Talk:Portland, Oregon
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Rose Quarter Neutrality
The section on the Rose Quarter refers to the fullscale demolition of a minority neighborhood to make way for it. However, Memorial Coliseum was not built until 1960. I have a 1957 map of Portland that shows nearly the entire Coliseum area as the "Exposition Recreation Center." If indeed the "Exposition Recreation Center" was built over an ethnic neighborhood (as Portland State University was), than this paragraph is misleading, as it leads the reader to think that the more recent structures (such as the Rose Garden) caused the displacement, rather than obsolete (and racist) 40s/50s urban planning policy. If on the other hand there was no forced minority displacement, than this text is outright fallacious.
I have not changed the paragraph, I just added the DISPUTED tag. I'll leave that change and research to someone else...
---Switch Notorious
Page getting big
Does it seem to anyone else that this monolithic page about Portland is getting a little too big? I would like to see more sections be broken out into separate pages. Comments? --Rootbeer 18:46, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Misc concerns
I added a link to a Hawthorne district/neighbourhood page I created, but could someone please expand on it? Karlkatzke 04:33, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)
- being a one-foot diameter circle, its "acreage" is only about 0.3 square metres
Those numbers don't match. One foot is 30.48 cm, so the area of a one-foot diameter circle is about 900 cm^2*0.7854, or 0.07 square meters. -phma
- The diameter was wrong. The city web site says it's 452 in2 which corresponds to a two-foot diameter circle. That means the diameter is 60.96 cm so π×30.482 = 2918.64 cm2, or about 0.3 m2. (whew!) --Nate 19:03 Nov 27, 2002 (UTC)
I was reading through the table of contents for this article, and it pretty much sums up Portland: Parks, Beer, Public Transportation. :-) --Nate Silva 22:05, 14 Nov 2003 (UTC)
I just noticed that Tri-met is spelled incorrectly. However, I'm not going to correct it because there is a link that might be destroyed if incorrectly edited. TriMet should be changed to Tri-met. Pingveno 05:28, 25 Nov 2003 (UTC)
- Both spellings are correct. http://www.tri-met.org and http://www.trimet.org TriMet is preferred. Mkmcconn 18:25, 25 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Famous Portlanders
Okay, I'm giving fair notice that a few names have slipped into this list who I do not consider Portlanders, & whom I will be removing from this list. It's not because one has to possess a certain modicum of elitism to be on this list -- it's just that some folks don't have a true connection to this town.
- Paul Allen - So he owns the Trail Blazers. BFD, they've sucked almost to the day he wrote the check. Otherwise, his involvement in Portland has been less than minimal. Seattle can have him.
- Ward Cunningham - No disrespect to Ward (I've met him, he's a nice guy), but does he live in Portland or across the hills in Washington County? -- Ward & Karen have a Portland address, but with respect, I wonder if Ward is notable outside Wiki fame. Should be, perhaps, but ...? User:gnetwerker Feb 13, 2004
- Well, the rule I've always heard is when in doubt, include it. Since Ward does have a Portland address, I have no problem putting him back in the list.
- Dr. Frank Stearns Giese - Portland State University professor convicted of Conspiracy for January 1973 military recruiting station bombings.
- This is a little odd - This entry, as well as the mention in the "city nicknames" section about "City of Bombs", seems to be part of a poorly-executed disinformation/propoganda effort. I have only been able to find mention of Portland as "City of Bombs" on a lot of identical bot-entered forum posts, and at least one site which seems to be a fake blog with one entry on it and some fake comments, aimed at characterizing the Earth Liberation Front as a terrorist organization. Anybody else for expunging it? I don't think the guy who put Dr. Giese in this list realized that the original author of the list was suggesting *removals* from the existing Famous Portlanders list. Pjrich 01:33, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
- Clarification and further detail: it seems to involve the NLF, the Northwest Liberation Front, and seems to be organized by a guy calling himself Ronald James Scheller, which also seems to be the name of one of the principals in the NLF's history. The same guy seems to be posting on random forums online on a variety of inflammatory topics including legalizing marijuana, etc. As far as I can tell the point of his duplicate forum posts is to get the phrase "City of Bombs" in the google ranking. It smells like amateur cointelpro from here. Pjrich 01:41, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
- Tonya Harding - Yes, it's fashionable in Puddle Town to dislike her, but around here, when you mention Tonya, you think of Clackamas County. Sorry, even if you argue that Joe Clueless in New York thinks she lives in Portland, my response is that the same Joe Clueless probably thinks Oregon is a suburb of Los Angeles.
