News A proposal to change Portland's zoning code to accommodate new plans for PGE Park in advance of Major League Soccer's 2011 kickoff has been delayed again. The latest delay marks the third occasion Mayor Sam Adams has postponed considering the change, which is still listed on the Wednesday agenda. City Council is now scheduled to hear the ordinance on Jan. 6. Bottom line? There's still no final, ...   More

News The final financial agreement between the City of Portland and Merritt Paulson's company will not be on the agenda at City Hall next week after all. One of the sticking points of the proposed redesign of PGE Park remains the sewer line. Also, Mayor Sam Adams has scheduled an absence for Jan. 19-26. Mayoral spokesman Roy Kaufmann has twice responded via email to a question about where the mayor ...   More

News In what are supposed to be the final days of Portland's financial negotiations with Merritt Paulson on the redesign of PGE Park for Major League Soccer, Tanner Creek Sewer has been one of the sticking points. Dean Marriott, the director of Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services, spoke with WW about the almost century-old sewer line carrying human waste and stormwater underneath the outfield ...   More

News Mayor Sam Adams and Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Randy Leonard voted this morning to give Merritt Paulson's company the green light to perform limited construction work at PGE Park -- even without a final financial agreement in place. Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish voted no, with Fish noting that there are 81 issues still in dispute between the city and Paulson. The 3-2 split ...   More

News The new resolution Mayor Sam Adams will bring to City Council on Wednesday will allow Merritt Paulson, owner of the Portland Timbers and Beavers, to begin limited construction at PGE Park immediately -- before the city inks a final financial agreement with Paulson and his Peregrine LLC. The mayor's office calls this work "non-construction" because it's "stuff that can be done that can be undone." Last ...   More

News The City Council agenda for Jan. 6 now lists Mayor Sam Adams' resolution to allow Merritt Paulson's company to begin tearing out turf at PGE Park. The surprise resolution would allow Paulson to begin renovating the city-owned PGE Park for Major League Soccer — without a final financial agreement in place with the city. Or, as the resolution says: "to execute a Revocable Permit of Entry ...   More

News Glum Portland Beavers fans today saw Portland City Council vote to turn PGE Park into a soccer (and football) only stadium, which means the century-plus old baseball team will join the ranks of the city's homeless after it plays the 2010 season. But out in Washington County, Beaverton city officials —who made an unsuccessful run at landing the Beavers last year— are exploring the ...   More

News At today's City Club debate with city Commissioner Dan Saltzman and candidates Jesse Cornett and Mary Volm, the two challengers went after Saltzman for being the third (and therefore decisive) vote approving Merritt Paulson's proposal to bring Major League Soccer to Portland. The underlying theme of the campaign is that Saltzman, who is seeking his fourth term, has outlived his usefulness. The ...   More

News ...   More

News Attendance at yesterday's final Beavers baseball game at PGE Park rose to 15,639 from a season average of 4,098, according to the Triple-A team. The nearly two-year-long debate about baseball that preceded the team's exit from PGE Park Monday had one overarching theme that came to mind while I was sitting in the general-admission section yesterday: Merritt Paulson, the Beavers' owner, said PGE ...   More