Isaac Laquedem

Harry Mittleman loses his real estate touch

Harry Mittleman (1900-1985) was a noted Portland real estate developer for four decades. Born in Russia, he came to the United States at age 8, married and started his family in Nebraska, and came to Portland in about 1925 where his other children were born. By 1930 he was already a successful builder of apartment houses and was living in a large house at 15th and Northeast Klickitat, where despite the Great Depression his family was able to employ two live-in servants. A few years later he and his wife Helen moved to a mansion on several view acres at the top of Green Hills, where they lived for the rest of their long lives. Mr. Mittleman continued to build apartments (many named after his daughters and granddaughters) and then moved to building bank branches. His largest project was the Bank of California Tower at Broadway and SW Washington, in 1968.

In the late 1960s the state built Interstate 405, the Stadium Freeway, at the edge of downtown. One of the buildings taken down to make way for the freeway was the Jewish Community Center, which was replaced with the current campus on Capitol Highway near Hillsdale. A few years later he donated funds to pay off the mortgage, and the trustees renamed the building the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, in memory of Helen Mittleman, who had died shortly before. The MJCC came to include not just classrooms and meeting areas but also a large indoor pool, exercise facilities, soccer fields, and much more.

The Mittleman Jewish Community Center embarked on an ambitious expansion plan a few years ago, partly in response to competition from more modern gyms and health clubs. The plan succeeded after a fashion, but not so the hopes to pay for it. The MJCC closed this summer and is essentially broke, an ending out of keeping with Harry Mittleman's career.

And what of the house that he owned and occupied for fifty years? Late in his life he let it run down, and it was in poor condition when he died. The grounds were split up into building lots. A local high-tech tycoon bought and restored the house, and made it a showplace again. Then a few years later he sold it to a man who had made a fortune in real estate and who was, interestingly, about the same age as Harry Mittleman was when he moved there in the 1930s.

But there the parallel ends. The current occupant is moving out of the house Monday morning to spend 18 months in a much larger place, not in Portland (for Portland doesn't have many houses larger than the Mittleman Estate) but about an hour to the southwest, which despite its size is not a move up. Mr. Mittleman had his quirky habits, such as nipping an apple on occasion from the fruit market at 5th and Yamhill (where Saks is now), which was one of his tenants, but he was always reasonably accurate on his federal income tax returns.

Run races, not bases

A coincidence sparked this Friday post. First, Betsy (My Whim Is Law) pointed Rob Salzman (AboutItAll: Oregon) to Roses and Raindrops, a new blog by Jon Croix, where I read this post in which he argues that Portland should pursue NASCAR racing instead of major league baseball.

Second, my most recent comment here was from "NASCAR Girl," suggesting that at least one reader here likes the car races. By contrast, no one has commented here under the name of "Baseball Girl," which I take to be a sign of market preference.

Third, the Genial Old Codger with whom I had lunch today told me that he was taking his grandchildren to the Beavers' baseball game tonight, but that he found baseball as exciting as (in Red Smith's famous phrase about yacht racing) watching paint dry.

I was never a baseball fan. I see the chase for an MLB team as civic "me-tooism": an urge not to be particularly good or distinctive but to be one of the crowd. We're never going to be the dominant baseball town in the Northwest. NASCAR racing would be something else entirely: Portland could become the dominant car-racing town in the Northwest and bring a lot of clean, but noisy, dollars in the process.

ThURLsday II - more links that amuse and educate

My celebration of ThURLsday today begins with a link to this story at UtterlyBoring, which in turn links to Bend.com. The Deschutes County Sheriff has imposed "performance standards" (meaning quotas) to push his troopers to write more tickets. It reminded me of when the highest-paid public official in Oregon was the police chief of Jordan Valley, a small town that straddles a turn in Highway 95 in Malheur County, because he was paid on commission. He paid the costs of traffic patrol from his own pocket, and in exchange got to keep all the net ticket revenue. As hardly any through traffic obeyed the "Speed 25" signs that set off the eight blocks of Highway 95 within the city from the 123 miles in unincorporated Malheur County, the chief of police could set his own hours and live quite well. The Oregonian reported that the chief made $120,000 in a year in which Governor Atiyeh made $95,000, and the next legislative session put a stop to this.

My second selection is this post from Andy at Rooftop describing Vice President Cheney's Q & A session in Portland. Note the Vice President's answer to a question about No Child Left Behind, in which he managed to include "harken," "Bush," and "Texas" in the same sentence, perhaps subconsciously thinking about Harken Energy.

Bakers in the Park Blocks

As the process to turn Park Block 5 (the surface lot between the Fox Tower and the Guild Theatre) into a city park moves slowly forward, left unsaid is what to name it when it's built. Tom Moyer, the theatre-magnate-turned-developer, who donated most of the money to buy the block, has said he doesn't want it named after him. An early proposal to name it after former Governor What's-His-Name (advanced before his fall from grace and Texas Pacific) isn't likely to get City approval.

