Thanks for posting this. I understand the outrage over things like this appearing to be frivolous spending of the tax dollars However, it looks like it was paid for by the the booster's club, not public funds? Shouldn't those groups be allowed to fund projects at their own discretion if they indeed raised the money themselves? Also, it does provide a decent synopsis of eco roof design on a small scale, including product specs! I found that interesting.

If it was paid for with taxpayer dollars, then that is a different story.

don't worry Jack, there are no "shiny new condo towers" in Portland's future for decades. Not at Lincoln High or anywhere else. There might be shiny towers paid for by government for other things like so called "affordable" housing or fancy office buildings for government officials but I think that money pool is drying up rapidly as well. We can ship the tower cranes out on a one way ticket.

The problem is people know how to get free money for stupid ideas from the govt.

Hint - Put sustainable, green or alternative in the application.

CoP/Oregon don't know the diff, they are big idea people begging to give away money. So we get $5M for a battery company that has its nexus of activity in Switzerland and its a weak idea to boot.

So just like bad money driving out good, good ideas get driven out by hare-brained schemes like this.

It really starts to become self-parody after a while.

Pop-up sprinklers? I thought the city didn't want us to water our yards. Oh wait, it's a roof. I get it now.

there are no "shiny new condo towers" in Portland's future for decades

I wish that were true, but Edlen's still here, Homer's still here, Dike's still here, Hoffman and Walsh are still here, and until they're gone (or the city declares its bankruptcy) there will always be three cranes up in Portland building housing that no one wants or needs.

And there will be streetcars to go with them.

New Text books anyone?

"don't worry Jack, there are no "shiny new condo towers" in Portland's future for decades."

Puh-leeeze - Homer tells Sammy, OK this time we are going to build low-income housing and we really mean it.

Sam gets up in a froth (sorry people for saying that) and agrees to let Homer build a "few" market price condos just to make it happen in a part of town that wouldn't be developed anyways (probably for good reason) or would be crucial to putting a streetcar there.

The script is old enough you should know it by now.

"The script is old enough you should know it by now."

Yep.

And Sam Adams is Charlie Brown.

And Lucy is represented by the developer cabal (Homer, Dike, Hoffman, Walsh etc).

And low income housing is the football.

The eco-roof was required by the Neighborhood Association. The Cages have been in the works for over four years. They were paid for by fund raised by the boosters, softball and baseball teams. Twenty years ago sports at Lincoln, and many other high preforming high schools, was an amusement and nothing more. Daddy had the money and connections to get his kids into any school they wanted. No more! Today, when a near perfect SAT and a 4.0 GPA is becoming common, one of the ways to make your kid stand out in the application processes is to have them lead a team to the playoffs. The only way to make sure Lincoln baseball and softball go to the playoffs every year is to have batting cages.

100% funded by donations. No tax money. An on-site practice facility sorely needed by baseball and softball programs that were forced to practice and play at their respective 'home' fields, Gabriel Park (5 miles away) and Delta Park (7 miles from the school).

If you're looking for someone to bash here, start with the anal-retentive Goose Hollow Neighborhood Assn. for stonewalling this benign project and the COP for throwing up every barrier imaginable to getting it built. You'd think LHS was proposing a new condo tower or something...oh, wait...that would have breezed right through and received a handsome subsidy or low-interest loan from the City.

A few pillars and a roof so the kids can take BP without driving across town. Oh, the horrors! Hats off to the parents and kids for powering through the smelly muck and getting this done.