February 14, 2003
New Ice Rink Revelations
Once again violating my self-imposed ban on cross-weblog linking, I must point everyone to this post by Ampersand. Seems the author did a little digging into the St. Louis past of Kim Kimbrough, head of the Portland Business Alliance:
For example: At the heart of Portland's downtown is Pioneer Square, a much-needed open, public space. Naturally, the Portland Business Alliance hates the Square (an inch of space dedicated to the public good, rather than profit? The horror!) and has quietly been pushing a new plan to erect a $10.3 million dollar ice skating rink on the site five months of the year. I did a search of St Louis papers, and what a surprise - a skating rink was Kimbrough's big idea for helping downtown St. Louis, too. (AP wire story, 11/29/2000).
That's not all, however:
Portland residents shouldn't trust developers who say the ice rink will only be up part of the year, either. In St. Louis, Kimbrough used the success of a "temporary" rink to justify plans to leave the rink in place year-round.
Now this particular information is just crying out for wider publication. It's perfect fodder for the ongoing Portland Mercury campaign against City Hall.