826 At first I didn't give Randy Leonard's opinion on the taping of spots in the parade route too much thought...after all, me and The Wife™ never really think about going down to the Grand Floral Parade.
But for some reason, the thought wouldn't leave me for several days. The Grand Floral Parade has actually been a turn-off for me for the longest time, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that...hey, I kind of agree with Commissioner Randy. It's an incredibly selfish thing for people to do...and that thing, the taping off of viewing areas days in advance, is actually one of the main reasons we make no plans to see it.
Why bother when you never really even had the chance to get even a halfway-decent spot to watch it from?
Did I hear it right–some people actually spray-paint thier spots on the ground? How very rude and un-Portland like.
We're with Randy on this one.
Except maybe for the public 'Couve and Gresham-hatin'. Can't there be peace in the valley?
Tags: Commissioner Randy Leonard, Portland Rose Festival, Grand Floral Parade
By Samuel John Klein of Portland, Oregon - Graphic Designer without Portfolio, aspiring artist who dawdled too long.
4 comments:
Quoth Leonard:
""It is eminently unfair," he says, that -- according to his scenario -- a man in a Hummer with Washington license plates, a gold pinky ring and a cooler of Budweiser can evict a poor couple from inner Northeast Portland from the sidewalk."
What a -hole. I know the vogue is Portland for Portlanders, Stumptown uber Alles, but it's rich that a man with such a sense of what's "eminently unfair" would conclude that the spots are all being taped by people from Washington, and that they all drive SUVs.
To paraphrase Mick Jagger - they can't be a man 'cause they don't drink the same beer as we.
Well, I agree with you as far as Randy's Gresham and 'Couve hatin', as I mentioned in the post, so I take your point there.
He could have phrased it a bit differently, yes, or not at all, preferably.
There is a historic rivalry between all the larger towns in this area: Vancouver's constantly complaining about being treated as a Portland suburb, Portland's feeling we're all that an a side of jojo's, and nobody much respecting Gresham...but that's just a bunch of "our hometown is better than yours" talk really. Nobody really actively dislikes each other all that much.
Thanks for stopping by, BTW. I enjoy your blog much.
It was a poor attempt at humor on my part that motivated the Tony Soprano analogy in the Oregonian. I should have just stuck with the issue and dropped the poor attempt at humor.
Thanks for the nice comments in the post.
Good on you for being man enough to say the joke didn't work, Randy.
Other than that, more power to you. If the proposal I hear going up before City Council passes, me and The Wife™ just might try to attend next year.
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