Portland News
News from Portland and around Oregon. Some interesting, some weird, some could only happen in Oregon.
Columbia Sportswear Sponsors Pro Cycling Team
I’m a fan of both cycling and Portland, so when I heard that a Portland-based company would be sponsoring a major pro cycling team, that was cause for celebration.
Columbia Sportswear is to be the new main sponsor of the artist formerly known as the T-Mobile Team, more recently known as Team High Road. The new team will be called Team Columbia, and the sponsorship is effectively almost immediately - the riders will be wearing their Team Columbia kit at this year’s Tour de France which begins next month.
The High Road squad has been having a stellar season, so this is …
Date: June 17th, 2008 |
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Portland DEQ Air Pollition Warning
Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a pollution advisory today due to the lack of air movement we’ve had in the Willamette Valley recently. The weather’s been beautiful, and the lack of wind means that the pretty autumn leaves have stayed a little longer on the trees, but it also means that the pollution we’re all creating hasn’t had a chance to get circulated out. And with the extended forecast showing more of the same weather we’ve been having, it’s likely that the polluted air will still be hovering over Portland at least through the weekend.
In the pollution advisory for Portland, DEQ suggests that young children and older adults limit their outdoor activities, which may cramp the style of trick-or-treaters who’ll be out and about tomorrow night. DEQ recommends that especially during the early morning and later in the evening, younger and older people and those suffering from lung or heart diseases should be careful about spending too much time outdoors. These times of day are when air quality is at its worst. In addition to suggesting caution for people spending time outside, DEQ also asked that people not start any outdoor burns, use wood stoves or fireplaces if they can avoid doing so, and limit driving by doing things like taking Portland public transportation.
Parents are advised that their young trick-or-treaters “should try not to over-exert themselves” - which would be good advice, except that these are kids who are going to be eating vast quantities of sugar tomorrow night. Who thinks they can get a six-year-old hopped up on sugar to sit still for ten minutes?
Good luck out there, people, and try not to breathe too deeply.
Date: October 30th, 2007 |
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Portland’s #1 to Travel + Leisure (at least in some categories)
I’m not an Oregon native myself, and I know lots of other transplants who now call Portland home. One of the common denominators I’ve found is that we all have a tendency to gush a bit when we talk about the reasons we love it here. When you choose to live in a place, that can mean you have the ability to drive everyone who’s tired of hearing about “how great it is here” completely nuts. Which is why I’m warning anyone who’s sick of people gushing about Portland to avert their eyes now.
Portland is one of the cities which was included in Travel & Leisure Magazine’s survey of “America’s Favorite Cities 2007.” And out of 25 cities on the list, we come out on top (or in the top three) of so many of the categories, it’s hard not to gush about it. Here are the categories where we’re number 1:
Overall Characteristics
Overall Cityscape
Environmental Awareness
Ease of Getting Around/Public Transportation
Access to Outdoors
Pedestrian Friendliness
Public Parks/Spaces
Pretty cool, huh? And then when you throw in the categories where we come in 2nd or 3rd, you’ve got a list as long as your arm - and a lot of proud Portlanders.
Date: October 22nd, 2007 |
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Oregon Duck Beats Up Houston Cougar, Kind Of
Generally speaking, I’m an Oregon State University fan. I grew up in Corvallis, so even though I didn’t go to OSU I still have an affinity for the Beavers. That is, however, unless the Oregon Ducks are playing someone other than OSU. In that case, I’m all for the U of O. Especially when it’s the Duck mascot we’re talking about here.
The University of Oregon mascot - a duck - recently got in a bit of hot water because he pummeled the hell out of the Houston mascot - a cougar - at a football game. Apparently our …
Date: September 14th, 2007 |
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Portland Notes: April 24, 2007
I just returned from a trip to San Diego. Apart from a few footnotes of nice places, it lacks much of the uniqueness of businesses which makes our town so great. I’m definitely happy to be a Portlander for almost two years running now! And now Portland Notes:
Portland’s big annual literary festival - known as Wordstock - has put out a call for writers for a first time short fiction competition. The winner receives a first prize of $1,000 and publication in the December 2007 issue of Portland Monthly magazine. The deadline is July 15 and the festival …
Date: April 24th, 2007 |
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Portland #2 in Nation for Blogging
Today’s Oregonian newspaper says that Portland is #2 in the country in terms of blogging - that only Austin, TX outranks us in terms of the number of residents who have either read or contributed to a blog in the last month. In Portland, that means that 14% of us.
Reporter Steve Woodward talked to several local bloggers to get the low-down on why Portland ranks so highly in the world of blogging, but as a Portland blogger myself I have my own theories. This is a very tech-savvy community (more evidence of this …
Date: December 13th, 2007 |
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Google Street View Comes to Portland
You know that creepy/cool feature Google introduced awhile ago, “Street View” - where you can see the streets of certain cities as if you were standing right there? Well, Portland has been added to the list of the cities which have Street View, so you can now get an on-the-ground feel for what this city looks like.
To use the Street View feature, all you do is type in a Portland address into Google Maps and then click “Street View” on the right of the map. You’ll see a little orange person-like icon which …
Date: October 29th, 2007 |
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Northwest Introduces Direct Flights from Portland to Amsterdam
Northwest Airlines will soon be connecting Portland directly with Europe, which is excellent news for travelers. Portland had been one of those cities from which it took two (and sometimes three) stops to get anywhere in Europe, so when it became possible to reach European destinations with only one layover Portlanders did a little dance. (Well, metaphorically, anyway.) Then, when European airline giant Lufthansa began offering nonstop flights from Portland to Frankfurt in 2003, Portlanders rejoiced even more. The only problem with the Lufthansa flight, after the “just opened” sales went away, …
Date: October 9th, 2007 |
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New State Park Campground Opens in Washington County
For anyone who’s interested in camping but doesn’t want to go too far from civilization (i.e. Portland), we have the opening of a new campground.
State and local officials are ready to celebrate the grand opening of Oregon’s first new state park campground in more than 30 years. Stub Stewart State Park, in western Washington County, will officially open on Sunday July 8, 2007.
Now, ridiculous name aside, this is really cool news for anyone who’s looking for something new in the camping department around here. The quoted bits here come from what I can only assume is a press release (I got it via email from a friend, so I have no idea what the source was), and I don’t know how busy the new site was its opening weekend. Sadly, last weekend was kind of crappy weather-wise, but I guess if you don’t go camping in iffy weather in Oregon, you don’t go camping much. Anyway, here’s the rest of the press release after the jump.
Date: June 15th, 2007 |
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Portland Notes: April 13, 2007
Sorry about the delay in posts - been out of town. Anyhow,
The picture at right is from a travel article the New York Times is running this weekend about 36 Hours in Portland. Highlights include Doug Fir, Portland Saturday Market and Portland Art Museum. All told it does a good job covering a quick trip to our Rose City.
Local baseball fans take note: The Portland Beavers open its first home stand at PGE Park TONIGHT!! A Beers of the World stand, better and better promotions and a bunch of other groovy things …
Date: April 13th, 2007 |
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