Murmurs 2/9/11

1. Plans for OHSU and Portland State’s $180 million life sciences building have been trimmed after developers Homer Williams and Dike Dame told the universities they couldn’t come up with the $10 million in equity required by the bidding process Williams and Dame won last October. PSU Vice President Lindsay Desrochers says the universities will soon request new bids for the South Waterfront project. The loss of developer equity means the planned eight-story building will lose one floor and probably open in early 2014 instead of fall 2013. “We’re OK with that,” Desrochers says. Williams couldn’t be reached for comment.

1. Fresh off defeating a proposed statewide plastic bag ban last year in the Legislature, the chemical industry is lining up to oppose the return this year of that proposal—one of enviros’ top priorities in 2011. On Feb. 8, bagmakers and their powerful adviser, the Gallatin Public Affairs, trotted out an exec from the country’s largest plastic-bag recycler to argue a ban is a job-killer. “Thousands of green manufacturing jobs will be gone forever,” testified Mark Daniels of South Carolina-based Hilex Poly. In October, chem lobbyists rained $1,000 checks on 15 key lawmakers from both parties, which means doors will be open when they come calling.

1. A Portland man is suing the operators of the West Burnside Street McDonald’s for $7,500 after he was allegedly attacked at the drive-thru window. The suit, filed Feb. 4 in Multnomah County Circuit Court, claims Ronald Massey went to the drive-thru about 1 am on Oct. 22, 2010. He says customers began yelling insults at him, ripped the wiper off his 2010 Mercedes-Benz and punched him in the face without provocation. The suit claims negligence by McDonald’s for failing to protect customers in a “high crime rate area.” “The safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority,” franchisee Jimmy Monroe said in an email from a PR firm.

1. A recent shake-up at the Portland Police Association means cops will meet Feb. 10 to nominate candidates for two leadership vacancies in the powerful union. Officer Dave Dobler, on temporary leave from the police bureau for undisclosed reasons, has stepped down as the union’s secretary-treasurer and been temporarily replaced by Sgt. Tom Perkins. And Sgt. Doug Justus stepped down from the union’s executive board when he retired last month as a cop. The shake-up follows Sgt. Scott Westerman’s abrupt resignation as PPA president last year after two road-rage incidents and the recent departure of longtime union attorney Will Aitchison.
2. Credits: vivianjohnson.comFormer Multnomah County Sheriff’s Capt. Bruce McCain, a vocal critic of the Kyron Horman investigation since retiring from the sheriff’s office, wants to be on the Reynolds School Board. McCain filed this week to run this May for a seat on the board in the east Multnomah County school district. “I’ve got the time and interest to take on a non-paying job,” says McCain, a former attorney for ex-Sheriff Bernie Giusto and a conservative who once represented the anti-gay Oregon Citizens Alliance. “I’ve got experience in government policy and budgets.”

1. Lovejoy Surgicenter is facing a $1 million lawsuit filed by a 22-year-old woman who has the rare condition of having two uteri. The lawsuit, filed Jan. 27 in Multnomah County, alleges the woman visited the clinic in 2009 in Northwest Portland for a first trimester abortion on one uterus. The plaintiff claims the doctor operated on the wrong uterus. The lawsuit alleges that first operation left a viable fetus in the other uterus, and that when the woman returned two weeks later to redo the operation, doctors suctioned both uteri, despite her desire not to operate on the empty womb. The plaintiff has uterus didelphys, which is estimated to affect one in every 1,000 to 5,000 U.S. women. Lovejoy Surgicenter director Kayla Reich says, “We are not aware of any current cases filed against us, but it is our policy not to comment on any cases due to privacy of our patients.”

WWeek 2015