Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for March 7th (yes, it’s the “you want WHAT, Tom Hurley?” “You want to GIVE it to him, Randy?” righteous indignation edition):

• Dan Saltzman pushes for City Council vote to challenge $100,000 disability award to former firefighter Tom Hurley | – OregonLive.com

  From Maxine Bernstein's article: "Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman is seeking a City Council vote on Wednesday challenging the award of more than $100,000 in disability payments to Portland firefighter-turned chef Tom Hurley who had refused to return to a light-duty job

  Saltzman's resolution also asks council members to give the city attorney's office authority to challenge other union grievances and civil suits that threaten to unravel the 2006 reforms voters approved to curtail abuses in Portland's unique public safety disability and pension fund. "

• Hall Monitor | Hall Monitor | Portland Mercury

  Matt Davis wishes he can talk about a hearing he was at – but he can't. Thankfully…"Randy Leonard, was all too willing to spill a few beans (on the record) afterward. Leonard told me he thinks FPD&R should go ahead and pay $104,000 to former firefighter Tom Hurley, and not appeal it in court. Hurley has been claiming disability checks from the city since 1993, after he hurt his back."

• Nancy Rommelmann: Rogue of the Month: Tom Hurley

  Nancy’s got some righteous indignation going herself: "Where has all this led? To a fracas within the city council, with member Randy Leonard, former firefighter and current PDX fire commissioner, backing Hurley, and council member Dan Saltzman challenging.
  …
  What drives me batty is, we are paying these people's salaries! What a profound waste of time and money. Also, I will be very grateful if someone here can explain to me how Hurley can live with himself."

  Nancy wonders for me…

Related Posts

• January 11, 2010 -- OurPDX Shared Links for 1/11/09 (0)
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• November 29, 2009 -- What’s in Our Water, Pt Two (Or, Where’s the Water Bureau, Anyway?) (2)
• August 20, 2009 -- Act fast! Portland’s political landscape at stake! (2)
• July 28, 2009 -- Proposed Bull Run filtration plant could cost YOU $$$ (5)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for February 20th

Scratch that. I went looking for this stuff, because I want to give some people some props already, plus announce my new PDX.FM show with a spin. Stay tuned for a little self-promotion and/or award-show style acceptance speech pontification, won’t you?

• In Portland, the city with quirks, pdx.fm fits in perfectly | Oregon Entertainment – OregonLive.com

  Peter Ames Carlin weighs in on PDX.FM. Here’s a sampling…

  "Until you fire up your computer and dial up pdx.fm, two channels of streaming, podcast-able radio shows. They're all-Portland, all the time, and all completely, sometimes unbelievably, unfiltered.

  There is a "Meat Show," which started out being about edible animal products. Now it's different, but the cheer, the enthusiasm and casual profanity remain. "Knit Happens," for the wool-and-needle set, is a bit more focused, while "Online Recovery Report" is as serious as the quest for sobriety.

  This is Portland, in all its diverse glory. "iPhone Slutz," by, for and about those people who can't stop fiddling with their smart phones. "Breakfast in Bridgetown" is way-serious food talk. "Dads Unplugged" takes on the joys, challenges and riddles of modern fathering. And more: shows for pet lovers, Trail Blazer maniacs, media critics (editor’s note: that’s ME!) and dusty-boot hikers. " (I'm referenced in there as well way near the bottom; look past the, uh, *new* first name…)

• Redoing Media – Episode 1 — Redoing Media

  Yes, I'm referencing *my own new show* here again. At least I'm much more blatant about it now, no?

  "Welcome to the very first episode of Redoing Media, where I explain my vision for the show, share at least one ‘my kid(s) DG’ *old* media (print newspapers, terrestrial radio), own up to my OLive history & briefly discuss Olympics coverage." I’ll be streaming live every Thursday at 1 pm on Channel One, look for updates on the Redoing Media web site.

• PDX.FM – Portland Streaming Internet Radio and Podcast Channel

  I haven't yet given Robert Wagner (@pdxsucks himself) of PDX.FM enough love yet? I haven't praised PDX.FM's Sabrina Miller enough? Here's hoping this link helps pay that oversight back in some small way. (Yes, this is the part where I slip into ‘I want to thank the Academy’ mode…)

  Let me say this: you may get a carefree "what the hell" vibe from the programming, or their own ‘day in the life’ blogpost. But Robert, Sabrina and the rest of the pdx.fm team are consummate kick-ass professionals as well – people who Get Shit Done. I'm thrilled to be one small part of this team now…!

