Hot gossip, steamy scuttlebutt.

[March 16th, 2005] * On the eighth day, God declared that all convention centers must have hotels. So it's no revelation that the Portland Development Commission wants to build one for the Oregon Convention Center . But now a group of local lodging magnates -including Gordon Sondland , whose Aspen Companies own the Mallory, Benson and Lucia hotels-is trying to sink the idea. They've enlisted high-octane lobbyist Len Bergstein and land-use lawyer Tim Ramis to attack the project's size and financial feasibility. And with the four would-be developers looking for major public money to finance, build and operate the hotel, the target is big. Bergstein acknowledges his clients' self-interest: "No one wants to see a bunch of subsidized rooms on the market."

* Hot erotic-arts site www.nerve.com has just launched its first Henry Miller Award for the best literary sex scene in recently published books. A scene from hometown penman and WW contributor Kevin Sampsell 's Beautiful Blemish has been nominated against sections from books by Sam Lipsyte, A.L. Kennedy, Darcey Steinke and Meg Wolitzer. Sampsell's scene involves a husband, a wife and magic markers .

* Last week, free-thinking pedestrians turned purple when Portland police started handing out $94 jaywalking tickets downtown. Was it the revenge of Mayor Tom Potter , a notorious crosswalk fiend when he was top cop more than a decade ago? Nope. According to Cmdr. Bill Sinnott, the traffic division got a call that a speeding bike messenger nearly took out an elderly woman crossing the street. Officers were told to crack down on pedestrian and bicycle violations, and Officer Doug Gunderson took the message to heart. He wrote 17 jaywalking tickets in the space of a few days.

* First Thursday could get smaller-geographically, that is. Several of Portland's better-known art galleries are negotiating with developer and art collector Jim Winkler over a potential new home in his North Park Blocks building at 134 NW 8th Ave., former home of the Daisy Kingdom fabric store. Meanwhile, Gail and Stan Beppu, owners of the Beppu Gallery in Pacific City, are joining with Blackfish Gallery's Stephanie Wiarda and plan to open a new gallery in the Elizabeth Lofts at 114 NW 9th Ave. this summer.

* Local restaurant/club owner (and WW Rogue of the Week alumnus) Andrew Sugar continues his reign as Portland real estate's answer to The Swan. Unflustered by his failure to revive his ailing swanky Pearl District diner, Vivid, by turning it into the now-defunct Fuel, Sugar has now reinvented another of his properties. Two weeks ago, his Old Town dance lounge Lush emerged from its PG-13 cocoon to become a "multi-floor" strip club.

* Five years ago, a small-time drug dealer named Jimmy Bryant spent 13 months behind bars for double-murder before Multnomah County prosecutors realized their star witness, Humberto "Maco" Castro Soler, was by far the more likely killer ("Swimming with Sharks," WW, Dec. 17, 2003) and released Bryant. Last week, a federal judge who'd earlier dismissed Bryant's wrongful-imprisonment suit added insult to injury by ordering Bryant to cough up $11,220.93 in attorney's fees to Gresham, a co-defendant in the suit.