Sure hope Joe Biden thinks we're articulate.

[February 7th, 2007] Conflicting visions of Portland's future will soon turn into full campaign mode at City Hall. The Portland Business Alliance and developer Pete Mark are aligned with Mayor Tom Potter in his desire to change the form of government by adding a city manager who'd report to a beefed-up mayor's office. Azumano Travel boss Sho Dozono raised money to poll for that proposal and the three others City Council will vote to refer to the May ballot, but poll results are unavailable. Meanwhile, City Hall sources say public employee unions are unhappy with the stronger-mayor plank. "We aren't sure what the benefit of changing...is," says Portland Police Association President Robert King. "Why tinker with something that works well " One more note: Commish Sam Adams may have to cast Wednesday's referral vote by phone due to surgery.

As the Portland Police Bureau considers moving some command staff out of North Precinct to solve budget problems, Murmurs has learned the bureau has let other law-enforcement agencies use its two Air Support Unit planes without seeking reimbursement . Records show the costs are about $6,000 for at least 21 air missions in the past two years for agencies like the Clark and Columbia county sheriff's offices and the FBI. Although the agencies often provided their own pilots, police say it still costs about $100 an hour for fuel and maintenance. Cmdr. Dave Benson of the Tactical Operations Division says a policy for charging outside agencies is being developed.

Strange bedfellows alert on legislative efforts to limit predatory lending . With clients such as the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, Oregon Advocacy Center and SEIU Local 53, Alan Tresidder has built a rep over 30 years as one of Salem's top left-leaning lobbyists. So why is Tresidder, whose website touts his firm's "progressive principles," now representing Select Management Resources, the Georgia company responsible for spreading car-title lending and its 300-plus-percent interest rates across Oregon Tresidder says Select's desire to preserve the right to make short-term loans resonated, as did its willingness to accept a 36 percent annual interest-rate cap. Says Tressider: "I'm not lobbying for 400 percent interest rates or payday loans."

The battles are multiplying over a state law that compels utilities to collect only those taxes they actually owe. On Tuesday, lawyer Dan Meek of the watchdog Utility Reform Group filed a lawsuit against the Public Utility Commission, claiming the state regulatory agency has failed "to implement and enforce the provisions" of that law. Meanwhile, the state Senate and House play hot potato with House Bill 2479, a PacifiCorp bill designed to alter that same law. In emails circulating among utility watchers and legislators, Meek has savaged changes proposed by PacifiCorp, which the utility says would reduce uncertainty for customers and disincentives for investment.

"Call me Cheryl." Dakota InyoSwan, a local TV staple as a city spokeswoman on road closures and transit updates, is "reclaiming" her birth name of Cheryl Emma Kuck. The 49-year-old Kuck isn't Native American but switched her name 15 years ago to reflect her time spent on Native lands, and because it enabled her "to heal some family relationships." She says now that "deeply personal work" is finished and calls the switchback a celebration to take back her birth name with "peace and forgiveness."

The park Guinness World Records considers the world's tiniest, Portland's 2-foot-by-2 foot Mill Ends Park, will be rededicated March 16 after a year's hiatus. The mini-park was moved to a nearby plaza during construction on Southwest Naito Parkway. Journalist Dick Fagan created the park back in 1948, as a colony for leprechauns and a place to host snail races (seriously).