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I had a question to Sam. It is unfortunate I will not get to ask it. I am a 42 year old gay man with a son and a husband living in Portland, Oregon. Sam was supposed to be in Washington DC Tuesday speaking Truth to the Power of the likes of Rev. Warren that gay men ARE NOT pedophiles. Yes, I know you say the relationship did not start until he was 18, but the attraction started at 17, and you lied. Even though I did not vote for you, I had the expectation that I could show to my son that gay men can speak truth to power.

What would you say to my son, Sam?

posted 3 years, 4 months ago
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All politics are local. For me that is especially true. We live on S.E. Holgate BLVD between 39th and 52nd. This section of Holgate borders two very residential neighborhoods (Creston-Kennilworth and Woodstock) and is well traveled by cars, pedestrians and cyclists. Trimet offers 15 minute service all day on this street. For those unfamiliar with this street, Portland DOT staff will tell you this commercial and transit street is the most deteriorated of all east ? west routes. The last pavement was a strip placed down the center ten years ago, the pavement on the sides are over 24 years old. Bicyclists use the sidewalks instead of the street, as there is so much debris from the pothole patches. This street was not in as bad a shape four years ago, however at that time the city, and I believe Mr. Adams predecessor, made the decision to allow heavy trucks on this section of Holgate. Since then, the deterioration of Holgate between 39th and 52nd has progressed exponentially. The city engineering survey made within the last year shows 65 ? 80% of this stretch needs to be dug at least 18? deep, and a new base put in to meet the increased demands placed on this street.

Semi trucks, cement and dump trucks, and Trimet all shake our home when they drive by. Pothole crews are out here every 2 -3 weeks filling in potholes. Last fall, the pothole crew filled and rolled a 68 foot long pothole patch in front of our home. This kept the house from shaking for five months, however since then has deteriorated, crews came out and patched holes in the patch, from the previous patch, which was from the previous patch, from the previous patch, from the temporary fix (get the message?), making the road rougher than before. We have three new cracks in our ceilings since February. I wonder, who has the fiduciary responsibility to repair our home, built to code and properly maintained, that is being shaken apart by heavy commercial traffic speeding by?

I understand there is no money right now to properly fix this street. I'm enough of a political junkie to understand the differences in funding streams and why money can be spent on some projects and not others. However, this street was not built to carry the transit and commercial traffic allowed over the last four years and it is now unsafe.

[u]My questions to both Mr. Dozono and Mr. Adams are these:[/u]

Are you willing to do what it takes to make this street safe now?
Are you willing to reduce the speed limit to match the shape of the street?
Are you willing to place a weight restriction on this section of street?
Are you willing to step up enforcement of speed limits, Trimet and commercial traffic included?
If no to any of these, why?

I have one last question. The last two years there have been surpluses in the city?s budget. Will either of you commit to moving all future surpluses to maintaining city infrastructure, instead of any new projects?

Michael Martin,
Portland resident and OPB member

Update: Thank you for asking my questions. However, neither Mr. Adams nor Mr Dozono answered the questions, either those writeen here, nor asked on the air. Mr. Adams was particularly avoiding, this is helping me mkae my mind up.

posted 4 years ago
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I registered just to respond to this topic. I am a 41 year old male whose experience in the public education system is very similar to that of your caller Chris from Eugene. Testing in the top 1% of my class I was placed in a gifted program in one school district and excelled. When my family moved to another school district in 6th grade that district did not have a gifted program for middle school my excelling stopped. I was bored and got into a lot of trouble. I finally dropped out of high school at 16 and went directly into college. However college was not as successful as it might have been, since I did not learn the skills of studying and follow through taught in later k-12.

This was my experience in Upstate NY in the late 1970's - early 1980's. It is very discouraging that Oregon is where upstate NY was 30 YEARS AGO.

Michael Martin, OPB Member

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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