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Portland International
Air Porn Browsers who forget the "pdx" are in for a surprise. As first reported on KXL radio last month, portlandairport.com is the gateway not to the world of travel, but to the world of hard-core porn. The Port of Portland, which hosts the legitimate airport Web site, is less than thrilled. "Our legal people are researching our options," says spokesman Darrel Buttice. Port officials first became aware of the competing site a few weeks ago and have been searching for a solution ever since. "Given that the Internet's so unregulated, it's difficult to get anything done," Buttice says. Portland's is not the only airport that appears to be promoting hot babes and non-stop action. Visitors to "airport" Web sites in nearly every major city--including Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago and even Salt Lake City--will find porn there, too. Cyberspace is a public domain, and except for commercial names that have already been copyrighted (Willamette Week, for instance), nearly any name can be registered as a Web site by anyone. Arrivals at bogus airport sites will find themselves bounced to the same page: PamCam.com, a purveyor of X-rated pictures and videos. Using an Internet tool that identifies the owners of Web sites, WW determined that one man is responsible for registering all of the air porn sites. That man, Saeid Yomtobian of Sherman Oaks, Calif., was unavailable for comment. An associate who declined to identify himself said that Yomtobian was out of the country for the next year. In his absence, we can only speculate about Yomtobian's motivations. There are a couple of reasons he would give a porn site such odd names. First, someone who visits denverairport.com looking for departure times may stick around and spend some money. Even if the travelers don't stay, their visits allow the site to record "hits"--which is one way of measuring a site's popularity. The name of Yomtobian's company--domain 4 sale & company--suggests a more devious motive: legal extortion. For a price, it would seem, the airports can repurchase their good names. If that's Yomtobian's game, the Port of Portland isn't buying. "We're not interested," Buttice says. "We're not even considering it." --Nigel Jaquiss FOLLOW-UP First, Powell's management is facing its first staff union drive in 10 years. Employees, irked by what they see as smaller raises and a staff restructuring ("Powell's Beheaded," WW, Oct. 28, 1998), have met with organizers from five different unions--including Oregon Public Employees Union, the Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers. Staffers settled on the International Longshoreman Warehouse Union and have begun the process of collecting cards to authorize a union election. Last week, Powell's general manager Miriam Sontz, owner Michael Powell and corporate general manager Ann Smith responded to the nascent union effort with a standard letter. On Nov. 2, they sent out a statement to employees that read, "We do not believe that a third party in the form of the longshoresman's union (or any other union) is needed here. In fact we believe it would impair our ability to work together effectively." Disgruntled workers aren't Powell's only problem. The outside world is closing in as well. As the front page of Saturday's New York Times reported, Barnes & Noble, the nation's largest bookseller and a Powell's competitor locally, bought Ingram Book Group, the nation's leading book wholesaler. The $600 million buyout led to the usual sound bites about synergy from Barnes & Noble but left independent book peddlers issuing gloomy statements. Many independents rely solely on Ingram for book orders and fear that Barnes & Noble will use its control of Ingram to squeeze them out of business. In fact, the American Booksellers Association, the trade group that represents independent booksellers, is already suing Barnes & Noble for colluding with publishers for sweetheart deals. "The deal [with Ingram] would make independent bookstores virtually dependent upon their largest competitor," the ABA told The Wall Street Journal. As Sontz told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "somebody that the ABA is suing for alleged illegal practices [Barnes & Noble] will be in control of the major supplier of books in this country.... It could have a chilling effect on small publishers and small bookstores." --Josh Feit Dress Code The teachers' union distributed the buttons earlier this month, says Nancy Arlington, the teachers' top negotiator. Meanwhile, the number of days since negotiations began reached 150. Under state law either side can now call for state mediation. Although a bargaining session was scheduled for Tuesday, two previous meetings were canceled, suggesting that the appointment of a go-between is imminent. Mediation raises the stakes, for once it starts, teachers can legally strike after 52 days. Currently, the earliest strike date would be Dec. 23--during winter break. As the days drip by, the positive spin coming from the school board has faded into resignation. "It's certainly my impression that these meetings are going nowhere," says board chairman Ron Saxton. A number of substantive issues remain unresolved, Arlington says, with pay at the top of the list. Portland teachers' salaries are lower than those in nearly every other metro-area district, a fact that the school board's proposal does little to address. "It's simple," Saxton says. "We don't have enough money." The teachers aren't convinced. Indeed, district figures show that salaries for Portland's 3,200 teachers actually total $3.2 million less than last year. Although projections show that enrollment is down, class sizes have soared at many schools, leaving teachers scratching their heads--and wearing buttons. Teachers wore similar buttons during the last contract talks, in 1996,
but Arlington says participation is higher this year. "We're seeing
a higher level of involvement this time around at schools where teachers
were quiet last time," she says. FROM
THE DEPARTMENT OF SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: correction
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