- Phil Knight - Nike is carefully situated outside of the city limits of Beaverton. I doubt that Knight even lives in Portland. Portland doesn't need to steal famous names from its suburbs.
- Monica Lewinsky - Once upon a time she attended Lewis & Clark. Some days I'm not even sure L & C is inside of the Portland City limits; some days people at L & C don't care who she is, let alone know that she took classes there. And when the press looks for her, they pester folks down south in Los Angeles.
Sheesh, if we don't show a bit of restraint, who will be added to this list next? Garrison Keillor, who lost a manuscript at the train terminal here? L. Ron Hubbard, who was stationed here for several months in World War II? (Okay, he's a maybe.) George H. W. Bush, who was picketted every time he showed his face in Portland? Rudyard Kipling, who is rumored to have left the train during a stop in Portland to take a leak?
Yes, I'm probably ranting here, but is Portland so insecure about its self-worth that anyone tangentially connected with the city must needs be listed? -- llywrch 00:44, 9 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Just noticing the irony between the list of suburbs and the satelite cities remark. This remark is also somewhat inappropriate for an encyclopedia. - Pingveno 04:06, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)
206.138.226.162 had added Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology. I removed this because it's actually in Beaverton (maybe it should be on the Beaverton page). This comes out of an earlier case where llywrch had pointed out that Marylhurst University is actually not in Portland. To avoid this page becoming a laundry list of "nearby" things, the colleges list has been kept to those that are actually in Portland. --Nate Silva 03:16, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Not to be contentious, but OGI ha sbeen merged into the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), by acronym slight-of-hand, formerly the Oregon Health Sciences University. OHSU is based in Portland, so I don't know if that changes anyone's mind about anything. -- Gnetwerker
Hey! I'd love to see some information in here on the arts scene in Portland. Specifically theatre and dance. So far all of the 'arts' stuff in here seems to be movies and sports teams. =) -- jbailey
Building heights
"Portland's city center does not cater to tall buildings due to the 200 ft. long city blocks and design codes that constrain building height"
Shanghai Tunnels
Having just been on an extremely informative and interesting tour of the Shanghai Tunnels (more formally known as the Portland Underground), I think it would be both appropriate and interesting to either include information on them in this article, or even start a new article and link it in. What would people prefer? Tim 15:35, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)
- I think you should start a new article and link it...sounds interesting. Cacophony 21:44, Oct 29, 2004 (UTC)
- I agree! Start a new article with your knowledge and link it. Mitchowen 11:42, Nov 7, 2004 {GMT -6}
- For the record, I would like to say that I believe most of the stories about the Shanghai tunnels are complete fiction. If you're going to write an article, make sure you get plenty of good sources. --Sean Kelly 03:27, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Removed paragraph on Vera Katz
An anonymous user removed the following paragraph:
- In 2003, Vera Katz, mayor since 1992, announced that she would not seek a fourth term. In the May 18, 2004 primary election, none of the 10 candidates running received a majority of votes, so the two with the most votes -- former police chief Tom Potter and City Commissioner Jim Francesconi -- faced each other in the November general election with Potter defeating Francesconi by a wide margin.
It was later added back in. I personally agree that it should be removed. The election is over, and this article doesn't need to be bogged down with the results of past elections. --Sean Kelly 03:31, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Removed paragraph on PBR
I took out the following paragraph because it sounded like two babbling drunk people. Seriously people, this is an encyclopedia.
- However, strange as it may sound, per capita, Portland also sells the most Pabst Blue Ribbon, not consider the highest quality by many beer drinkers. This seems to be an apparent backlash to the microbrew revolution. Though it could be that "PBR" is a "not bad" tasteing macro beer that is cheep.
--Sean Kelly 12:47, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Good call. --Nate Silva 17:26, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)
shanghai tunnels
I started a stub on the shanghai tunnels. Hopefully, someone around here who knows more than I do will expand on it. Maybe add this on the tourist attractions list?
- A few pointers:
- Please sign your comments. It's easy to do by adding ~~~~ at the end of what you write. If you don't have an account, please create one: it only takes a few minutes, & will benefit one & all if you do so.
