Followup: Stay away from OHSU

Front page of today's Oregonian reaffirms by advice to avoid surgery at OHSU at all costs. If one of their surgeons or "agents" botches the operation, their liability is capped at $200,000. The mother of the boy featured in the story sums it up perfectly:

If I had known about this, I never would have trusted OHSU with my son.

Peter Demand-a-Tram Kohler's response:

We provide services to lots of folks, and we have a of of missions that are important to the public. Where do we want to spend the dollars? For the greater good, or for a few individuals who would benefit substantially?

Ouch, Peter.

Erik Sten's stock photos

Erik Sten is using his "clean money" seed funds to purchase ads on BlueOregon. Hmm ... I thought seed money could only be used to collect $5 contributions ...

Anyway, curiosity caused be to click on over to his homepage. I love political homepages. I'd love to see the campaign experts ($$$) explain what pictures to put on there: old folks, minorities, and kids. Sten's got 'em all.

In four pictures, he was able to get one woman, one silver hair (but she doesn't look all that old), two children, and two African-Americans. Good show.

Bad choice of colors on the name plate. This is a Seahawks town, Erik.

Cell phones for schools

The Oregonian weighs in on Portland's school funding problems by suggesting a 1-year 5% tax on wireless service cell phones.

These sorts of taxes are troubling. There is no linkage between the thing being taxed and the service being provided. Why tax cell phones? How about coffee or microbrews or hamburgers? Why not every good or service that is sold?

In the rest of the world such taxes are called sales taxes. We can't have sales taxes in Oregon because the electorate won't allow it.

A cell phone tax is a sales tax. Cell providers sell a service and the City would slap on 5% to the bill. If it quacks like a duck ...

This is not too surprising from the O. From time to time, the O shoots lustful glances at the sales tax. In 2003, the editorial board twice recommended a statewide sales tax.

From the Out of Thin Air Department

Well over 80 articles and opinion pieces link or unlink the Portland Aerial Tram with $1.9 billion in investments in Portland's South Waterfront. No article--not a single one--questions the number. Where did the $1.9 billion number come from?

A footnote. A footnote citing a "developer forecast." I have no idea who that developer could be.

Whose Tram is it?

Reading the Tribune the other day, I noticed that they described the [rimshot] as the OHSU aerial tram.

So what?

From about 2003 until recently, the press recited the party line by describing it as the Portland aerial tram. (This was promulgated by the PR flaks at PATI to make the public think they "owned" the tram ... there's that ownership thing again.)

What was it called before 2003? The OHSU aerial tram.

"Instanbul was Constantinople
Now its Istanbul, not Constantinople ..."

Portland doublespeak

Willamette Week is reporting that the attempt to repeal what the City calls "Voter Owned Elections" likely has failed.

The program was originally called "Clean Money" but none of the commissioners could identify anyone--or admit to--taking "dirty" money. From this backseat fumbling was conceived "Voter Owned Elections."

But wait, are they really voter owned? Of course not. They are taxpayer financed and there is no ownership to speak of. Almost every voter pays taxes, but not every taxpayer is a voter. This is typical of Erik Sten's initiatives: a complicated programs that shift dollars from tax payers to tax consumers with ownership in quotes.

Hey, kids ... It's Wonder Warren!

Billionaire Warren Buffett, is set to star in a DVD series as a cartoon version of himself, dispensing advice to children ages 5-12.

The series, "The Secret Millionaire's Club," will feature the words, voice and likeness of Buffett, who is known as the Oracle of Omaha and runs Nebraska-based investment company Berkshire Hathaway.

The 13-title series features an unscrupulous developer snapping up properties in Omaha and foreclosing on the local youth center. Four children raise money to rescue the center and turn to Buffett for weekly financial and investment advice.

What's it cost to overshadow?

Everyone knows by now that the Tram's costs are now going to be at least $55 million, according to the Pinnell/Busch report. That was somewhat predictable. Randy Leonard predicted months ago that the costs would be close to $60 million.

The report is 21 single-spaced pages describing all the risks, pitfalls, and potential cost overruns. What does the Oregonian focus on? One sentence on the first page of the report: "The Portland Aerial Tram, when complete, will be a dramatic, one-of-a-kind facility that will become a Portland landmark--easily overshadowing its earlier history of budget and schedule problems." I guess overshadowing is a bargain at any price.

In its first article on the $55 million price tage and in today's editorial, the Oregonian parrots the one blurb that has absoluting nothing to do with engineering or cost estimates: "a successful tram could eclipse the saga of cost overruns."

Could someone please let me know how I can value an overshadow or an eclipse?