Portland news roundup (Jack Bog's Blog)

Big day yesterday in the Oregonian, and to think I pretty much slept through it! My head hit the pillow just as the paper was going thunk on my front porch at 5 a.m., and I didn't wake up 'til... Well, let's just say I was in the middle of a dream in which a middle-aged contemporary was showing me his collection of wood surfboards and decorative wetsuits...

Cough! Anyway, whatever that dream meant (and I'm not sure I want to know), let's get back to reality, and a positively blockbuster issue of the local fish-wrap. First and foremost, Renee Mitchell apologized for calling the St. Johns neighborhood a "pimple" on the city's "backside." (I've tried but can't get a link to the apology out of The O's horrible web "site" at this hour.)

No word yet on whether Dave "Party Animal" Reinhard is going to do the same for saying he agreed with Osama about American culture. Stay tuned on that one, but until he says he's sorry, he boots Renee out of the tie for Biggest Jerk Lately Among Oregonian Columnists (a tough honor to win).

On that same page, the new Multnomah County Library director, Molly Raphael, is all smiles as she introduces herself to Portland. She's making $138,000 a year from Multnomah County (a 27 percent increase over what her predecessor earned), and she's collecting "as much as" $76,100 a year in pension from her old job as library director in Washington, D.C., where she served as top librarian for six years. You math majors out there can deduce that that makes $214,100. Not bad for a bureaucrat. And she's only 57 years old, so this could go on for nearly a decade. Heck, I'd be smiling, too.

Then there were not one but two articles about the OHSU aerial tram spectacle, part of the continuing development of the Vera Katz Theme Park. That deserves a post of its own, which I'm hoping to get to shortly.

Comments (9)

"Then there were not one but two articles about the OHSU aerial tram spectacle, part of the continuing development of the Vera Katz Theme Park. That deserves a post of its own, which I'm hoping to get to shortly."

Yes. Rob and I are waiting for you.

Although my link might be dead at the moment because Speakeasy is doing server maintenance.

Posted by The One True b!X | February 12, 2004 1:13 AM

Also, here is the link to Mitchell's piece.

Posted by The One True b!X | February 12, 2004 1:14 AM

Thanks, B!x. It's you and me, baby.

Posted by Jack Bog | February 12, 2004 1:58 AM

Enough criticizing Raphael! Heck, you know you could be making that if you weren't teaching and practiced law instead. And don't get me started on what's more valuable. How many more lawyers than librarians break 50k per year? 99%?

Raphael is supervising one of the best systems in the nation, nearly twenty branches, a bulti-bazillion dollar budget. She deserves that money.

Posted by alan | February 12, 2004 8:39 AM

Alan:

Just about 75 percent of Oregon attorneys earn more than $50,000 per year, according to the state bar's survey in 2002 (latest year figures that are available).

Average salary: $102.643.
Median salary: $78,000.
25th percentile: $50,000.
75th percentile: $120,000.
95th percentile: $250,000.

These results are for all of Oregon, all practices, male and female. Results vary, of course, upon practice, years of experience, location, etc.

Source: Oregon State Bar 2002 Economic Survey, September 2002, p. 14.

Available at: http://www.osbar.org/surveys_research/econsurv02/econsurvey02.html [PDF]

--WWP

Posted by Worldwide Pablo | February 12, 2004 9:45 AM

So based on her Multnomah County salary alone, she makes more than three quarters of the lawyers in the state. Alan, I'm not criticizing her as much as I am the county chair for paying her the $138. For all I know, she's the best person in the world for the job.

Posted by Jack Bog | February 12, 2004 5:06 PM

Yes. Diane Linn (sp?) should have worked with the county folks before offering a salary, but frankly, it was the other chair members who looked like fools when they tried to go back on the offer that was in writing. Did they think Molly R. would just say ok? I sure as hell wouldn't.

When you hire someone from another job, it's expected that the new salary/benefits will exceed those of the previous position. DC costs a lot, so it makes sense that Molly R. would have to get a pretty nice chunk of change.

And that's when the lawyers had to get involved. How much do you think the attorneys had to get paid on both sides to resolve this (non)dispute? That's the money that was spent poorly.

WWP: Do you have some stats on Portland-area attorney salaries? Throwing in attorneys from the Steens, Fossil, etc. doesn't give us the big picture.

Posted by alan | February 13, 2004 10:04 AM

Be sure to throw in the head librarian from Halfway, too.

Posted by Jack Bog | February 13, 2004 2:18 PM

Didn't s/he go bust during the dot.com days?

Posted by alan | February 13, 2004 2:58 PM

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Thursday, February 12, 2004

Portland news roundup

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