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• February 2, 2010 -- LOST? Found… (1)
• January 8, 2010 -- The Button Man (1)
• December 8, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for 12/8 (0)
• October 12, 2009 -- SLL: Talking the Talk with Pdxsucks (0)
• January 6, 2010 -- Did You Know… (0)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for January 15th:

• Local Portland shops help you help Haiti : The Neat Sheet

  Karen Vitt's The Neat Sheet has a nice roundup of local businesses donating a portion of their sales to help the relief effort in Haiti. Supporting local merchants include Clever Cycles, Mabel & Zora, Black Wagon, and Alma Chocolates. (And if you haven’t yet checked out The Neat Sheet? You’re missing out…)

• Oregon Red Cross – Newsroom – Upcoming Events

  The Oregon Red Cross has a roundup of local businesses raising funds for relief efforts in Haiti, including this: "This Saturday, the Pearl District will turn red to support Red Cross earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. A variety of local businesses will participate, giving customers the chance to eat, drink and shop to support an important cause." Please visit their site, and do click on the banner above to donate what's most needed now — cash.

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Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for January 11th:

• Darn it all to heck: Daria told to watch her mouth on Afternoon Buzz | Oregon Media Central

  What was he thinking? The Buzz’s Program Director thought he’d delivered a ‘no swearing’ ultimatum, according to OMC’s Mitch Nolen. How’d that work out? "(Mike) Peterson, who came to KRSK from Chicago in October, congratulated the hosts on their ratings success in the email, but also demanded that all swearing — including words like "damn" and "hell" — stop immediately."
  …cue the protest, both from DJs and fans alike. The upshot?
  "Peterson didn't respond to voicemails and an email requesting comment today, but after the protestations of listeners and his station's own talent on the air, the rules on swearing seem to have relaxed considerably. "We just had a huge long meeting with all the bosses and it seems to be kind of a non-issue now," Daria tells us this afternoon. "It's been amended to, 'Please don't say asshole.'""

• Portland City Council: 4 candidate interviews | tabarnhart.net

  t.a. analyzes the current candidates vying for both public financing and a shot at incumbent Councilman Dan Saltzman. Like shooting fish in a barrel? Perhaps…but let’s let t.a. tell the story: "The group is diverse, in a Portland kind of way: a woman with a long record in City Hall, a community activist, a policy wonk and an artisan. Three of the four have campaigns that should garner them the 1,000 $5 contributions needed to qualify for public financing, so it looks like we’re going to have an exciting primary campaign that could, given Saltzman’s uninspiring record and the on-going resentment of incumbents, drive two of these challengers to the general election run-off."

Related Posts

• March 8, 2010 -- OurPDX Shared Links for March 7th (0)
• August 20, 2009 -- Act fast! Portland’s political landscape at stake! (2)
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• October 9, 2009 -- OurPDX Shared Links for October 9th (0)
• July 28, 2009 -- Proposed Bull Run filtration plant could cost YOU $$$ (5)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for January 7th:

• Lelo in Nopo: Sweet!

  LeLo's over the moon 'cause The O's FoodDay put her on their '100 things we absolutely love' for her canning label creations. LeLo, being LeLo, passes the love right along…
  "And can I just say? You food preservers who are ordering these custom labels amaze me with your products. From pickles to spiked caramel sauce to fruit concoctions that blow me away: keep on cannin', keep on cannin'." (Note to self: order these when canning season kicks in again already!)

• Dave Knows Portland: A Rose Quarter Roller Coaster? – Wouldn't *that* be cool? Dave reports: "One proposal for the Rose Quarter is to transform it into Memorial Park.

  The boring part: an Imax theater, a House of Blues, and a Gameworks.

  The interesting part: A roller coaster!"
  To that we can only add 'AIIIIEIEIEIIIIIIIII!'

• Portland’s Best Cocktails « My Life On The Rocks – Lance Mayhew has made the move from Blogger over to WordPress – hooray! And while the decor is a little spare (someone help the man implement a rockin' theme already), you don't care so much about the surroundings – just tell me about the drinks already. Lance does with aplomb in this stellar roundup of just where to get the best drinks in PDX.

