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STOP BADMOUTHING A GREAT CITY
I know we’re supposed to care what billionaires think (“Hotseat: Lauren Noecker,” WW, Dec. 17), but one of the great things about Portland is that we don’t really give a shit what billionaires think. There are 100 neighborhoods in Portland. And subtracting the Numbers and downtown, they’re all still doing pretty well. And, in fact, with the rewiring of 82nd that is going on, the groundwork for the flourishing of the Numbers is now being laid.
I wouldn’t swap them out for many neighborhoods anywhere around the country. You wanna live in Oklahoma City or Peoria or Dallas, for that matter, I say go for it. I’ll take the quirkiness and the freedom to be me in Portland any day of the week. It’s not the billionaires that make Portland thrive; it’s the creatives, and the strong upper middle class that keeps on spending that makes this town tick. This is a GREAT CITY by any measure, and I say that as someone who has traveled to every state in the United States and 35 countries (and counting) abroad. Would love to see WW write about how Portland continues to thrive despite the negative publicity that Trump dumped on us, who apparently has inspired WW and The Oregonian to follow in his false footsteps. Viva Portland Siempre!
Stephen Reichard
North Portland
CHEAP RENTS ARE A WIN
Really nice interview of Lauren Noecker about Portland, and honestly Oregon, and our economic climate.
When I read her comments about rents, it is hard for me to understand how anyone thinks we have a “housing shortage” or “housing crisis” in the Portland area, at least. Sure, there is limited housing for people who can’t pay anything, but that is always the case (and is the area where Keith Wilson is making the biggest difference).
In some ways, cheap housing is becoming one of our biggest competitive advantages.
Don Vollum
Washington County
PORT EXPANSION WOULD CRUSH MARINE LIFE
Nigel Jaquiss did an admirable job of explicating the boondoggle aspects of the Coos Bay container port scheme (“If You Build It, Will They Come?” Oregon Journalism Project, Dec. 17).
Without faulting him for the article he wrote, I would note that he gave scant attention to the potential environmental impacts, which would merit an entire second article.
Should the container port be developed, the effects on this very significant estuary would be ghastly. The necessary dredging would completely ream out the lower estuary, destroying irreplaceable bottom habitat. The eelgrass beds which would be lost, aside from being a carbon sink, are key habitat for salmon and Dungeness crab, staples of the local fishing industry, along with myriad other species. Marsh habitat would also be lost, water quality would be affected, spoils (as Jaquiss mentioned) would be dumped in the ocean, and the deep channel—dredged right down to bedrock—would rifle storm surges (not to mention tsunamis) up the estuary. Redeveloping the railroad to Eugene would also have impacts.
A lot more could be said. With due appreciation for the article you ran, I would urge Jaquiss and the Oregon Journalism Project to take a second look.
Phillip Johnson
Southeast Portland
NO SUCH THING AS SANTACON
I’m sorry to break the news that Willamette Week has been conned by fake Santas.
The “OG SantaCon” that’s was listed in your Dec. 17 Get Busy section is not the Portland SantaCon that was started in 1996 by the Cacophony Society and touted by Chuck Palahniuk in his book Fugitives and Refugees.
WW seems to have fallen for a Facebook advertisement, apparently from the same group that was served with a cease-and-desist letter in September 2013 by the Portland Cacophony Society. (I’ll be happy to send WW a copy of that document.) These Johnny-come-latelys, led at the time by Sam Sauter and Jon Simmons, responded to the complaint by agreeing to use the name Stumptown SantaCon.
This new “rebranding” by Stumptown SantaCon just happens to coincide with the release of the new DOC NYC film SantaCon. (How about that!) The SantaCon documentary features appearances by actual OG SantaCon organizers, including Portlanders Marci MacFarlane, Chris Radcliffe, and the Rev. Chuck Linville, along with Burning Man founder John Law (and, of course, author Chuck Palahniuk).
The original Portland SantaCon never charged its participants for any activities and never formed a for-profit corporation. SantaCon was all about culture-jamming and turning the tables on consumerism. For a fun profile of (the original) Portland SantaCon’s mutant toy-making workshops, check out April Baer’s Dec. 5, 2008, story on NPR.
Ho out,
S.W. Conser
Santa-Herder Emeritus
(2003–2006)
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Portland, OR 97296
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