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Last week, WW wrote that hotels owned by the company Gordon Sondland founded, Provenance, are feeling the effects of construction of a nearby Ritz-Carlton (“Morning Alarm,” Jan. 29, 2020). The Provenance hotels—the Sentinel, the Woodlark and the Dossier—say the noise is so loud that concierge desks are handing out earplugs. Here’s what readers had to say.
Barry Bronson, via Facebook: “This new hotel displaced my favorite food cart!”
Bermulia, via Reddit: “This is almost any NYC hotel experience now, and the hotel situation in any other city going through expansion. I highly recommend noise-canceling headphones.”
Kimberly Joy Anderson, via Twitter: “Man, this super sucks for those hotels nearby and any guests staying in them—really for any businesses nearby. But am I the only one looking at that picture [of the construction site] who just wants to see them hold one monster truck rally before they fill it all in and really start building?”
Bradon Schoepke, via Facebook: “Go live in a major metropolitan city. This happens every year. Get over it already.”
MarySue Healy, via wweek.com: “Call the rich people’s whaaaambulance. Too bad for hotel staff and restaurateurs associated with Sondland, though.”
Dan Estes, via Facebook: “Construction is noisy. Deal with it.”
Jonathan D. Mishkin, via Facebook: “I have zero empathy for Sondland.”
Daniel Gestri, via Facebook: “I live right next to this site. I don’t care about the construction noise, because it honestly isn’t that loud compared to other city sounds. What I do care about is that my favorite food cart went out of business because they couldn’t maintain customers after being forced to relocate.”
Wesley Mendez, via Facebook: “Fuck ’em. I hope the construction crew opens a night shift.”
Gemlaw1993, via Reddit: “SaVe ThE fOoOoOoOd CaRtS!!!!!!”
Portland Is a Garbage Dump
I’m very disappointed in Willamette Week’s decision to publish Tess Riski’s article titled “Needles for Trump” (Jan. 29, 2020). I’m an independent voter and someone who cares deeply about keeping my city clean. As such, I regularly grab a trash bag from my kitchen, don a plastic glove, and set out around my neighborhood to collect a shocking amount of trash from the sidewalks and gutters. Rather than searching for reasons to impugn the motives of those who spend their time picking up garbage, why not write an article about the troubling presence of all this trash in the first place, its horrible effects on the environment, and the city’s apparent lack of concern for it? If Portlanders don’t want to be the subject of this group’s attentions, perhaps we shouldn’t continue to treat our city like a dumping ground.
Maura O’Brien
Southwest Portland