Inbox

[May 28th, 2008]

SETTING IT STRAIGHT

Just three corrections to your article on the Columbia River Crossing Project [“Bridge Over the River Why?” WW, May 21, 2008].

1. 39 community leaders (elected, business and neighborhood) sit on the CRC task force. At our last meeting a straw poll showed that 37 of those 39 support replacing the bridge including light rail and tolls. Can we all be victims of the “Stockholm Syndrome” (a study that has been de-bunked, by the way)?

2. The project was continually referred to as “$4.2 billion dollar highway project.” The current high estimate for the light-rail portion is about $1.4 billion, the bridge a similar amount with the remainder for interchange upgrades.

3. Those who know me as a fiscal conservative—OK, I am cheap—know that I would never build a whole new house because of a leaking roof. The accurate quote would be: “Eventually it makes more sense to just tear off the old roof and replace it.”

Rex Burkholder
Metro Councilor, District 5

HARD FEELINGS? I DON’T THINK SO

According to “Communication Breakdown” [WW, May 14, 2008], Mayor Potter supports Sho-us-the-money Dozono’s “rhetoric about focusing on core services.” Potter also claims to be taking a stand against “shadow Budgets” that “mask the true cost of certain projects.” Of course, His Irrelevancy has no problem spending $200,000-plus of taxpayers’ money on a day-labor site for undocumented aliens who are here illegally; and how dare we question either the social costs OR the dollar amount wasted on the use of Portland’s Police Bureau for security?

And how about the $1.1 million spent by Potter for VisionPDX? In the Transition Team Minutes of December 3, 2007, “TT raised the question of accountability and power. Will the VIA (Vision into Action) coalition have the power to hold the city or anyone else accountable to the vision goals?” And “Liesl expressed concern that we have not expressed what action is going to be happening: What’s the action? Still not seeing it. Still can’t figure out how the action has happened. Still very pro-active leadership part that I am not seeing. Doesn’t say we’re doing anything.”

You say “hard feelings”...I say hubris and hypocrisy.

Nan Wilder
Northwest Portland