Commissioners:

I am disappointed you did not take the wishes of the residents of 39th Avenue into account when you voted yes. Why not a compromise on a new building someplace? Or the new Interstate Bridge? And on more practical matters, renaming streets isn’t cheap for anyone, so in an environment already not conducive to small businesses you are making it more expensive for those on 39th now that they have change their address or move away, and I’m willing to bet some of those businesses will leave Portland altogether.

I am not opposed to a tribute to Cesar Chavez, I am more than happy for something in tribute to him to exist in Portland. But why not a Farmer’s Market? Or a school? Because the committee who wanted a street said they’d get one by hook or by crook? They put enough money into their campaign to get attention? After enough unsuccessful tries they had finally pestered this into being?

As a child in rural Oregon, I went to Sam Boardman Elementary School. As a result I spent a bit of time each year learning about Sam Boardman. He was the first State Parks Superintendent, and he did a lot to preserve parts of Oregon by turning them into parks. That is more than I was ever taught about Cesar Chavez, and I lived in a part of Oregon where as a white person I was a minority in my high school for about half the school year as a result of the influx of students due to migrant seasonal workers.

I use 39th Avenue. One of the fundamental ways I was able to find my way around Portland when I first moved to Portland (I lived on SE 36th) was to use the existing grid system that included numbered streets such as 39th. That ease of navigation is diminished when that navigation now has to come with an exception. There are a lot of other ways honoring Cesar Chavez could have been handled that would have made a lot more Portlanders happy. I also don’t appreciate that the process to get a street renamed never takes the wishes of that street’s residents into account. I find it shameful that in a representative democracy, those representatives are clearly not voting according to the wishes of those they represent.

And I will be frank here: Right now the Council doesn’t need another black mark. Between the recall in the works for our Mayor, a contentious Major League Soccer bid, and a new baseball stadium, there is a lot of money being spent or being committed to be spent. And yet in my neighborhood entire blocks are nothing but potholes held together with pavement and there wasn’t enough money to keep a police precinct open in southeast Portland.

I know that this is only one person’s opinion and you have made it abundantly clear you are not interested in one opinion let alone the opinions of many many people, but since I already contacted the Council with my stance on this I felt it necessary to follow up and let you know how disappointed I am in this decision. There are better ways to honor Cesar Chavez. I wish the City Council was more concerned about doing what their constituency wants them to and less concerned with what “looks good” for Portland.

Sincerely,
Miss Kelly
Southeast Portland

First and foremost, in my last post it was mentioned that CubeSpace, a Portland hub of community, will be closing at the end of this week. Since they will be no more, we need to do something not to lose them. What is it? I have a few ideas, and I will edit and update this post as needed. Reminder: This is not a place for talking about what could have been done differently or for passing messages on to CubeSpace. We are only looking to move forward and not lose the amazing community that CubeSpace was an integral part of building.

From: CubeSpace
Subject: It’s End of CubeSpace as We Know It….

Friends,

It is with deep sadness that Eva and I announce that CubeSpace will be closing its doors on Friday, June 12, 2009. During the past two weeks of negotiations, we have very much appreciated the support from all of you. Yet when it came down to it, we realized that even though business has been up and the outpouring of support from the community has been so great, we do not have the resources to keep CubeSpace open.

For roughly three years, Eva and I have poured ourselves into CubeSpace. We have poured in all of our financial resources, and have never taken any salary. We have poured the vast majority of our energy into CubeSpace. We have poured most of our attention into CubeSpace. Now, we have no more to put in. We are tired and broke, and it is now time for us to move on.

We do not consider CubeSpace a failure. Rather, we succeeded in fostering a meaningful community that supports each other in hard times and celebrates together in good times. We feel privileged to have been a part of this community, and look forward to participating in other ways in the years to come.

Many of you have asked what you can do to help. Eva and I have been unable to answer, until now. What we need now are jobs. We have mountains of debt, no assets, and are facing the possibility of personal bankruptcy.

Another piece of help is not for us, but for the community. We know that the closing of CubeSpace will have a negative impact on the community. CubeSpace has served as a central meeting place. It has served as a clubhouse. It has been a default place to hold community events. We now need others in the community to step up and offer up meeting places. Eva and I will continue to contribute our time and energy to community events, but we will no longer be able to contribute the space. It may take some creative thinking, but I believe that as a community we will survive and continue to join together at events if other members of the corporate community will step up to offer space to host the many events CubeSpace has been hosting.

