Sam serves burgers and floors
Ben DuPree
From the East County News:
As a follow-up to his "100 businesses in 100 days" program, Adams has vowed to spend 100 hours working in "ordinary" jobs throughout the city before Labor Day.
"The most common jobs we're attracting that are growing in Portland," Adams explained, "tend to be the lower-paying jobs. Many don't have benefits. I want to put a spotlight on the mission of growing our city's economy."
On July 8, we caught up with Adams as he dished up fast food at Burgerville USA on NE 82nd Ave.
After serving a table, Adams paused and told us he wants to see all business sectors expand, not just service industry jobs. "I don't want Portland to become like San Francisco, where only the very rich--and the subsidized poor--can afford to live in town. This is NOT my vision for Portland's future."
We again ran into the hard-working Commissioner on July 22 at Classique Floors. "Welcome to the best little floor store in town," he said, manning the front desk of this well-known flooring shop on SE Stark St.
Continuing our previous conversation, Adams told us, "Living-wage jobs, like they have here at Classique Floors, are what will keep families with kids here in the city. This is what I'm fighting for--individual and family prosperity."
He added that for some folks, prosperity hasn't come their way. "Our median family income has gone down two years in a row, while costs in our city continue to rise. What we lose with these two factors is our quality of life."
Adams answered several calls, and politely told us he had to get back to work. "One can't really get a grasp of what working people face while sitting at a desk downtown. I salute our hard-working citizens, and am getting a better understanding of our economic situation by being here, working, and talking with people about it."
Posted by Ben DuPree on July 29, 2005
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