gals are sadly walking off the court. While it's old news when an upstart league doesn't make the cut, the Portland team had a special spark and Power fans (including us) are going to miss Natalie, Katy, Elaine and the rest. 2. Sure, they predicted that Christmas Eve snow nearly right down to the minute, but what happened to the great Ice Storm '98? Portland's local weathermen blew that forecast, needlessly sending motorists scurrying for their chains. 3. Our experiences over the holidays suggested that the staff at the Portland International Airport were particularly ill-equipped to handle the crush of travelers. On the Sunday before Christmas one elevator was out of order, while an airport staffer stood idly by, doing nothing to direct traffic. On another visit to the terminal a 6-foot-long, 30-pound piece of steel fell 10 feet, barely missing a 3-year-old's skull while airport employees watched. Then, an attempt to leave the short-term parking lot took 35 minutes, a bottleneck that could have been eliminated if the port--in a moment of wisdom and good cheer--had decided to open the gates and not charge for parking that day.

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Willamette Week | originally published December 29, 1998