Inbox

[October 31st, 2007]

Portland: The City New Yorkers

Hate to Love

As a lifelong New Yorker who was hoodwinked into moving here after precisely the sort of hoopla described in “PDX Inked” [Oct. 24], I applaud WW ’s cojones for being honest and accurate about Portland. Portlanders need to wake up and smell that locally brewed coffee: This ain’t no NYC and it ain’t ever gonna be, but not because it’s smaller, because too many Portlanders refuse to criticize this place and freak out when others do. They walk and talk about PDX like it’s eco-mecca, all the while driving everywhere and thinking they’re cool ’cause they ‘endure’ so much rain, sans umbrellas (NYC gets the SAME amount of rain as PDX). So take heed, New Yorkers don’t bitch about our weather, and we’re wise enough to use umbrellas in the rain! And we have no problemo loving to hate our town!

“Janet”
Via wweek.com

...And Take your Thesaurus with you!

“Hoodwinked”? Who talks like that!?

GO HOME and walk around in NYC—it’s so much cooler and it gets a lot of rain, so quit being your average bitching, whining Portlander and get the hell out of here. Hoodwinked?!

“Joe Davis”
Via wweek.com

Washington’s Mexico

Also on “PDX Inked”: How do you go with the Stephen Colbert quote of calling us “Hippies” when “Idaho’s Portugal” was available?

“Chris”
Via wweek.com

Your conscience says vote Yes on 49

Once, “conscience” meant taking responsibility for one’s actions and their impact on the world. Somehow the term has shifted to mean feeling pure regardless of the consequences.

Consider the online comments printed in the Oct. 17 WW [Inbox], by correspondents who would allow Oregon’s landscape to be violated and future generations to be deprived of desperately needed resource lands over a conscientious quibble about the legislative process that placed Measure 49 on the ballot.

“Since when does the end justify the means?” pontificates someone masquerading as “Free Oregon,” as though we were discussing Stalin causing the deaths of millions of kulaks in pursuit of a socialist utopia. This is fatuous on many levels.

For one thing, the means aren’t on the ballot. Voters can choose to prevent timber companies and real estate developers from destroying land, water quality and habitats, and forcing greenhouse-gas-producing sprawl—or not.

For another, the means are, at worst, mildly questionable, while the end is profoundly important. There may have been a bit of “unusual” legislative hardball, but nothing was done that was illegal, unethical, unprecedented or, most important, dishonest. The ballot title for Measure 49 produced by the “unusual” legislative maneuvering is accurate. This was not the case with Measure 37, which passed due to a fraudulent title created by the “usual” means.

The real effect of a “no” vote on Measure 49 is irreversible landscape destruction. If you vote no, you and your conscience will be responsible for that result in the real world.

Phillip Johnson
Southeast 37th Avenue

Conscience? What Conscience?

Are you guys fucking asleep or mindlessly insensitive or what? I can’t believe your editors would feel comfortable printing such a senselessly cruel piece of crap like Ted Rall’s “Mensatocracy” [Oct. 24]. It’s hard enough for a family to grieve the loss of a son or daughter in this cruel and needless war. But to say “Only idiots signed up; only idiots died....” Really? What kind of assholes are running this paper? And don’t bother with calling it satire or social commentary or some other such bullshit. There are no ends that justifies that kind of means. Call Cheney an “idiot” (he is), call Bush “dumber than dirt” (he definitely is), but lay off our dead brothers and sisters. And get a little soul.

Glenn Scofield Williams
Northeast Calhoun Avenue

Portland Must Light the Way

What’s clear from James Pitkin’s interview with Michael Shellenberger [Q&A, Oct. 24] is that Shellenberger misses the point. What Portland, and all of Oregon, must do to solve this crisis is to lead the way. Oregonians want to offer the nation solutions to global warming. That is why we remain committed (despite Shellenberger’s claims) to effecting legislative change to solve the climate crisis. We need our Senators, especially Gordon Smith, to spearhead efforts that will tighten loopholes in national legislation such as the Lieberman-Warner bill, so that such bills accurately reflect evidence-based science; we aren’t interested in a “hodge-podge” of fixes on a local level. The nation is waiting for us to take the lead here!

Janet Guss Darwich, Ph.D.
Northwest Thurman Street

You Will Know Us By Our Ugly Sweaters

Regarding “César E. Chávez Boulevard v. Interstate Avenue” [WWire at wweek.com, Sept. 18]: Hey hey hey, fellow namesters! Its about time we commemorate one of America’s greatest cultural leaders, William Jefferson Cosby. That’s right, everyone’s surrogate black comedian/doctor father has long fought in the struggle of anemic Thursday-night lineups. Its time to rename Northwest 23rd to Bill Cosby Avenue. Pledge your support by joining the Friends Organized to Remember Cosby. Just remember he is not dead now, but he will die probably within the next five to 10 years, and we might have it done by then. Eat JELL-O pudding pops, bitch!

“FORC!”
Via wweek.com

CORRECTION

Last week WW incorrectly reported the start time for Michael Shellenberger’s speech at the City Club of Portland this Friday, Nov. 2. Doors open at 11:30 am, and the start time is 12:15 pm. WW regrets the error.