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• January 16, 2010 -- From Our Mailbox: Gardeners Go Road-Trippin..! (3)
• November 30, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for 11/29 (2)
• November 14, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for November-ish (0)
• October 6, 2009 -- OurPDX Shared Links for October 6th (0)
• August 16, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for August 16th (0)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for December 22nd:

• Art Scatter » Comings and goings, farewells and hellos

  Former Oregonian editor Bob Hicks (who's moved on to create the lovely Art Scatter blog) welcomes the other O refugees to this brave new world: "As newspapers continue their freefall toward what every sane observer hopes will be a soft landing spot of shrunken but lively equilibrium, a lot of other former colleagues from The Oregonian have accepted their walking papers, too. Informed opinion has it that the 30-plus in the newsroom who accepted the latest buyout aren’t enough, and next time around, for the first time, it’ll be layoffs — maybe as early as February. Oh, yes. It’s midwinter, all right."
  Please do read his tribute to his former colleagues and now co-compatriots, won't you?

• Byron Beck: Storm Large Signs Major Book Deal Today.

  Byron has the scoop, as ever: "Why, yes, our very own Storm Large is signing a major book deal today, Monday, Dec. 21, with a world-renowned publisher." Read his post for the rest…

• Neighborhood Notes – The Localist: Holiday Dining in Portland Neighborhoods

  Jennifer Coughlin writes: "There are two types of holiday dining—in or out. I believe that the season deserves a healthy serving of both home cooking, and a chance to delight in the efforts of the professionals. I visited a few of my favorite restaurants to find out what they were doing for the holidays, and to see if I might pick up a few tips for entertaining at home. …"
  Do read her extensively-researched piece if you want Lisa Schroeder's latke recipe as well, and while you’re at it — check out the Neighborhood Notes redesign!

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• June 29, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for June 29th (0)
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• November 16, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for November 16th (0)
• August 18, 2009 -- Coming soon to PDX: More Neighborhood Blogging (2)
• April 23, 2009 -- Local Musicians and Beyond Rally to Help LEP Raise Funds (0)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for December 8th:

• A Shameless Pitch For A Shameless Stunt | PDX Sucks

  You can’t say Robert Wagner didn’t warn you up front: "Let this serve as a warning. Tomorrow’s Portland Sucks show will likely contain more dick jokes than we’ve served up in our entire 185 episode history combined…call it a stunt, call it a gimmick, call it whatever you want – we call it Keeping It Local."
  Spoiler Alert: What part of his anatomy is he cloning again, anyway? Tune in live at 8 am tomorrow — but only if you already own a pair…

• Western Culinary Institute Class-Action Lawsuit Approved | An Exploration of Portland Food and Drink

  Career advice from Food Dude: "If you want a job in a restaurant, you don’t need a fancy degree from a culinary college. Practice your knife skills until you are competent, then go to a restaurant and offer to work for free as an intern. Expect to work like a dog, doing the most menial jobs."
  Read his post for more…

• December 12: Holiday Booze Bazaar

  Dave and I are kindred spirits: "Really, the 4th Annual Holiday Booze Bazaar is the only bazaar you need – who doesn’t like booze?!"

  He adds insult to injury with this bit: "The local shops below will be hawking their wares as well: Chop Butchery, Garden State, Imbibe Magazine, Jacobs Creamery, Joyas de Panama Cigars, Rogue Creamery, Xocolatl de David, Koi Fusion, Cellar Door Coffee Roasters, and Whiffies Fried Pies."
  I'm. So. There. Threatened ice storm & all…!

Related Posts

• November 5, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for November 5th (0)
• February 20, 2010 -- OurPDX Shared Links for 2/20: The PDX.FM Recap (1)
• February 2, 2010 -- LOST? Found… (1)
• October 12, 2009 -- SLL: Talking the Talk with Pdxsucks (0)
• May 18, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for May 18th (0)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for November 29th:

• The 2009 Holiday Express begins boarding December 4 | Dave Knows: Portland

  Rail fan Dave has the Holiday Express information: "Now’s your chance to ride on vintage rail cars pulled by two of Portland’s historic steam locomotives, the SP&S 700 and the SP 4449. The 2009 Holiday Express starts rolling on December 4th. …"

• urbanMamas: PPS Before-/After-School Care Survey

  I can't believe I didn't read about this already, but urbanMamas has the link: "The district and childcare providers in Portland Public Schools are interested in learning about your child's experience in before and after school care. The district is also interested in knowing about other before and after school programs that your children attend regularly. …"
  Read their post for more, plus the link to the PPS survey.

