July 21, 2005
(Updated) Portland's Try For PGE Purchase Fails
Development Significantly Lightens Sten's Workload
Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.
So says an email alert in from KGW from the news conference scheduled for 1:30 PM today which we did not attend.
Portland's bid to buy PGE fails: Portland mayor Tom Potter says Enron Corp. has terminated negotiations with the city over purchase of Portland General Electric, Oregon's largest utility.
The PGE purchase was one of the largest components of Commissioner Erik Sten's portfolio when Potter made his bureau assignments. Now that this project, we gather, is dead, Sten apears to have a relatively light bureau workload. So, what does Sten do now?
July 21st, 2005 Update
According to a news release from the Mayor's office, the City requested, in the wake of Enron's decision, to be released from its confidentiality agreement and Enron agreed. Why did the City want this?
"I want to let the people of our region judge the merits of our offer for themselves," the Mayor said in the news release.
Potter said the offer remained on the table, and the City intended to "aggressively represent the interests of Oregonians when PGE's application to distribute stock comes before state regulators."
July 21st, 2005 Update
What, pray tell, will Jack do now?
Comments (4)
Jack Bog on 21 Jul 2005
Continue to wish that the city would come back down to earth and stop throwing money at this fascinating, but ultimately not do-able, idea.
Theone on 21 Jul 2005
So should we get the vasaline out and prepare ourselves to be violated again by Enron?
Jack Bog on 21 Jul 2005
No, Enron is bankrupt, which means it won't exist much longer. If you are violated, it will be by a Portland-based company known as PGE, owned (at least for now) by the people who once foolishly lent money to Enron.
allehseya on 27 Jul 2005
"So, what does Sten do now?"
Maybe he can focus on the much-neglected rhetoric of Portland's "Cultural Development Plans" -- and how those plans were to address the city's "Young and Restless" economic impact studies.
I'd love to see the City develop a solid Cultural Plan that Sten could use to develop a model for affordable artists housing. He could work with Sam's artist service exchange concept for starters. I'd personally contribute citizen input time and energy to seeing something like that manifest!