Skip to main content Anybody know someone with a fetish for 3-foot-tall bronze women? If so, Portland Police want you to call them at 823-0097 and help them figure out who tried to rip off the 200-pound statue at the center of the Shemanski Fountain on the South Park Blocks near the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. In the early morning of April 25, a city Water Bureau worker found that someone had tried to yank the statue, titled "Rebecca at the Well," off its base. "It was hanging by a thread," says Keith Lachowicz of the Regional Arts and Culture Council, which is housing the wounded statue. The city is still estimating repair costs.
Metro's top legislative priority—delaying the next redraw of the area's urban growth boundary until 2009—has screeched to a halt. The redraw, meant to ensure there's 20 years of developable land inside the UGB, has huge economic consequences for landowners on the boundary and businesses seeking to expand. House Bill 2051, which would delay the decision scheduled for this December, cruised through the House 55-2. But the bill has stalled in the Senate after objections from at least four powerful groups—statewide home builders, the West Side Economic Alliance, landowners in the Stafford area inside I-205 and the owners of the Langdon Farms golf course in Wilsonville. And Sen. Alan Bates (D-Ashland) recently hammered Metro Chief Operating Officer Mike Jordan in a committee hearing over a lack of available land in the metro area for a new state mental hospital. Negotiations continue, but the bill must pass this month or it's dead.
Mike Korpi has newfound disrespect for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Forest Grove mechanic returned from China nearly four months ago with eight fake Rolex watches that he bought as souvenirs for $14.40. Korpi, 55, declared his purchases (including four jade necklaces, five packs of cigarettes and some tea) at Portland International Airport. But customs officials confiscated all but one of the counterfeit watches, saying they infringed on Rolex's trademark. And Homeland Security now tells Korpi he must pay a fine totaling $55,300, the retail price of seven real Rolexes. Korpi isn't sure if he'll challenge the fine. "Sleep well tonight People of America," Korpi writes Murmurs. "You are safe and secure because Homeland Security is doing its job." There's much, much more to this on WWire at wweek.com.
Rogue of the Week alumnus John Kozloff (WW, Nov. 24, 2004) makes a return appearance to our pages. All five employees of Kozloff's high-end Pearl District furniture store, Furnish, walked off the job last Friday amid accusations of Kozloff ripping off employees and customers. Kozloff, who had earned Rogue honors for taking down payments on furniture without supplying the goods, denies the new allegations and says "Portland has no sympathy" for his financial troubles. Kozloff responded to the employee walkout by closing Furnish and reopening the 515 NW 10th Ave. location as Inside, another high-end furniture store. Check out some of the employee outrage at Wwire.
One week a loser, the next a winner. One of last week's losers—Portland cyclists—got a spring surprise from Mayor Tom Potter. Turns out the city is swimming in so much extra-budget cash that Potter found $100,000 in the extra $2 million for an update to Portland's 1995 master plan for bikes. "The timing of this good news fits well with the budget approval on May 16," Potter wrote city commissioners this week. Bicycle-advocacy groups say the last-minute funding will maintain and expand current cycling infrastructure.
WEB-ONLY MURMUR:
Extra, extra! Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams is in The Wall Street Journal. No, our intrepid commish isn't going in with media magnate Rupert Murdoch's recent bid to buy the Journal. Instead, the paper cited Adams and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as pilgrims for venturing to the bike mecca that is Amsterdam. The May 4 article compared America's urban bike culture unfavorably to Europe's, and quoted Adams as saying, "We haven't made the tough decisions yet." Such as? More money should be spent on creating bike-friendly streets and less on car-centered boulevards. Hmmm, wonder how couplets would play in Amsterdam...
WWeek 2015