Finally, please be aware that Eva and I need your emotional support as we go through this tough period. As I said in the beginning, we are very tired, emotionally drained and sad. Please do not tell us what we might have done better. Trust us, we know far too well all the mistakes we’ve made. Now is not when we want to rehash them. We welcome your support, your friendship and your caring. We would love suggestions for our future. But right now, we aren’t in a good position to be second-guessing past decisions.

Thank you all so much for being a part of our lives these past years,

David and Eva

–
CubeSpace
622 SE Grand Ave.
Portland, OR 97214
info@CubeSpacePDX.com
www.CubeSpacePDX.com
503-206-3500 – voice
503-206-3302 – fax

* Why does Amy Ruiz have ANYTHING to do with this? Is WW having a sour grapes moment because someone there applied for the same job and didn’t get it? There is no proof or evidence or ANYTHING that ties Amy’s position to her knowledge of this story except WW saying so. Fine. I’m not saying Nigel Jaquiss has a particular fetish for sex scandals either. Except that he’s broken news on two of them. And won a PULITZER for one of them. But I’m not saying anything about anything.

* Sam, it IS true you should have come out and said so. And it IS true that you looked me (me = Portland) in the (metaphorical) eye and went all Clinton on me. I feel a little twinge of disappointment here. I thought you were different. You have to know you are a lightning rod of big gay controversy, everything is twice as scrutinized when you do it, and the fact that you went anywhere near someone who could even SEE seventeen from where he stood will get all manner of folks in a tizzy in no time flat.

* I understand why you did it, but you could have put a finer point on never with someone underage, maybe (so you could get around the underage or not question). If this all went down after he was 18 then just say you never touched a 17 year old boy and that’s that. Still a bit slippery but not a lie and more importantly not fodder for the “OMGWTFBBQ GAYS WANT YOUR CHILLUNS RUN AND HIDE” crowd.

(update 1)
* I am worked up about this also because it shouldn’t matter who did what with who. If he did something he’s not proud of he shouldn’t have said ANYthing. My cynical side says “go ahead, make the crack about how you have lots of gay friends and you KNOW not one of them can keep their mouth shut for anything” but I don’t want to turn this into armchair snark. (: It’s irritating because I’ll bet money there’s a MEGA double standard. Right now it’s still about “OMG HE LIED” but the “HE’S COMING FOR YOUR KIDDIES NEXT” contingent will join us soon enough. If this had been a newly 18 year old GIRL, it would be less of a deal I assure you. There’d be stern talking-to and all of that, but for the most part it would be “oh he lied now let’s move on”.

* Let me be clear: MY OWN issue with this is that he flat out lied. I don’t care what he (legally) did. I don’t care who he (legally) did it with. Consent is consent is consent. I care that he said he didn’t but now oh wait yes he did. Resignable? No. Shady? Yes. And saddest of all, Politics As Usual? Most assuredly.

I will update this yet again as more comes to me.

Oh you heard me, I said nonsense. Because apparently the REAL issue here is that we don’t yet have a Mayor Potter Style Advisory Committee to make recommendations. OK, we didn’t, until now. I am still confused about the No-Hooker-Zone because I thought Portland, nay, OREGON was a No-Hooker-Zone. If prostitution is illegal then why do we have a special part of town where it’s extra illegal? Like the No-Meth-Zone downtown I don’t get it. What makes this a good thing to spend time and resources and money on?

This isn’t to say I think it’s stupid to reach out to the people involved and try to get them off the street and into a better situation, I can’t imagine anyone “working” 82nd is doing it for fun. It’s a good idea to try harder to address the actual issue, and I’m not against that. It’s more that once again the approach is to sit around and talk about what’s going on and what can happen. But we KNOW what’s going on and we KNOW what is happening. Why isn’t it possible to take a different approach?

Here’s my idea: make 82nd less seedy so it attracts less seedy people. Whether you love it or it makes you itch, the Pearl District is the new fancy part of town. Imagine your “standard issue” streetwalker from 82nd sashaying down NW 11th. Not likely! So if 82nd looked better and had more than just porn and used cars, maybe this “oh no the prostitutes are back and what will we do and how is this possible and oh my STARS my delicate sensibilities” attitude and handwringing and committeeforming can finally stop.

Here’s what I said at the time:

Why not do what you’ve done in other parts of town? Give new businesses tax breaks to move there, make deals on new construction, make it tempting to build a new thing on 82nd. If perceptions are so key, then let people perceive actual redevelopment instead of some signs and some landscaping.