• Media Circus 2: I’m Coming Out! | Oregon Media Central

  The currently-anonymous OregonMedia scribe announces: "Next month's Media Circus is my big coming-out party! After the last event, some attendees said they'd like to see more people from television, so I've been bothering local TV anchors. I'm excited to say that Wayne Garcia, Shauna Parsons and Kevin Coari from KPTV and Joe Donlon and Stephanie Stricklen from KGW are all foolish enough to plan on coming! But I fully expect them to come to their senses at any time…."

  And yes, I'll be live-blogging the event. (Hey, it means I can sit down & have people drag over to see *me* instead of doing that whole mingly thing, right? RIGHT? I so don't do mingle well….)

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• October 27, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for October 26th (0)
• August 16, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for August 16th (0)
• June 4, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for June 4th (0)

Here’s what we’ve found as we’ve traveled the local PDX web (complete with our comments) for 11/25 (Thanksgiving Eve):

• Silicon Florist | If Turkey Tracker isn’t the quintessential Portland Thanksgiving activity, I don’t know what is

  We wrote about Turkey Tracker last year, but it’s now hit the big-time & is bigger, better, able to leap…anyway, I’ll skip the hyperbole & turn it over to Mr. Turoczy. Rick?

  “If the Pilgrims had had the Interwebs, this is how they would have spent Thanksgiving. Trust me.
  …
  (S)ee, Turkey Tracker all takes place on your machine. You’re a virtual participant in their timely turkey preparation. No muss. No fuss. Unless of course you start licking your monitor or something."

  Hmmm…think Rick might have out-hyperbole-d me, no?

• Things to do in Portland on Thanksgiving Day | Dave Knows: Portland

  Dave has several suggestions for those of us not heading out to do the traditional family thing; I'll be taking part in this one: "Robert Wagner and Sabrina Miller will be doing a Turkey Day Portland Sucks podcast, starting at 8am. In Sabrina’s twitter words, we’ll go probably until we get bored or until no one is listening anymore.

  Robert promises that PDX.FM will half ass pretend to be a real radio station on Thursday, even going so far as to put a couple Fisher Price turntables to good use!"

• Neighborhood Notes – The Localist: Gifts For Kids

  Liz Hummer has a great roundup of local vendors who'd love to sell you some kid gifts: "Though you may be sorely tempted to visit a big box store or a mall for the convenience factor, we implore you to keep your dollars and holiday spirit local."

• Keep in touch with the CocktailCamp Google Group

  Interested in being part CocktailCamp planning? Join the Google Group already…

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• October 28, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for October 28th (0)
• February 20, 2010 -- OurPDX Shared Links for 2/20: The PDX.FM Recap (1)
• February 2, 2010 -- LOST? Found… (1)
• January 6, 2010 -- Did You Know… (0)
• December 22, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for 12/22 (1)

Here, a round-up of the posts generated thus far from the firestorm that was the We Make the Media conference on Saturday.

First, the Preview

• 3 Questions with We Make The Media’s founder | Digital Journalism Portland
  Abraham Hyatt writes: "This Saturday, a couple hundred journalists will gather in Portland to talk about a much-ballyhooed topic: nonprofit news organizations. The event is called We Make The Media. It’s an idea conference, a chance to explore what it would take to create a new community-driven news project here in Portland.

Then, the Fallout

(Cliffs Note version: there was a ‘digital divide’ between the Twitter corner in the back of the room live-tweeting the event. Is it any wonder that almost all of the posts below came from that corner? No, as you’ll see…)

