 |
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Susan's Online Guide to Portland Let me Help You Find a Home and a Neighborhood |
|||||
|
Welcome to my Web site about the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. It's my way of helping you become acquainted with the neighborhoods and communities of the Portland metro area and to inform you about the Portland area housing market. Your comments and suggestions about my Web site are always welcome. If you have questions or if you are interested in buying or selling a home in the Portland area, contact me online or call me at (503) 497-2984.
|
|||||
|
Community News |
|||||
|
Developer lays claim to more than gold in Oregon wilderness March 14 − Three years ago, Dave Rutan opened a gold mining retreat inside the Kalmiopsis Wilderness of southern Oregon, bringing in helicopters, gas-powered dredges and paying customers. He did so without the permission county authorities say he needed. Now he wants to commercially dredge miles of the Chetco, one of Oregon's purest rivers. He plans to helicopter in four-man crews to seek gold from the equivalent of nearly 50 truckloads of river gravel each season. Some environmentalists are aghast. "A lot of things he's proposing are inconsistent with the wilderness," said Barbara Ullian, a Grants Pass nature photographer with a passion for protecting the Kalmiopsis. Read more...
Looking at 'Portland 2010," Disjecta's take on the Oregon Biennial March 14 − Every cultural scene needs to celebrate itself with a splashy show or event that lets the public know it's essential to the universe. For the Oregon art scene, part of that opportunity arrives today with "Portland 2010: A Biennial of Contemporary Art,"; a three month constellation of exhibits at several local venues presented by the nonprofit Disjecta. This vast project promises to be many things, including a look at some exceptional artistic talent, a stab at professionalism by a once-struggling DIY arts group, and an opportunity to think about institutional validation. It's also a summary of the kind of vigorous energy that has made Oregon's art scene an ascending one nationally. Read more...
Oregon has starring role as FBI's Most Wanted list turns 60 March 14 − Sixty years ago today, the FBI rolled out its now-legendary Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list by scratching the name Thomas James Holden into a ledger at bureau headquarters. Holden was a Chicago mob associate whose criminal career spanned three decades and included a train robbery, a triple murder and a daring escape from Leavenworth. The bureau described him as a public menace and sent his photo to newspapers in hopes someone knew his whereabouts. Turns out, someone did: an alert reader of The Oregonian. Which is precisely how the FBI came to arrest Holden in the Portland suburbs 15 months after making him its original public enemy No. 1. Read more... |
|||||
|
House, Home, & Health |
|||||
|
John Ross, once symbol of condo craze, going to auction − In 2005, the builders of the John Ross tower captured Portland's condo craze when would-be buyers reserved 80 percent of the building's units in six days. Five years, one recession and dozens of cancelled sales later, the tower is headed for the auction block. The lender that controls the John Ross -- named for a British naval officer who explored the unsettled Northwest -- will try to unload 50 condos in a few, fast-paced hours on April 11. The minimum bids, on average, will be 47 percent below the current list prices and 70 percent below the highest listed prices, said Patrick Clark, a Portland real estate broker working on the sales. The price cuts reflect the new reality for Portland's downtown condo market. Kennedy Wilson Auction Group, Beverly Hills, California, will be running the auction. Read more... |
|||||
|
Living Green |
|||||
|
Better Living Show March 26-28 − Live well and have fun doing it. Earth friendly products for you, your home and garden. From cutting edge technologies and eco chic fashion to better energy efficiency and sustainable outdoor living, if it's green and it's beautiful - it's here at the Energy Trust Better Living Home Garden and Lifestyle Show! And best yet, admission is free. We'll introduce you to businesses and groups in our region that will help you make choices you feel good about. All presented in an entertaining way like you've never seen before. If you are looking for green products, this festival is simply too good to miss. Sponsored by Energy Trust of Oregon and held at the Portland Expo Center. Read more.... |
|||||
|
Sports and Outdoors |
|||||
|
Northwest outdoor calendar for March − On March 13-14, head to Mazama Lodge and join the Mazamas Nordic Committee and Trails Committee in this event for the whole family. Activities include cross-country ski lessons, a snow-leprechaun building contest, storytelling by the fireplace and a snowshoe race. Visit the Web site or call the lodge for directions. Register for the event by e-mail to mwynton@lycos.com. Lodging $22 adults, $15 children; all event-related activities free; www.mazamas.org or 503-272-9214. Read more...
|
|||||
|
Portland Blogs and Web Sites
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
Susan Marthens |
|
|||
|
© Copyright 2000-2009 All rights reserved Web by Dasan Design ● Telephone (503) 819-0011 |
|||||
In
hard times, lured into trade school and debt March 14 −
One fast-growing American industry has become a conspicuous beneficiary
of the recession: for-profit colleges and trade schools. At institutions
that train students for careers in areas like health care, computers and
food service, enrollments are soaring as people anxious about weak job prospects
borrow aggressively to pay tuition that can exceed $30,000 a year. But the
profits have come at substantial taxpayer expense while often delivering
dubious benefits to students, according to academics and advocates for greater
oversight of financial aid. Critics say many schools exaggerate the value
of their degree programs, selling young people on dreams of middle-class
wages while setting them up for default on untenable debts, low-wage work
and a struggle to avoid poverty. And the schools are harvesting growing
federal student aid dollars, including Pell grants awarded to low-income
students.
Oregon
stimulus boast stretches facts on job creation, retention
March 14 − State officials boast more than 7,500 jobs have been "created
or retained" by the 2009 Legislature's trumpeted economic stimulus package,
a feat just shy of the 8,000-plus jobs reported for Oregon under the far
bigger federal stimulus program. Yet Oregon reports spending about $93 million
so far compared with $1.3 billion -- yes, with a "b" -- in federal stimulus
spending in the state. The state makes an eye-opening claim, and raises
an obvious question: How did the
Portland
custom suit maker Duchess infuses style into men's fashion
March 14 − It's a Saturday morning in March, and a newly engaged couple
arrives for a wedding-suit consultation. Jon Williams, a 38-year-old software
analyst, and his fiancée, Rachel Austen, a 34-year-old graphic designer,
don't know quite what to expect. They're at Winn Perry, a small men's clothing
shop in inner Southeast Portland's historic Ford Building. Williams and
Austen have an appointment with
Arbor
sets sites high, prices low on Bull Mountain March 14 −
Introducing Arbor’s newest neighborhood, Arbor at Alpine View. This
new neighborhood is nestled on the top of beautiful Bull Mountain. Offering
sweeping views of Mt. Hood, Mt Saint Helens, Mt. Jefferson and city lights.
These European and Craftsman-style homes are built on spacious home sites
and have 2 and 3-car garages. Buyers can select from 12 floor plans. Prices
from 299,900 - 469,900, 3 & 4 Bedrooms, homes sizes from 1,600 - 3,300 square
feet.
No
way to treat a bee March 14 − Everywhere people show renewed
interest in supporting local, sustainable forms of agriculture. Grocery
stores stock organic produce, farmers markets are making a resurgence and
consumers question why food must be shipped around the world using fossil
fuels. There is a glaring omission from these movements, however. It's time
to start asking how crops are being pollinated. Throughout February and
March in the Central Valley of California, for example, hundreds of thousands
of commercial honey bee hives from around the country have sat in almond
orchards, doing the hard work of pollination.
Brown
pelicans won't flow south from Oregon coast and that worries scientists
March 13 − Unlike past years, they've refused to return to California.
In January, scientists were stunned to see hundreds of brown pelicans that
normally fly south before winter lingering on the Oregon coast. Now it's
March and dozens are still here. "This is a first for us," said Roy Lowe,
seabird specialist with the 