And here’s what I say now:
* Get a deal with Home Depot or Lowe’s or Hertz Heavy Equipment or whoever and give out vouchers for powerwashers. Make deals on paint. Make the barrier of entry to a Clean Shiny Eighty Second so low they are fools to pass it up.

* Make a deal with a big or popular business to MOVE to 82nd or open something new there (besides Wal-Mart). Give tax breaks to everybody who wants to set up shop there. Make new construction easier to start. If I thought it were possible I’d say to make a deal so moving into the former location of a used car lot was EXTRA cheap.

* Increase police. I don’t mean if it happens on 82nd all the cops in town show up, but right now the only time I see police in my neighborhood is when they’re lit up. I don’t see patrols or anything, and that should change.

* Promote good things. Fubonn, Asian Supermall, is a beautiful place and I ADORE it. Make some noise about it! Find a way to make a big deal about Hung Far Low, Slighty Tipsy Portland Institution, moving out to 82nd. Recognize those who ARE making an effort to improve 82nd and the area around it, like the Academy Theater.

* Ask the public! There are a LOT of people who live or work right around 82nd who have a lot of ideas and suggestions. Find out what they are! Crowdsourcing the brainstorm of improvement is a really easy way to get a lot of ideas that could be useful and it makes people in the area feel like they are doing something to improve the situation. Everybody wins!

And you know what? I didn’t even spend a bunch of time thinking of those few ideas. I’m sure if I applied some brainpower I could come up with some really fantastic ones! But the fact remains: There are better things to do about 82nd than forming a committee to talk about what we can do about 82nd. All this time later I think it proves that I was right: Changing the name DIDN’T DO A DAMNED THING. It was a (metaphorical) pig before, and we put (metaphorical) lipstick on it by changing the name, and now years later what do we have? A (metaphorical) pig. That’s right! Why don’t you quote me on THAT, Oregonian?

Let me back up.

Almost a year ago, Justin was getting bombarded (mostly via Twitter, I know, AGAIN with the Twitter!) by support questions and blog issues and decided to get all the askers in one room at the Lucky Lab with some beer so they could all ask at once. Some folks who missed it wanted another crack at picking Mister Kistner’s brain, so he did it again. Then I wanted to talk about the essentials when you finally jump into your own WordPress installation, so we did that too, and eventually it got a name and a logo and was a regular event that moved to the Green Dragon and eventually turned their patio into THE happening place for the Portland Geek/Nerd who wasn’t afraid to socialize.

We didn’t just stop there, oh no! There was a Beer And Squirtguns session the Friday it was over a HUNDRED degrees, a Beer And Bowl session, a field trip to North Portland, all kinds of awesome speakers and ideas and generally good things happening. In fact WordCamp Portland actually came out of a Beer And Blog where we were talking about WordCamps in other cities and how we should have one….well why don’t we go for it? And well, we did and it was AWESOME.

I was telling Justin tonight that the moment it hit me something special was happening was when people stopped asking if it was going to happen this Friday and started asking who was going to speak or when people were going to start showing up. When people took for granted that this was always going to happen, that’s when I thought we might really be on to something. Well we were, and now not only are we on to something, but we are on to something contagious. (Listen to me, “we” like I run it or something!)

So that’s where it started, and that brings us to tonight, the three of us heading south. WE HAD A BLAST! I got to meet some great folks, talk about Star Wars and iPhones and Cameras and Goonies and Blogging (yeah we ended up there eventually) and WordPress and it was SUCH a good time! We ended up staying longer than intended and got back later than scheduled but I could have stayed the whole evening there in the upstairs part of Block 15.

Here’s the thing: Any city can start their own Beer And Blog Chapter. But it will fall flat EVERY time if you have no community to tap into or group of folks who are willing to talk to strangers and get people mingling. It’s really just an outlet for something you already have going on. If you have no community of any kind, you can’t get the word out. If you have no social people, you’ll just get a restaurant full of people on their laptops instant messaging each other about how they aren’t having fun. This isn’t to say don’t try it. But see if you can get a couple of your chatty friends to come with you and maybe have the nerve yourself (if this isn’t your usual M.O.) to walk up to someone and say “Hi, I’m _____ and we haven’t met yet.” Sometimes that’s ALL it takes. Well. That and smile at someone who comes up to you and says the same thing.

