portlandville.com

My neighbor scaled his house on Thanksgiving weekend to celebrate the start of light season.

That evening, our dog Sophie body slammed the front door and rushed into the house just after we hooked her to her lead on the front porch. Tail down and shaking, she ran upstairs as soon as I unclipped her. What the? I went out to look around. Then I saw Frosty, rocking gently in the breeze:

For a day or so, she had to be coaxed out of house.

Much has been written lately about Portland’s bike friendly (or not) street layouts. We came upon this video by David Byrne that expresses the dangers and pleasures of biking in the city. In this case, the city is Manhattan.

Lady, if I was a truck you wouldn’t be doin’ that

It’s a beautiful thing.

Link Here.

Our friend and former colleague Gillian Floren has landed in a new position as vice president of marketing and business retention at Greenlight Greater Portland, a primarily private-sector group devoted to promoting the economic vitality of the greater Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. She will join CEO Tim Priest and Steven Pedigo, vice president of research and business attraction, as a member of the leadership team. Until recently, Gillian served as publisher (and before that, editor) of Oregon Business Magazine. Her strong relationships with regional business leaders and policy makers, developed during ten years with the magazine, should serve her well in the new role. [Great timing department: Oregon Business is running an interview with Priest in the November issue.]

Here’s a new addition to the almost emerging South Waterfront neighborhood:

The Innovation Lab is designed to serve the community as a hub of activity, information and resources, including available meeting space. At opening, it will feature:

• Product Wall: A 25-foot, interactive, seamless dynamic plasma wall that features touch screen technology, pod casts and community search functionality.

• Community Wall: This interactive display wall serves as the (lab’s) official community center. It provides information on volunteer opportunities and community events, supports fundraising for community organizations and includes a survey option for users to tell (the lab) which topics they would like to learn more about.

• LocalSpace: (the lab’s) own social networking site. Designed to connect and assist local businesses in a virtual setting, LocalSpace offers opportunities for mentoring, expert advice, public community calendars and 3-D mapping from Microsoft’s Virtual Earth.

• Computer Cafe: Features tables embedded with state-of-the-art Lenovo laptops inviting visitors to try out easy-access online… solutions or simply surf the Web.

• Ask an Expert: Uses the Cisco Unified Meeting Place solution to connect customers face-to-face with experts on a wide range of … topics at any time.

• Interactive and In-store Shopping: Browse merchandise from local merchants as well as … Local Music CDs, books and other finds.

And…

The Innovation Lab will serve (it’s own) signature blend of coffee as well as customers’ choice of a latte, americano or cappuccino at the press of a button.

What is this place? Of course: It’s an Umpqua Bank branch.

[Via a news brief on the Business Journal site that was based on this press release.]

While walking the dog along the Mighty Columbia yesterday, we ran into some acquaintances from our NE Portland neighborhood who pointed us to the just-released trailer for Untraceable which was filmed recently in Portland. Filmed partly, as it turns out, in their house. The trailer is here.

Yesterday, the O reported on the regional lock-down on spray paint sales. Meanwhile, across the pond, British guerrilla marketers are unleashing a new kind of graffiti. Shop owners — might as well lock up the power washers while you’re at it.

Roadside shrines always convey a unique kind of place-based sadness.

Some of these Portland sites also include placards with advice for living well that might have been offered by the victims.

SE Stark & 26th

In the old days, competition was so fierce among metropolitan dailies that publishers rushed out early editions with lurid headlines in an effort to sell more papers than competitors. These were dubbed bulldog editions. No one is exactly sure where the term comes from, according to Dr. Ink at the Poynter Institute. William Randolph Hearst reportedly wanted his first editions to have grabber headlines and ‘bite like a bulldog.’
Today in Portland, the lurid headlines are reserved for the street final, a limited run edition available in some street and newsstand locations around noon or so. There is no competition these days. Often the cover story has run in some form in the earlier editions. It’s always interesting to see what the editors do to sell a few more papers each afternoon.

By now, we’ve all learned more than we want to know about this story. But would you have dropped 50 cents to learn more at noon today?  I’d probably have checked the blogs for links like this. Before the day was out, the cross-dressing Republican had quit.

Update: On December 13, The O ran a small item on page four of the third section entitled “Four men accused of blackmailing legislator”. The caper was (allegedly) all part of an extortion scheme. The sex act trumpeted on the earlier cover was apparently just one detail in a more complicated story.

One bonus diversion for strollers in NE Portland neighborhoods is paying attention to the credits. Elwood Wiles had the contract to build sidewalks in the neighborhood of Siskyou Street, between, roughly, 7th and 24th in the years between 1907 and 1910.

East of 24th, Joplin & Meeks had the contract. Perhaps they worked too quickly:

By the way, the few times we’ve heard or read interviews with Chuck Close, we’ve liked the way he comes across. Here’s a quick one from last month in New York magazine, complete with a why-we-live-in-Portland Hollywood hotshot moment.