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 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 The cuts keep coming at Portland's Bureau of Development Services, which announced in June it would slash half of the bureau's 300 jobs. Last month, that news was tempered (however slightly) by the fact the reductions would happen in waves, with 45 people losing their jobs in July and another 45 people getting pink slips in August. By December, the bureau would eliminate a total of about 150 people, ...   More

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News The $31 million revamp of PGE Park, which will allow Major League Soccer to begin play there in 2011 and force the Portland Beavers to find a new baseball home, was approved Thursday by the City Council. The vote on the resolution (PDF) authorizing the city's term sheet (or as Mayor Sam Adams put it, the "basic concepts and shape" of the deal with more definitive details to come) with Merritt ...   More

News The University of Oregon wants a 120-day extension for today's vote on its proposed changes to the Made in Oregon sign and water tower. The city's Historic Landmarks Commission was scheduled today at 1:30 pm to hear U of O's appeal to the council's to formalize their tentative July 13 rejection of the university's proposal. The university wanted to change the sign's lettering from "Made in Oregon" ...   More

News Jasun Wurster provoked an almost teary response from Commissioner Randy Leonard this morning after Wurster, head of the campaign to recall Mayor Sam Adams, addressed City Council earlier today. Wurster has addressed council many times during the public comment period at the beginning of the regular Wednesday morning session. His three minutes of testimony are typically earnest displays of his ...   More

News Commissioner Randy Leonard -- lead negotiator in Portland's deal with Merritt Paulson to bring Major League Soccer to PGE Park, the go-to-guy on the "Made in Oregon" sign debate, prime mover behind the leasing of McCall's Waterfront Cafe, champion of the Loo and all things duct tape, and a newly minted proponent of armed Water Bureau guards -- has a new project: earth-friendly homebuilding. Look ...   More

News It's not clear yet who is to blame. But one thing is certain: The "Made in Oregon" sign is no longer glowing above the Willamette River. Ramsay Signs, the neon billboard's owner, has turned it off. And that's not the worst of it, if you happen to be among the sign's fans. "It looks like it may have to be removed," says Darryl Paulsen, president of Ramsay Signs. When last we left the sign ...   More

News Commissioner Randy Leonard's proposal to make Water Bureau security guards armed police officers requires City Council approval, which could come this month. Commissioner Dan Saltzman is on record calling the idea —first reported Wednesday in WW— "totally unnecessary." What follows is the email exchange among Leonard; David Shaff, the Water Bureau director; John Minnis, former Republican ...   More