Comments on: Major league baseball in Portland…

By: Anon

Anon — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:07:04 +0000

I’m not sure you’re right about the neighborhood near Safeco having real estate values going up. The international district is still teeming with crack dealers, and the whole area is pretty rough and industrial.

By: Anon

Anon — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:59:08 +0000

I think people understood the concept. They also understood that the median MLS player salary is $56,000, and their annual salary cap is $2.3 million. 9% (Oregon’s top marginal income tax rate) of $2.3 million comes to $207,000, which doesn’t pay for two stadia.

By: Anon

Anon — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:54:06 +0000

The city of Portland taxes businesses at 2.2% of net income for the privilege of running a business in the city, and Multnomah County levies a 1.45% business income tax on top of that.

On the other hand, Beaverton charges businesses $50 per year plus $8.50 per year per employee for each employee the business employs (for employee number 5 and up), and Washington county has no business income tax.

In which city would you rather locate your business?

By: Anon

Anon — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:39:14 +0000

I agree with opposition to suburban blandness and prefer mom and pops stores. The problem is that many, many of the KBOO listening “keep Portland weird” folks don’t just oppose suburban blandness on aesthetic grounds like yourself. Their opposition is deeply political and rooted in a facile view of the world in which all things “corporate” are evil. Portland’s hostile business climate reflects the views of many of its citizens.

By: Anon

Anon — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:23:30 +0000

Oregon has one, only one, Fortune 500 company with a headquarters in the state: Nike. The city of Portland has zero.

The region’s focus on livability has been admirable, and Portland is a great place to live. However, it is a terrible place for a young person with any ambition to find a job because there are so few well-paid professional jobs in the city (witness the current unemployment rates). I rather wish local government would make economic development and job creation a bit more of a priority. As Dwight rightfully points out, the lack of large corporations based in Portland is the biggest bar to bringing more major league sports to the city.

The City of Portland’s hostility to businesses is well documented, most famously illustrated in the Columbia Sportswear headquarters debacle.

By: jason

jason — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:14:05 +0000

Reverse Jinx, Dwight???

By: Hotwing

Hotwing — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:17:36 +0000

You cannot change the nickname “Athletics”. Way too much history in that name to just toss it aside.

By: the gardener

the gardener — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:12:24 +0000

if we get the athletics lets change their name to:

Portland/Oregon:
1. Oregon Orcas
2. Portland Panathikos
3. Portland Gladitors
4. Oregon Omipacos
5. Portland Rumrunners
6. Oregon Samurai
7. Athletic Club of Portland Baseball (ACPB)
8. ohhh one of these:
Portland Thunder/Storm/Pride/Pythons/Rosebuds/Lumberjacks/Fire/Buckaroos.

By: twinsbrewer

twinsbrewer — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:04:37 +0000

In an ideal world, the NL would move one of its Central teams to the AL West and eliminate that stupid 6-team-4-team imbalance that’s been in place ever since Selig decided his Brewers would be better off in the NL. It totally messes with the schedule . . .

By: twinsbrewer

twinsbrewer — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 07:59:03 +0000

Anybody seen the empty seats behind home plate at Yankee Stadium recently? Those were pegged for corporate expense-account buyers. And many high-end restaurants everywhere next to high-end hotels are going broke.

It’s not just a Portland issue. Holier-than-thou hippies are annoying, like holier-than-thou sorts of every stripe, but they hold very little power. High-end taxes are the lowest they’ve been since WWII, corporate profits are a larger portion of GNP related to wages than since that data started being recorded (also right after WWII), and where has that gotten us? Do tax breaks for the powerful really result in “job creation,” AKA investment in new businesses? Where is all that tax-cut money being spent? If you look at the business pages, it’s being invested in gold and other commodities, not stocks . . .

Dwight, you’re the best, but if you’re going to inject politics into your commentary, make it about what your connections in politics say and do, not which side you’d rather we vote for. Good inside info can communicate which politicians are hypocrites and fools without the editorializing . . . as opposed to editorializing on sports, which is what I read you for and deeply enjoy.