This week’s 3 R’S: RIEKE, RECESSION AND A REVISITED ROGUE.

[March 5th, 2008]

Winners

1 Two years ago, Rieke Elementary School faced possible closure. Now, the wealthy Southwest Portland school is on the proposed short list for a brand-new building—just in time to curry favor with politically savvy parents as Portland Public Schools launches a billion-dollar bond campaign. How better to teach kids the value of a dollar?

2The homeless will score a day shelter in Old Town, thanks to a vote last week by the Portland Development Commission. Sadly, the budget had no room for dim sum.

3 The looming cloud of recession has a silver lining of schadenfreude for eastside neighborhood activists still smarting over the Burnside Bridgehead project. PDC put the project on hold after the chosen developers, Opus Northwest, couldn’t find tenants. What a surprise.

4 Quick hoops quiz: Which Oregon school is most likely to make the NCAA men’s tourney? It’s not UO, where the Ducks are underachieving (again). And it’s not OSU, where the Beavers’ record futility is making Ralph Miller turn over in his grave. The answer: PSU , where the Vikings ’ first-place Big Sky finish gives them the right to host their league’s tournament to determine who qualifies for the NCAAs.

Losers

1After four years in Canada, eco-activist Tre Arrow is back home. Unfortunately, he’s here to face trial for arson and, possibly, life in prison. All that practice pooping in a bucket—Arrow once spent 11 days on a ledge at the U.S. Forest Service building—might come in handy behind bars. (See this WWire post for more.)

2Bad news for schools, hospitals, roads and just about every other public project: Oregon spends a higher percentage of its budget on prisons than any other state, according to a report last week by the Pew Charitable Trust. We’re also one of four states that spends more on lockups than higher ed. And two get-tough-on-crime measures on the November ballot will give us a chance to close the prison gap with China. (See more on those crime measures.)

3Why would union rank-and-file cheer when a judge throws out an overtime claim? Because the OT claim comes from Joe DiNicola, SEIU Local 503 prez and Rogue of the Week alum (WW, June 27, 2007). DiNicola incensed many in the 40,000-member union by trying to tap its dues-backed budget to cover his own $110,000 in overtime.