Hales sworn in as new Portland mayor
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Charlie Hales was sworn in just after midnight Tuesday as Portland's mayor.
The new mayor tweeted a photo of his swearing in during the small, private ceremony.
"It's official: Your 52nd mayor of Portland, Oregon," Hales tweeted. "Happy New Year."
Former mayor Sam Adams also sent out a tweet, wishing Hales good luck.
A public ceremony for Hales will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Portland City Hall.
Portlanders should question where their ideas come from and think about the good of the whole state - since they are heavily influenced by AIDS victims and others with questionable motives.Â
And the rest of the state should stop shopping there and giving their economy a boost.Â
Portland has the most HIV/AIDS cases - especially the inner-city (Multnomah County) - 5 times the amount of neighboring counties. Probably a good deal of the state's ex-cons, so there are some valid reasons to move your kids out of that area. In times past, they did have the highest concentration of ex-cons in the state.
Â
Good Luck ChooChoo Charlie........
 And remember Portland does extend farther east than the inner twenty.
Good luck, Mayor Hales and Portland..! Â :-)
Let's hope that Mr Hales demonstrates a level of character that king sam lacked completely.Â
Â
...and, that he hasn't groomed any interns that he would have to lie about to get elected, which would then cause him to have to fire his press secretary (and lie about why he did that).
Â
If I were able to ask Mayor Hales (Man, does it feel good to be able to say that) for only one thing, it would be that he look at the PMA in it's entirety, and the state of OR in the decisions he makes. Being a leader is different than being a King. A leader considers all people under their authority when making decisions. A King only concerns themselves with their own ideological belief structure, irrelevent of the effects of those decisions on the community as a whole.Â
I always enjoy reading the anti Sammy comments. Just remember that the people of Portland voted him in, had a chance to recall him, let him slide and NOW complain? I may live in Estacada and you can say all you want; but we get our garbage picked up once a week and I can still get a plastic bag at the grocery store if I desire.
Wonder who the really tall dude is who shot this photo. Or whether he/she stood on a chair to get this photo!
@jpk .......Dude ?...... Are you fifteen?
@Rob C 503   bigot!  freak!  tweek much? good luck in the divorce troal!
MP: ????????????
 @Rob C 503  @jpk I use that word and I am decades past 15. LOL
I could care less about which moron is mayor. Â I really wish that the TriMet Nazis (the higher up's, not the bus/train operators) would all be thrown out with extreme prejudice. Â I hate the TriMet brass. Â The way they "imminent domain" private properties all the time, push through bills that disregard the voters intentions, etc.
 @dblshot After an ugly experience with them on Monday, I have to agree.Â
 @whirledworld I've never heard of anyone that did.
I remember back in the day a little plaque was put over a booth at the (IIRC) fat city cafe in Mult. village to commemorate lips being read regarding a meeting with then Mayor Clark.Â
I wonder if a similar plaque for Sammy  commemorating lips being macked will be errected in the mens bathroom in city hall.
 @kramr C'mon man. We just ate dinner...;<P
Hale to the chief! Ah,Fu(k it.
Wonder if Sammy will continue to "Occupy" his mayoral residence?
Mayoral residence?
Ding dong the Witch is gone,
which old Witch, the Wicked Witch,
ding dong the Wicked Witch is gone!
Â
Oops! Did I say that out loud???
Â
Â
 @Mikey Yes you did and the rest of us were singing it with you.
On that note, I THINK (I was pretty messed up last night, so it is kinda fuzzy) they have remade the Wizard of Oz.
meh
Well He fired the P-Dot Leadership... It is a start...
 @gbudavid PDOT has long been the nemesis of anyone with a brain.
Im shocked that someone took a pic and seemingly everyone in it appears to have a normal bmi. sure this is portfatland?
Here's hoping that Mr. Hales can focus more on making Portland "normal" than keeping it "weird."
Don't expect any significant changes. Â You can be assured that the special interests that got Adams elected will still get their way. Â The gays and bike riders have enough power that they kept him from being recalled and they will use this power to keep getting their way. Â Just think, about thirty or more years ago, Portland was a pretty good place to live, now it is a toilet and an embarrassment to the entire state of Oregon.
 @boomer Do you even know how crazy you sound ? How do the gays " get their own way" ?
And for what ? And the bike riders ? Really.. you sound like a weirdo actually !
 @dougrpdx  @boomer No kidding.  Boomer is just blabbing incendiary hate speech because he's too lazy to ride a bike and appears to be a measure 36 supporter.
 @dougrpdx  @boomer RUN! The homosexual bicycles are everywhere!
Sam can concentrate on running for state senate now!
 @Phuzz perish the thought!
Why stop there. A grand gov he would make! LOL
@jpk Kill me NOW!!!
I wish you all good luck with your new Mayor!Â
For the serious private swearing in ceremony, everyone but Hales in the photo has a glass of apparently alcoholic beverage in their hand. Where's his?Â
 @jpk His is probably sitting on a table somewhere - one hand is around his wife and the other is raised for the oath.