Isaac's modest proposal: name it Baker Square (though that's geometrically incorrect), and honor two Portlanders of the past. First is George Baker, mayor of Portland 80 years ago, a showman and live-theatre impresario, our only mayor (so far) whose occupation had some relation to Mr. Moyer's. A plaque honoring Mayor Baker could go at the southwest corner of the block, near the Guild Theatre. Second is Doug Baker, longtime columnist for the Oregon Journal, whose first Portland stunt was to stand on a street corner at Fifth and Morrison in the 1950s and hand out dollar bills to passers-by. His behavior was considered so out of place in our conservative city that he was nearly arrested for creating a disturbance. Today we're more tolerant of handouts, and City Hall has even established two waiting lines for the needy: one in the Pearl District and the other in the South Waterfront.

Win one for the Zipper, II

Any Republicans who wanted to repeal the 25th Amendment so that Ronald Reagan could serve three terms and who heard Bill Clinton's speech last night must be thanking Divine Providence that they didn't succeed.

Win one for the Zipper

I watched Bill Clinton's convention speech yesterday from a quiet perch at the Drones Club, which if not as paleo-Republican as the Mausoleum Club nevertheless leans firmly to the right. My first reaction was that no one's told President Clinton that he's term-limited out from running again. My second reaction was complete fascination: not in today's usual sense of the word but in its original meaning, that in which the snake fascinates (casts a spell on) its prey. Perhaps the mouse admires the snake's artistry even as it knows subliminally that it's about to be devoured.

Almost as interesting to me was the reaction of the other customer of the Drones Club bar, clearly a Republican who despised Clinton. At least that's how he acted at the start, rocking back and forth and throwing in snarky comments about the ex-President. But as Clinton continued to talk, he (the customer) slowed down, and then came to a complete standstill. And by the time Clinton got to the "Send John Kerry" refrain, he was frozen, transfixed by the swaying cobra on the screen and the hypnotic rhythm of Clinton's voice. And by the end of Clinton's speech, only social pressure kept my drinking partner from applauding in spite of himself. I'm grateful that Clinton doesn't give speeches advocating abstinence.

We'd better be working on the railroad

The June 25/July 1 Puget Sound Business Journal carried an article (not apparently posted online, alas) that implies how the Ports of Portland and Vancouver can seize an advantage in the race for shipping business. The Washington Public Ports Association commissioned a study of freight rail capacity (available online here in PDF, and summarized here in PDF). The study says that for the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma to be able to handle the projected increase in container traffic over the next 20 years, the rail system will need at least $830 million in upgrades, and the railroads aren't likely to pay for it. That (says the article's author, Greg Lamm) "could put the state's ports at a competitive disadvantage to Vancouver, B.C., and other container ports in Southern California.

Why aren't Seattle and Tacoma worried about being at a competitive disadvantage to the Ports of Portland and Vancouver? We're not a major shipping destination but we do have rail access to the east and there's room west (downstream) of the Interstate Bridges in several locations to build more ship-to-rail container facilities. Let's make upgrading the freight rail system a priority.

Oregon Brewers' Festival

The Oregon Brewers' Festival, going on this weekend at the north end of Waterfront Park, is a delightful counterpoint to the Rose Festival Fun Center. It takes up less space, the crowd is quieter, the staff doesn't shout for attention, and the food and drink are better. It's famous enough to attract frequent travelers from around the country.

I enjoyed a few samples myself last night, though I appeared to be the only man there wearing a coat and tie. If you enjoy beer, don't miss the festival this weekend

Rock, scissors, paper, plastic

The left-column story in today's Wall Street Journal describes our move from cash and checks to credit and debit cards. Five years ago 57% of in-store consumer payments were made by cash or check, 22% by credit card, and 21% by debit card. By 2003, 31% were made by debit card (almost a 50% jump in market share). Credit cards accounted for 21% of in-store consumer purchases, about the same as in 1999. Cash and check purchases were down to 47%. (A small percentage were made by undescribed other means in 2003, which is why the 2003 numbers don't add to 100%.)

More telling are the places that now accept credit cards, or even require them. The USS Harry Truman, an aircraft carrier, went cashless this year; the Navy gave a MasterCard to each of its 5,000 sailors. The sailors receive their pay in their MasterCard account and use the card for all their onboard spending, including the Sunday collection at the ship chapel.

Some other fascinating statistics: in 1970, 16% of American households had a credit card; today 73% do. This year 4.9 billion card solicitations will be mailed to American households. (If you don't get one a week, you're not getting your fair share.) And if you spend $20 million with American Express, you can qualify for a suborbital space flight with Russian cosmonauts. I must be slacking; at that rate I've spent only enough to make it to the top of the Fox Tower.

ThURLsday links

To celebrate ThURLsday (an idea I read about at Worldwide Pablo, for which he credits blogger James Lileks), here are links to two items that caught my eye today, from blogs outside of my blogroll that I will be reading more often.

The first is to a post from Natasha at Pacific Views, about the politics of money in California. In California money doesn't whisper discreetly; it shouts and stamps its feet.

The second is to a post from William Bragg in Salem, describing why you should not use common household products for first aid. Try as I might, I couldn't fight the visual image.