Jesse Beason's blog

A one-week, multi-disciplinary art exhibition and music event
Presented at Milepost 5 in conjunction with Portland Art Center

AIGA Portland is presenting their third year of PDXpo next week. The Expo is an opportunity to stay connected with Portland's most notable graphic arts vendors and service providers and get real-world answers to design questions; from education, to ink and interface.

The “Awareness Test” was created by Transport of London as part of their cycle safety campaign.

Try it out for yourself at DoTheTest.co.uk (you can skip the intro).

Public assets - A report says that in 2007 the city spent $112 million less than needed for maintenance

BY ANDY DWORKIN

Before crews started building the downtown Portland bus mall, the city sewer bureau checked its pipes to see if any needed work while the streets were cracked open. Everything seemed fine.

Sunday, February 03, 2008
Susan Nielsen

The Portland Art Museum remains one of the nation's least affordable museums, in violation of its public mission and in opposition to the city's ideals.

That tarnished reputation is about to get polished. A new million-dollar donation to endow free admission for children 17 and under, starting this spring, reflects a larger effort to pry open the museum's doors for ordinary Oregonians...[Read more at OregonLive]

It has been a year since City Council approved Sam's proposal to enact an Equal Benefits Ordinance (EBO). The EBO requires that contractors doing work on behalf of the City do all they can to offer equal benefits to their employees with domestic partners and employees with spouses.

Creativity helps make Portland a better place to live, a stronger competitor in the global marketplace and an incubator of innovation.

Strengthening our capacity to create and innovate has tremendous potential to contribute more to our community economically, socially and educationally. In the past few years, some have even argued this capacity is fundamental to our success in a globalized marketplace.

The Community Development Network, an association of nonprofit community development organizations, presented Sam with the Industry Partner Award at their Annual Awards Banquet in October. The Industry Partner Award goes to "an organization or individual that is an invaluable partner in strengthening nonprofit community development organizations or helping provide a collective voice for healthy, diverse communities."

CDN's executive director Sam Chase said that Sam Adams "isn't a politician at heart, but someone who knows how to navigate the political system. He seems to have a unique understanding of community needs and certainly understands that in order to succeed in life, people need stable and affordable housing."

Hayden Island has both unique assets and faces distinct challenges as an island community: one way on and off the island; underdeveloped riverfront property; continuous native habitat; and rare deep channel river access.

Portland's music scene is burgeoning. However, many of our young citizens are kept from the venues that showcase this talent due to the current Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) Rules.

The OLCC has proposed rule changes to fix this problem. On October 30th, Sam submitted a letter in support of these rule changes, outlining the possibilities of greater, safe access to the countless venues showing off Portland's talent.

Although the Portland region is becoming increasingly known as a center of creativity, neither the public nor the private sector are investing enough to capitalize on the tremendous opportunity we have before us.

In 2007, we set out to help the first of what we hope will be many places that offer affordable rental and ownership opportunities for artists.

Milepsost 5 is the first project in Oregon and the largest opportunity marketed to artists to own their own space. When finished, Milepost 5 will offer 54 units for sale, around 50 live/work studios to rent, work studios, a performance space, restaurant/cafe and community spaces.

Oregon ranks near the bottom for arts & culture funding. Over the past ten years we've ranked between 46th and 49th.