 @jpk They're self-medicating to keep from going into orbit now that Slick Sammy is gone.
 @jpk It was new years day/ eve... Really... this is all you got from that ? Sorry life beach slapped you so hard..
So long retard.
Oh.. THAT'S what all those fireworks we heard in Portland were about.Â
 @Playanekes Those were fireworks?
LOL! I thought they were making bombing runs on Sam's bike as he high-tailed it out of town!
Â
Silly me.
What the Hales!
It's been a long 4 years!!!!! Thankful it's over!
Fingers crossed and all that, I have faith Hales will have all of our best interests front and foremost...not just bikers - and here's hoping he will back track on the insane garbage and trash idiotsy....he has lots to do and here's hoping he can undo and fix the gross inequalities established under Sammy...
The biggest celebration should be reserved for watching Sammie Adams sashaying into the sunset, never to be heard from again.
Â
I don't expect much from Hales, the dyed in wool politician, but at least 17-year-old boys will be safe in the city hall restroom.
No matter what Hales does, it ill be a step above the outgoing clown.
Allright Charlie. After the disasters of Katz and Adams, I'm really hoping you can restore Portland to the great and fun city it once was. The city can't endure anymore incompetence and neglect !
 @Rob C 503 My wife is looking at a job very near the east bank, and we've been casually house-shopping in the Portland area.
Â
It's hard to can't claim that the city can't endure anymore when the price of the average three-bedroom house in residential Portland exceeds $350,000. If there are people paying a third of a million dollars worth of property taxes just to live in Portland, it would be like accusing the Eagles of incompetence when they're selling out venues at $150/ticket. I would LOVE to live in Portland but don't want to pay that much for some yardless bungalow because that's ridiculous.
Â
I'm curious (seriously) when you considered the city to be more great and fun than it is now. What was different?Â
 @Playanekes  @Rob C 503 The thing is that they're not paying taxes on a third of a million dollars. Because of ballot measures some years back, their taxable value is nowhere near the market value.
 @Playanekes  @Rob C 503
Â
Well as much as you can't find a house to buy, people selling them aren't any more successful. Most everyone is either in areas no one wants to live (like mine) or so underwater that they would be selling at a loss to sell 2x the current median.
Â
There are no corporations left within the city except the city itself. You can look at the edge and find many (Intel, Nike, Boeing, Gunderson, Pendleton ...) but none within. That means if you live within, it will be an hour's commute to get to work.
Â
When was it fun? Before you had to wade through green boxes to get to PSU, or out of downtown. When the cost of doing business was low enough you could have a restaurant downtown instead of a cart when paying $7.00 for a lunch (at least you had a place to sit down). When going out meant you weren't going to be accosted at every single corner by panhandlers who are insulted you didn't give them money (and sometimes will lash out physically at you). And when the homeless actually could find services that meant they didn't panhandle.
Â
All of these things existed. Before the gentrification of the NW there were shelters and people who helped homeless. Before Adams you could get passed PSU to get out of the city going south. Before police became bogged down is pages of reports they could keep panhandlers and squatters from trespassing and being aggressive. And before TriMet ate itself with bad ideas that were thrown out decades ago (like trolleys and streetcars) it was a good method to get around and didn't burden the city with millions of cost overruns and fees to businesses (who have now left).
Â
These are the things I consider made the city greater and made it more fun. Now without a bodyguard, $100 and a free ride into the core you can't even have a good time at the Rose Festival.
Â
Things were better. Much, much better.
Â
 @Repoman  @Rob C 503 Fantastic! Those are all great observations. If you didn't have me at green boxes, you got me at gentrification. The only one I disagree with is the Rose Festival.
Â
In the early 1980s some people beat up two cops and took their weapons at the Waterfront while a crowd circled around and watched. I was a teenager then. I remember how rough it was. Now, you pay to get in and the thugs who just want to go cause trouble or pick pockets tend to stay out. It used to cost $3 for a cup of coffee but in the vendor section, they give it away.
Â
Plus, Floater headline the Rose Festival instead of Vixen.
@Repoman ......I couldn't have said it better, Repo.
 @Rob C 503Â
Â
Isn't it pretty bad when you can miss the days of POTTER?
Â
And where's the New "Bud Clark"?
Â
From deficit to surplus, during a down economy, TriMet didn't suck; you could find a job WITHIN the city limits.
Â
We keep pulling our tomatoes from the same crate expecting the next one to not be as rotten as the last.
Â
I think we need a new "crate".
@Repoman .........but we keep making the same mistakes statewide! Kitzhaber for 8 years. The state stagnated. Kulongoski? Well, the unions got what they wanted and the state went further down hill from his complete and total incompetence. And then what do the elitist Oregonians do? They put Kitzhaber back in charge to do nothing for another four years.