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[May 4th, 2005] WINNERS

Real-estate wheeler-dealers -architects, brokers, construction companies-may have pre-ordered years' worth of Dom Perignon at news that the Goodman family of parking-lot moguls wants to lease much of its asphalt empire to builders. Now on the market: a huge chunk of undeveloped property in downtown Portland.

Meth freaks may be under fire from the cops, the governor and the Ugly Police, but they should feel kindly toward doctors this week. The Oregon Medical Association panned a proposal that would have compelled physicians to report patients who use the drug.

Multnomah County officials fretting over what to do when the temporary income tax expires could always look east to Wood Village . The tiny burg better known for big-box stores took a surprising jump to the head of the "ballsy proposals'' list by considering a local sales tax that backers say could rake in $730,000 a year.

LOSERS

Portland's left-wing edge seemed mighty dull last week. First, consort-in-chief Laura Bush hit town to praise Portland for a change, singing the praises of a kids' program and failing to elicit the vomit-'n'-tear-gas protests that customarily greet Bush family visits to Little Beirut. Then local radicals -perhaps still high from that oh-so-vital Joint Terrorism Task Force showdown-staged a May Day march about as eventful as an octogenarian acrostics tournament. What is this, Wichita? The Resistance withers!

That pervy guy who stares at you on the bus and the drunk girlfriend who tries to start fights at your MAX stop could soon find themselves on the receiving end of a new TriMet rule. Starting July 1, TriMet supervisors and police can slap malefactors with written "interdiction commands," banning them from public transit for up to four hours. Don't tell the ACLU or anything.

Rough spring for aquatic beasts. Native American tribes with dibs on the almost-missing Chinook salmon petitioned the state for the right to massacre salmon-munching sea lions in the Columbia. Meanwhile, naturally occurring toxins shut down clam-digging on the coast, and a burrowing badger took the fall for a breached dam in Hermiston. Where's Aquaman when you need him?