Republicans – How They Used to Be

“If we kill all the owls, for example, someday we’ll be up to our ribcages in mice.” – Republican Governor Tom McCall

Tom McCall Waterfront Park borders the Willamette River as it flows along downtown Portland. The park opened in 1978, replacing Harbor Drive, a semi-freeway that separated the city from the then severely-polluted river. Waterfront Park was given its name to honor Tom McCall who served two terms as Oregon’s governor, from 1967 to 1975. Gov. McCall’s enduring legacy is his advocacy of land-use planning and his anti-pollution leadership.

Oh, and Tom McCall was a Republican.

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Independence Week in the Neighborhood

Staying close to home during the extended holiday…

Aerial tram maintenance. Finished the job in only three weeks.

Tram cars wait patiently.

Putting it back together.

 

Protesters at Immigration & Customs Enforcement building face off with Homeland Security police.

ICE protest transitioning to homeless encampment? Inventory on adjacent Tesla sales lot disappeared for a week, but has returned. Demonstrators/squatters are not a danger to expensive automobiles?

 

Finding a quiet home on the river.

A nice place to raise a family… if only they wouldn’t shit on the pedestrian pathway.

 

31st annual Waterfront Blues Festival

Sunny afternoon at Waterfront Park.

The Mavericks tearing the proverbial house down.

Sun sets on music fans.

A Day at the Beach

beachcarOregon Governor Oswald West in 1913 signed legislation designating its ocean beaches as public highways. “The shore of the Pacific Ocean from the Columbia River on the north to the Oregon and California State line on the south, is hereby declared a public highway and shall forever remain open as such to the public.” Driving on the beach used to be common, as did the sight of a motorist frantically trying to get free from soft sand before an incoming tide claimed the vehicle. The law was revised in 1947, changing “public highway” to “recreation area.” In California, beaches are also, by law, public. The wealthy and the famous find that outrageously unfair to them.

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River Musings

Last July, two thousand people gathered under a warm sun at the Tom McCall Bowl near Portland’s Riverplace Marina. Led by the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers, a parade of people, outfitted in colorful swimwear, marched past the Riverplace shops and restaurants. The participants, carrying inner tubes or more elaborate flotation equipment followed the drummers and then turned toward the river at “Poet’s Beach,” a Willamette River entry point under the downtown end of the I-5 Marquam Bridge. The procession followed a path down the embankment and waded into the river. Hundreds of people paddled, or simply floated, letting the current carry them downstream, returning to the Bowl. Back on shore they enjoyed an afternoon of music, refreshments and general merriment. The big party, called The Big Float, celebrated the Willamette River’s return to relative cleanliness – clean enough to swim in, anyway.

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