News Here's a story with a Portland Beavers connection that doesn't have anything to do with team owner Merritt Paulson, Lents and the Portland City Council. Long-ago Beaver ballplayer Khalil Greene may be part of an unusual new trend in sports — pro athletes going on the disabled list because of "social anxiety disorder," Deadspin posits in a piece picking up on this St. Louis Post-Dispatch story ...   More

News The great-grandson of Oliver P. Lent, the founding father of the Lents neighborhood in Southeast Portland, is -- wait for it -- 85-year-old Oliver P. Lent, a lifelong Portlander who was raised in Lents but now lives in Northeast Portland. This morning, the day before the Lents urban renewal advisory group is to vote on the proposal to build a new minor-league baseball stadium in Lents with $42.3 ...   More

News We'll have more on the stadium deal, as KGW is reporting that Beavers owner Merritt Paulson is pulling his Lents stadium proposal, in a bit. Maybe Paulson's decision arose from last night's community meeting, which did not go well for Paulson or Commissioner Randy Leonard. Leonard went before Lents residents again to make his pitch for putting minor-league baseball in Lents Park, but the ...   More

News Merritt Paulson was at PGE Park bright and early at 8 am this morning, following a very hostile meeting in Southeast Portland Thursday night. This morning, he also sent the following letter to Mayor Sam Adams and City Commissioners: June 19, 2009 Dear Mayor Adams and Commissioners: Nearly one year ago when we announced our desire to bring Major League Soccer to Portland at PGE Park ...   More

News While Commissioner Randy Leonard has committed to voting against the Major League Soccer deal going forward now that Beavers/Timbers owner Merritt Paulson announced he's done with the baseball stadium proposal in Lents, Mayor Sam Adams announced this afternoon that "the City's mission is clear: focus our energies on guaranteeing that Portland is the new home of a Major League Soccer team." While ...   More

News Commissioner Dan Saltzman said this afternoon that he still plans to vote for the Major League Soccer deal going forward in a revamped PGE Park, despite Beavers/Timbers owner Merritt Paulson's announcement that he's pulling out of the deal's other piece — moving the minor-league baseball Beavers to a proposed stadium in Lents. Saltzman says he's not a soccer fan but thinks there's a buzz ...   More

News Well, the final two City Council voices are now in on this resolution (PDF) that proposes moving forward on negotiations to revamp PGE Park by 2011 for a Major League Soccer team separately from plans to find a new home to build a minor-league baseball stadium for the Portland Beavers. Commissioner Amanda Fritz said this evening that she stands by her original objections to tapping urban renewal ...   More

News Commissioner Randy Leonard pledged last week to vote no on his resolution [PDF] committing the city to go forward with Merritt Paulson, owner of the Portland Timbers soccer team and Beavers baseball team, following Paulson's decision to withdraw his proposal for building a new minor league baseball stadium in Lents. The deal, which officially divorces the revamping of PGE Park for Major League ...   More

News Portland City Council has waded through a number of topics this morning and afternoon, after its marathon session last night on the topic of renaming 39th Avenue for Cesar E. Chavez. Mayor Sam Adams referred a proposal to give a 10-year tax break to a new housing complex back to his office Commissioner Nick Fish's office. A handful of neighbors from North Portland had testified against the proposal ...   More

News Dennis Randazzo, a commercial real estate broker in Portland, wrote to WW to add one more idea to the mix about where to put Triple-A baseball now that the Lents neighborhood is off the table. The idea is a surprising one: Put it next to Madison High School [PDF] off NE 82nd Avenue in the Roseway neighborhood. Randazzo writes in an email: Attached is a "suggestion" I made to Commissioner Leonard's ...   More