- I'm unaware that these tunnels are shown to tourists on a regular basis, in the manner Underground Seattle is shown to tourists. I've heard rumors, & announcements of tours, but I've also heard stories from local newspaper writers that these tunnels have all been filled in or sealed off long ago, or due to liability problems are not shown to the general public. (And I say this as someone who would eagerly like to view them.)
- I seem to remember that a number of these tunnels were originally created not with the intent of trafficking in human merchandise, but to facilitate moving goods from ships to stores in the downtown area; their usefulness for secreting hapless men onto ships for money was merely a bonus. Calling them "shanghai tunnels" would thus be a misnomer.
- And a last comment. As one of the few native Portlanders who can document having ancestors residing in this city back to 1870, and who had a relative who was shanghaied (namely my maternal grandfather, which is why I felt compelled to begin that article), while finding it ironic that he was shanghaied outside of Portland -- namely Port Angeles, Washington, I think that we can find a better phrase with which to label a number of half-remembered, hard-to-find passageways under downtown Portland shanghai tunnels. -- llywrch 02:11, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- It actually looks like an interesting find, I wouldn't mind checking out myself. See these links:
- Oregon.com - Experience Oregon (http://www.oregon.com/trips/pdx_shanghai.cfm)
- NYTimes article (http://travel2.nytimes.com/fodors/top/features/travel/destinations/unitedstates/oregon/portland/fdrs_feat_121_6.html?n=Top%2FFeatures%2FTravel%2FDestinations%2FUnited+States%2FOregon%2FPortland)
- Portland Underground Tours (http://members.tripod.com/cgs-mthood/shanghai_tunnels.htm) ... looks to be the legit company operating the tours, their phone is referenced in the two links above
Aaronmz 02:38, Mar 27, 2005 (UTC)
- Sorry about not signing my name. As for the tunnels, I've always heard them called the shanghai tunnels. That's what people call them. Of course they weren't made for that purpose, but that's what they're remembered for. And yes, they still exist, and you can tour them, as noted above.
Ccj 05:57, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Asa Amos Lawrence Lovejoy
66.167.139.8 11:43, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC): Someone changed founder Lovejoy's first name from Asa to Amos. Google reports both Amos and Asa, and there are a couple of references to "Asa Amos Lawrence Lovejoy", which might have been his full name. But based on two URLs:
- http://www.pova.org/media/history.html
- http://www.metro-region.org/article.cfm?articleID=11326&fuseaction=findagrave.showgravedetail&gid=27170
Asa seems preferable.
No mention of the Benson Bubblers!
there is currently no mention of the benson bubblers, but these are a very distinct part of portland, so would someone add them? i would do it myself, but im not sure where in the article to put, and i need to go to bed. -- ericl234 talk 08:52, May 23, 2005 (UTC)
- Where are you from? In Portland, we call them water fountains or drinking fountains, not bubblers. The first time I (a PDX native) heard the term bubbler was when I was 18 and a high school friend of mine, from Boston, told me about the differences between his English and ours. While I agree that the Benson fountains need to be added, let's call them by the correct term, please. Squidley 06:56, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- I've always called them Benson Bubblers and I've lived in Portland my whole life. The Portland Water Bureau (http://www.portlandonline.com/water/index.cfm?&a=27796&c=29456) calls them Benson Bubblers, too. I'll add a section on them, by the way. StradivariusTV 17:39, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Oregon Wikigroup Project marked inactive
66.167.137.190 08:29, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC): The Wikipedia:Oregon Wikigroup Project has been marked inactive. If there's interest, please join and help it re-activate.
time to clean up
This article needs to be cleaned up. As mentioned above, some of this article needs to be splintered off (i.e. the 'quadrants'). The tourist attractions section and below also need to be re-worked. I am going to nominate this article for COTW to get some more help. If Seattle can be a featured article, so can this! There is good stuff here, we just need to clean it up and parse it into some separate articles. Jacob 04:55, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- Oops, I was informed that this article couldn't be COTW because it's not a stub. Maybe peer review instead. Jacob 21:25, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I think Tourist Attractions, Gardens, etc. should be split off into their own pages. That will make the main article a bit shorter and allow for better organization in the new articles. StradivariusTV 16:09, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)