I think Portland REALLY works for this because we’re a social bunch and we have a fundamentally helpful attitude. Want proof? Sign in to Twitter and ask for help. With ANYTHING. Someone in Portland will offer you exactly what you need, something really close, or an introduction to someone else who can help you. This is another reason I adore it here. I really do enjoy helping out, and something that to me is no big deal can mean the world to somebody else.

So I threatened to go to bed about an hour ago and still haven’t because my head is still buzzing from all the ideas and the good conversation and the amazing energy I got to soak up in that loud crowded AWESOME group of Corvallians (I can’t think of a better word) who decided a little Beer and a little Blog was the perfect thing for a December Wednesday. Thanks for having me!

Since I know posts fall off Craigslist after awhile, I wanted to preserve this before it was gone forever.

Ten Reasons Gays Shouldn’t Marry

10. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.

9. Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are property, blacks can’t marry whites, and divorce is illegal.

8. Gay marriage should be decided by the people, not the courts, because majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of the minorities.

7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

6. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

5. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why single parents are forbidden to raise children.

4. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven’t adapted to things like cars or longer life spans.

3. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people can’t legally get married because the world needs more children.

2. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a “seperate but equal” institution is always constitutional. Separate schools for African-Americans worked just as well as separate marriages for gays and lesbians will.

1. Obviously, gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

And if that wasn’t enough, Westboro Baptist Church (they do not get a link from me, they are behind the God Hates Fags site) came to Portland today and had themselves a good old fashioned protest. Clearly they did not realize that Portland is a protest town and we come correct for this stuff. See some photos taken by The One True B!x of their cute little attempt at stirring up support here. It isn’t often I say this proudly: We’re a buncha liberal hippies in PDX, and us treehuggers tend to be gayhuggers too so it’s adorable that you tried, but given your failure here I hope you go home and stay there.

Because, you see, if they had, I could have said “Oh, no no no. Don’t do it. You will have nothing but heartache. Someone will misquote you and use it to drum up outrage against whatever you represent. They’ll gladly strip you of context and try to work people up about you criticizing something you never criticized at all.”

And they would have listened to that answer and said “My goodness Banana Lee, you certainly sound like someone who’s been there. Is this your area of expertise?”

To which my reply would only be, “Why, yes. As a matter of fact, it is.”*

*Seriously, I got misquoted about lipstick on a pig myself. It was stupid then and it’s stupider now.

Earlier today I happened to be reading my friend Rick Turoczy’s blog and imagine my surprise when he offered to buy me lunch! Well having had a good experience last time I had lunch with Rick I figured I would be foolish to pass up his offer. So off I went to CubeSpace and imagine my surprise when I saw a number of people there whom I recognized! Turns out Rick had extended his invite to a number of others as well, but somehow I had mistakenly read it as just for me.

Anyway! Portland geek fave Nicholas brought a TON of food for us to eat, and we had a great time. Plus Shizzow was there handing out beta codes like Ritalin to 6th graders. it was a REALLY good time. Some of the more memorable moments:

* My excitement at not having to make my nametag sticker look pretty since I brought my own LED nametag which scrolls my Twitter nick, my online alias, and my real first name.
* Compliments on my LED nametag.
* Discussing purses with Audrey (@spinnerin) and having one of my Tweeps introduce himself as my mouth was FULL and we were talking purses.
* Miss Cami Kaos getting my attention and begging me to follow her to sit and eat lunch, to which I replied “but we’re talking Star Wars!” She said “oh ok” and told me to come her direction when I was done.
* Explaining Twin Ion Engine (TIE) Fighters and talking Star Wars with some folks who wanted to know.
* Actually sitting with Cami Kaos and her husband and getting to eat lunch.
* Looking down at my plate and feeling my sunglasses slide off the top of my head, then watching them SPLAT into my hummus.
* Letting Mister Cami take a photo of my glasses while they were still upright in the hummus.
* Sitting in awe of Mommy Cami as she immediately pulled two hand wipes and a package of kleenex out of her purse to help me resolve my hummus/shades issues.
* Watching TheInfovore scroll “Banana Lee Fishbones” across his iPhone as he held it to his chest as though it were a nametag.
* Hearing Cami say “But you’re not Verso!” and TheInfovore say “But I wanna be!”
* Getting a hug from the man behind the event, my friend Rick.

So that was my lunch with the Silicon Florist. It was a really good time. Maybe next time you should join us. (: I’m sure Rick will talk ALL about it on his blog so you have lots of time to plan in advance.