New Line Skate Parks is building the plaza and has taken into consideration crime prevention and feedback from the local skaters who’ve shown up at the meetings, and incorporated environmentally sustaining guidelines.

The Ed Benedict Skate Plaza is one of 19 skateboarding sites to be built in Portland and construction should start next spring and be finished by late May. Construction on a second skate plaza in Gabriel Park in SW Portland should be finished in July.

More info at SkatePortland.org.

from the Oregonian: "In a bold move to curb the growth of greenhouse gas emissions from the Portland area, city officials plan to charge builders hundreds of dollars for each new home that is not extremely energy efficient. And it would require, as part of every existing home sale, that an energy efficiency report be done by home inspectors.

Believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, the carbon fee and inspection requirement would levy taxes upon builders who merely comply with the energy efficiency requirements of the Oregon building code, already one of the most stringent in the nation. It would then pay cash rewards to developers who make buildings that save at least 45 percent more energy than the code requires. "

complete story here

(*it is things like this, and the passing of measure 49 earlier this week, that make me proud to be a resident of this city/state!!!!!!!)

along with a full article here

the NY Times luv for PDX just doesn't stop!!!

Pacific Ethanol Opens 40 Million Gallon Production Plan

Pacific Ethanol has opened the first ethanol production facility in Oregon. Ethanol is a biofuel comprising 10% of all gasoline sold in the city of Portland.

Portland's first new bridge in 34 years could be a 30-story, white monument climbing from the Willamette River into the skyline and standing in contrast to the many steel truss structures that define bridge city.

The span would carry light-rail and streetcar service, bicycles, pedestrians and possibly buses. But it would have no cars -- a testament to a generation that built one of the nation's most coveted transit systems.

The article says that a "committee of design and civic activists picked a bridge type called a 'cable-stayed' structure."

Some examples and an explanation of cable-stayed bridges exist on Wikipedia.

This past summer The Legislature eradicated triple-digit interest rates on consumer loans in Oregon with a vote Wednesday that payday and car title lenders say will seal their demise, reports the Oregonian. Republicans, who don't mind businesses that exploit the poor, objected to the bill. But thankfully there are more Democrats now, so they lost.

Oregon's new law just might help wipe out the whole industry. From Forbes:

Shares of Advance America Cash Advance Centers Inc. slipped to an all-time low Friday after the payday lender said it will close more than 100 stores, mainly because of regulatory clampdowns in two states.

The Spartanburg, S.C.-based company said it will close 31 stores in Pennsylvania and 45 stores in Oregon. This decision stems from a Pennsylvania ruling suspending payday lending in that state, and an Oregon law limiting fees and interest on payday loans.

Advance America issues payday loans, or short-term loans to be repaid on the customer's next payday. These loans are typically issued to people with low incomes, and have attracted scrutiny from lawmakers concerned about allegedly predatory and usurious lending.

So Portland's future awesome (well, Oregon in this case) just might be awesome for everyone.

Commissioners Randy Leonard and Erik Sten asked the housing authority to buy the single-room occupancy hotel in a letter dated Sept. 27. The city will reimburse the agency for the sale price, according to the letter. The city may also help pay for repairs and other work needed at the hotel.

The Grove, at 421 W. Burnside St., has been the target of a city task force led by Leonard that is committed to cleaning up low-income residential hotels in Old Town-Chinatown, as well as downtown.

Leonard brought in Portland police, the fire bureau and building inspectors to force changes at the Grove. The city cited the hotel, where tenants have strewn garbage that attracts cockroaches, for more than 480 code violations.

The sale is expected to close in two months.

Wow. So Randy Leonard has a task force involving the police, fire bureau, and building inspectors with a mission of cleaning up low-income residential hotels. The tactic seems to be to overwhelm the building owners with code violations and then offer to buy the building and give it to HAP.

Presumbably they warn the owners to get things cleaned up first, and if that doesn't happen they "shock and awe" them with code violations? What are the other possible targets of this task force? It seems like Randy could clean up downtown and expand HAP at the same time.

This is a golden age of dining and drinking in a city that 15 years ago was about as cutting edge as a tomato in January. Every little neighborhood in this city of funky neighborhoods now seems to be exploding with restaurants, food shops and markets, all benefiting from a critical mass of passion, skill and experience, and all constructed according to the gospel of locally grown ingredients.

Sam Adams has a plan. If it is approved by City Council, construction on the eastside streetcar would start next year and be up and running by 2011. The line will run from NW Portland, over the Broadway Bridge to the Lloyd District, and then on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Grand Avenue to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. (Oregonian)

I made a map of the current streetcar in blue and the proposal in red:

Mass transit projects like this get me really excited. The ability to easily move around the city without a car works to "shrink the city" by reducing the time and energy it takes to get around. The other day for example I was driving out though Gresham and I thought, "Man, with the MAX line out here, you really aren't too far from Portland."

The eastside streetcar helps reattach the close-in eastside to the rest of the city, and if I'm still living in Northwest in 2011 then I'll have a straight shot from my neighborhood to the CEID. Future awesome indeed!

"Again, the issue of sustainability is key, however: operating on a small scale means that an organization (or a city) is likely nimble and entrepreneurial, but it can also mean that it's fragmented and fragile." -Portland: City of the Small

"HUB will be a 20-barrel bio-diesel fired brewery," they say, and then go on to detail the project and have a very in-depth interview with brewmaster Christian Ettinger.

Read more at the Belmont Station Beer Forum.

The article says "Portland was named a green leader because, with 125 projects and counting, the city has the most structures certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, the magazine reports."

Additionally Fast Company wrote, "Portland became a case study on how to stuff sprawl when it enacted strict limits on urban growth. Today, it's at the forefront of the 'eat local' revolution, in which individuals and restaurants buy directly from area farmers to preserve livelihoods and open space. With 13 farmer's markets, and nearby world-class vineyards, residents not only buy local but they eat and drink well, too."

Since January 2002, all Oregon workplaces were smoke-free except for bars, bingo halls, and other such dens of iniquity. But while Oregon was stuck with smoky pubs, other cities and states have been outlawing smoking in public outright. And by and large, they've found, contrary to tobacco companies' claims, that it doesn't drive bars out of business. In fact, in many cases, revenue improved. Plus, it's been easier to keep employees happy and healthy. Even bartenders that smoke don't tend to enjoy 8 hours a day of secondhand.

Depending on what side of the issue you fall on, you now have a new reason to celebrate or loathe the new Democratic-controlled Oregon Legislature.

Me, I'm just looking forward to heading down to the bar and playing some pinball without my clothes and hair reeking of smoke.