Murmurs: Unoccupied Pocketbooks

1. It’s looking grim in the Occupy Portland camps: Occupy organizers say they’re broke. As first reported on wweek.com, a former finance committee member refunded $14,000 to donors last week without knowledge or permission of Occupy organizers. Some media outlets reported, inaccurately, that this money had been stolen. But Occupiers say thousands in cash from other donors have been ripped off from the Information tent. Meanwhile, Occupiers are considering cutting off the free meals for people who don’t volunteer to help run the camp—a response to city pressure over drugs and violence in Chapman and Lownsdale squares. For the latest and most complete reporting on Occupy Portland, go to wweek.com/occupy_pdx.

1. The city of Milwaukie is looking for respect from baseball fans and paying a lot of money to get it. The city hopes to build a minor-league baseball stadium/entertainment complex just south of its border with Portland—along Southeast McLoughlin Boulevard and the new light-rail line. The city hopes to attract a short-season, single-A team, similar to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, by 2014. Milwaukie City Council President Greg Chaimov says residents, whose property taxes would finance the project, are “extremely positive” so far. Milwaukie is paying Innovative Campaign Strategies, the Portland firm run by Jon Isaacs, $10,000 a month for outreach and communications on the project. The second of three community meetings will be held Wednesday, Nov. 9, at Milwaukie Elementary, 11250 SE 27th Ave., from 6 to 7 pm.

1. The city of Portland’s Bureau of Human Resources has a new list of dos and don’ts for city employees using social media. What’s it mean for you? A tweet is as good as a phone call for reporting potholes. Bureaus must write standards for friending, following and retweeting. No “viewpoint discrimination”: Employees can’t refuse a Facebook friend request or delete critical comments. There is some discrimination allowed: Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr are approved for city use—Google+ is not. Tips on etiquette are included: “Always pause and think before posting.” “Reply to comments in a timely manner.” “When disagreeing with others’ opinions, be appropriate and polite.” And, finally, “Remember that what you publish will be public for a long time.”

1. We don’t have to follow the city’s HR policies (see above), and neither do you. Check us out at Google+: bitly.com/wweekgoogleplus

WWeek 2015