• civics21.org | on cities and citizenship in the 21st century
  Alex Craghead: "The strongest takeaway I have of the conference is that if the proceedings are reflective of the state of media, we are in deep trouble. Throughout much of the conference I felt as if I were stuck in 2002. People — usually older, white, male employees (or former employees) of dead tree media — were talking about how they wanted to revolutionize media by including things like websites, YouTube videos, and the like."
• thoughts from the spiral | We Make the Media conference
  Jennifer Willis started out dispirited — “I sat down in the front row and found myself being lectured to by a handful of graying — but well-meaning — seasoned newspapermen." But by the end of the day, she'd found her connections — “Just sitting in the "Twitter corner" at the conference yesterday, I felt bolstered in my own Tweeting. I gave voice to ideas and opinions that I otherwise might have kept to myself, too shy to share. That reticence — whether stemming from fear, isolation or other factors entirely — has been my biggest hurdle as a professional communicator."
• The Next Journalist | We Make the Media
  Becca picked up on the tension, but has a positive take on it: "I suppose when you put that many smart, vocal people in a room you're bound to have some clashes of personality. I certainly came away with a better understanding of the range of opinions on a number of topics, and hope others did, too."
• BlueOregon | Without a net: walking the tightrope of talking about race
  Carla tackles some of the elephants in the room: "Some of the attendees noted on Twitter that the group didn't consist of many people of color. This observation was indeed true, as far as I could tell. But what I kept hearing in terms of legacy media structure was that the discussion kept sounding like it was stuck in 1999. The hierarchy of media leadership in the room seemed in a rut that they didn't understand based on old ways of thinking. What interested me was the lack of representation of new media and younger people, instead of race. So I said so, only to be smacked down as an insensitive white woman…"
• 360 Convos | Building a new model may require listening
  Carol's got it in one: "What are we afraid of? What are we not seeing? What do we need to do differently, radically counter to culture, backstream, upstream, jump out of the stream that will rock this world and make rockstars out of investigative reporters, that will nurture citizen journalists to fill needed gaps, that will energize and create an engaged, vibrant community? Maybe listen."
• Reporting 1 Blog | We Make the Media
  Jennifer Petty: "People are worried about the state of the industry, for good reason, but there are people unwilling to change and adapt, which seems ironic for the industry. Parts of the day were frustrating, like the silly voting, which is probably why more than 50 percent of the people left early. The biggest benefit, at least for me, is the networking opportunity it provides. It’s inspiring to see that others are concerned about whats happening and trying to brainstorm solutions. Hopefully some action will come from the conference."
• JOE WILSON | My views on WeMakeTheMedia event – after the hangover
  Joe Wilson's thoughtful take: "But as you will see by reading this and other missives about the conference, just because we have a common love doesn’t mean we won’t disagree, vehemently at times."
• ran.dum.thoughts | What I think happened at #wmtm (We Make the Media conference)
  Marie chimes in with this (spot-on, for me) observation: “Relying on resume recitations as a way of granting authority casts an event immediately on the side of the old power structure for many, including me. It doesn’t mean the person is not wise or doesn’t have something very important to say, it just signals to me that I am expected to be deferential and more than likely expected to be impressed into silence and passivity.”

The Firehose

• Twitter – The real-time #wmtm stream
  Over 1000 tweets (and counting) from the digital minority in the room…

Two Rejoinders

• Abraham Hyatt | We Made The Media: What went right — and wrong

  Abraham falls on the sword in one area, and offers his own take: “As one of the sub organizers who spent the last few months helping Ron Buel and a core group of people create the event, it was both thrilling and heartbreaking to see how it played out…”

  Please read his post, and then help figure out what we do next, won’t you?

• This just in: Crazy Talk (podcast) for 11/22/09 | Will Radik on Making Media; Abraham Hyatt on We Make the Media
  Sunday night’s podcast starts with Will Radik, but switches over to a freewheeling conversation with Abraham Hyatt for a recap of Saturday’s We Make The Media conference. From Dr. Normal’s own account: ” We hash away at the controversy arising between journos of the old and new persuasions. Should we write academic position papers to win a grant or should we adopt the tech start-up mentality, dive right in and do-it-our-own-damn-selves?” If you’re already familiar with the good doctor, you’ll know already where he comes down!

Finally, One Rebuttal

• Still A Newspaperman | “We Make the Media” in Portland
  Keynote speaker Stephen A. Smith acknowledged the critics in the room: "Overall, reaction to my remarks was mixed. I fear I offended some citizen journalists and bloggers, and was savaged on the conference Tweets, by focusing on the need to preserve professional journalism. I stand by that. What I didn’t say but should have said is that professional journalism is a big tent, defined by the work produced rather than by professional credentials, education or employment."

Yes, I’ll have my own take later today, along with a link to last night’s Crazy Talk podcast with Abraham Hyatt. Yes, I was one of the cranky Twitter-ers, although it should be noted that 1. I was in the *front* of the room at first, and 2. I’m way too old and curmugeonly to be tagged as one of Those Young Kids, sadly enough.

Believe it or not, I don’t know that my actual post will end up being a full rant — I’d vote for mostly to partly-cranky now that a good 48 hours have passed!

Related Posts

• November 24, 2009 -- WMTM Redux: Founder Ron Buel Responds (17)
• November 19, 2009 -- OurPDX shared links for November 19th (1)
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