Winners & Losers

[July 30th, 2003] WINNERS

Political junkies and Earl Blumenauer celebrated last week when Mayor Vera Katz announced that she won't seek a fourth term. The coy congressman has yet to throw his bow tie into the ring but will become the early favorite when he does. That would open his seat to a field of hopefuls, some of whom are also considering running for the seat that will be vacated by the other top mayoral contender, City Commissioner Jim Francesconi.

Seismic engineers chuckled with glee last week when a series of small earthquakes rocked--OK, nudged--Portland, reminding landlords and developers alike who they need to call.

Good news for anarchists , riot cops and pepper-spray manufacturers broke last week with the announcement that George W. Bush would be visiting Portland on Aug. 20--almost exactly one year after his last visit sparked a largely one-sided clash between spray-happy police and protesters.

Whimsical muralists breathed a guarded sigh of relief when the City Council agreed to revisit portions of the city sign code that mandate death-by-paint-over for some murals around town. The move comes after orders to obliterate a pair of murals on Southeast Division Street sparked a wave of concern.

LOSERS

The Jail Blazers aren't the only Paul Allen employees in trouble with the law. Last week, four former senior executives of Charter Communications, a cable-TV company Allen controls, were indicted on federal fraud charges relating to accounting practices. One of the four pled guilty on Monday.

About 6,000 patients at All Women's Health Services may lose their care provider next week. The Northeast Portland clinic, which serves mostly low-income families , has suffered as malpractice rates have gone up and Oregon Health Plan reimbursements have gone down.