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Posts published in “Day: February 15, 2008”

Institutionalized gentrification

February 15, 2008

As amusing as may be the idea of a war between Jack Bogdanski (of Jack Bog's Blog) and the Portland Mercury's Blogtown may be, the really striking thing in this post was the idea of a blog devoted to the subject of gentrification in Portland.

Turns out, in fact, that Portland Gentrification and Other Problems is well worth the props - some good, sound material here. Sample post heads: "Go East, Young Diversity Statistic"; "Yes I'm A Crackpot - Show'n'tell from the Archives"; "The Flipping Scene 2008; and, Jackpot Gets Bumped."

Joins our blogroll.

LNG getting toward explosive

February 15, 2008

We'll be back with more on this before long, but for now attention should be paid to the protesters - increasingly loud and angry - of plans to run liquid natural gas lines through Oregon. This is a rising movement, and it has the feel of something just this side of a serious growth curve.

Lead from today's Astoria story on this: "Opponents of a liquefied natural gas terminal near Astoria complained at a public hearing about the number of state and federal agencies involved in the project, saying none has responsibility for a complete project review." Hint, hint.

Yellow, not black and white

February 15, 2008

Athoughtful read in today's Nicole Brodeur column in the Seattle Times, on the idea - mulled around by Washington legislators - to allow judges to order a special, bright yellow, license plate be affixed to the cars driven by DUI convicts.

Sounds on its face like a reasonable idea, at least in some cases. And after reading the column, it still sounds good - on balance. But even such a simple idea has its nuances. The column is a good runthrough on why public policy so often isn't quite as clearcut as it initially appears.