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Let's Talk Turkey (of a political nature)!

BroadwayVik

BroadwayVik

Active member
To be read in the voice of Lewis Black:

o Do the powers-that-be in this state want to keep PSU down? Probably they do. Then we have to oppose their shenanigans. Do the powers-that-be even go to the extent of making monetary deals with those who can actually start a revolution of progress and get them to take a dive instead of making real progress on Portland State's behalf? Plausibly. But if that is truly the case, the powers-that-be in this state must rank no higher than the elite of Arkansas or Mississippi when it comes to corruption, graft and defecating on what is in the best social interest of the citizens of this state. Their influence needs to be opposed.


o Would it not make sense for PSU to own ALL campus buildings and (at least) the vast majority within the University District? Should not the PDC force the sale of "The View" (Ione Plaza) through its power of eminent domain to the domain of the Portland State University District and only at the prevailing market rate? As it is now, the owners (alien to PSU) are sucking money out of the PSU community to impoverish it for their own selfish purposes. We should take a chapter from Book of FUBU and say "For Us, 'Bout Us!


o The building where AAA is at used to belong to PSU. Is it not high time we got that building back and either ousted AAA or accommodated them in a new building on the same site? That building is a part of the University District and needs to belong to Portland State again.
 
BroadwayVik said:
To be read in the voice of Lewis Black:

o Do the powers-that-be in this state want to keep PSU down? Probably they do. Then we have to oppose their shenanigans. Do the powers-that-be even go to the extent of making monetary deals with those who can actually start a revolution of progress and get them to take a dive instead of making real progress on Portland State's behalf? Plausibly. But if that is truly the case, the powers-that-be in this state must rank no higher than the elite of Arkansas or Mississippi when it comes to corruption, graft and defecating on what is in the best social interest of the citizens of this state. Their influence needs to be opposed.


o Would it not make sense for PSU to own ALL campus buildings and (at least) the vast majority within the University District? Should not the PDC force the sale of "The View" (Ione Plaza) through its power of eminent domain to the domain of the Portland State University District and only at the prevailing market rate? As it is now, the owners (alien to PSU) are sucking money out of the PSU community to impoverish it for their own selfish purposes. We should take a chapter from Book of FUBU and say "For Us, 'Bout Us!


o The building where AAA is at used to belong to PSU. Is it not high time we got that building back and either ousted AAA or accommodated them in a new building on the same site? That building is a part of the University District and needs to belong to Portland State again.
Click to expand...

Wasn't the Ione Plaza at one point donated to the University of Oregon before being sold to that San Diego company that owns it now?
 
martymoose said:
BroadwayVik said:
To be read in the voice of Lewis Black:

o Do the powers-that-be in this state want to keep PSU down? Probably they do. Then we have to oppose their shenanigans. Do the powers-that-be even go to the extent of making monetary deals with those who can actually start a revolution of progress and get them to take a dive instead of making real progress on Portland State's behalf? Plausibly. But if that is truly the case, the powers-that-be in this state must rank no higher than the elite of Arkansas or Mississippi when it comes to corruption, graft and defecating on what is in the best social interest of the citizens of this state. Their influence needs to be opposed.


o Would it not make sense for PSU to own ALL campus buildings and (at least) the vast majority within the University District? Should not the PDC force the sale of "The View" (Ione Plaza) through its power of eminent domain to the domain of the Portland State University District and only at the prevailing market rate? As it is now, the owners (alien to PSU) are sucking money out of the PSU community to impoverish it for their own selfish purposes. We should take a chapter from Book of FUBU and say "For Us, 'Bout Us!


o The building where AAA is at used to belong to PSU. Is it not high time we got that building back and either ousted AAA or accommodated them in a new building on the same site? That building is a part of the University District and needs to belong to Portland State again.
Click to expand...

Wasn't the Ione Plaza at one point donated to the University of Oregon before being sold to that San Diego company that owns it now?
Click to expand...

Yes, I believe it was donated to UO as part of its foundation endowment portfolio.
 
I personally don't know who owns it now. Once it was part of the University of Oregon's investment portfolio (which is a sick state of affairs in that UO was oppressively sucking money out from the PSU community from the heart of the campus). I believe then it was sold to an investment group in Idaho and now likely, as you say, a group in San Diego.

We need to get outside interests (UO, other) off our collective back once-and-for-all-time. Jettison them utterly. We need to get our U-District in order, well-ordered while the sun shines on us politically and we have room to maneuver.

As long as interests alien-to-PSU retain ownership of that building, there is urgent need to act and wrest its ownership away and place it with PSU, the rightful owners, frankly, of any housing property within the university district borders, especially the parkscape. The U-District should not be a hodge-podge of discordant ownership interests. That only creates chaos. We do not want to be foolishly pulling in various clique-determined directions.

No, this is the UNIVERSITY district. Or have we forgotten that? The U-District is Portland's public university district and needs to be set in terms of ownership so that the university is securely rooted in its district and so can grow prolifically, to be an asset the city and state treasures. PSU has first strategic right-of-refusal of any property in the U-District, especially in the Park Blocks section initially.

The PDC needs to exercise forth its authority and have the building force-sold to the university (as being within the borders of the university district) at the prevailing market rate. No buildings will be allowed to be sold at a premium. With a depressed market, now is the time for PSU to be buying up all significant, currently unowned buildings within the U-District borders.
 
Hmmm. And where would the university get the money to buy it, assuming it were for sale? I sympathize, but let's get real here. A bond issue? ANOTHER one? Collateralized with what? It would be nice to have the Ione - it would make a helluva big dorm. We also need class space, but no one talks about that. It all costs money.
 
A realistic financing strategy using real money:

The money comes from XI Bonds and the payment amortization comes in the form of pooled room receipts. Do you think students would want to live there? Like Blackstone, what is now called "The View" (Ione Plaza) is a high-demand location for PSU students, being centrally located and relatively quiet being in the campus parkscape. PSU possession of the building would likely foster a name change of the building.

Market prices are depressed now, so the best price for transferring possession to the university can be optimally negotiated now. The face value of the bonds provides the needed funds to buy out the current owner via the PDC forced-sale and the future pool of dorm room receipts pays the XI bonds off.
 
Funny, I was just thinking the other day that I wondered if PSU had ever tried to buy either of the apartment complexes that sit on campus. They are, after all, planning on building new dorms...wouldn't it make sense to try to buy those buildings out?
 
I think in general, PSU tries to buy everything that's available. But unlike Corvallis or Eugene, we are talking about prime real estate here. That's a problem that most urban schools have.
 
The two units PSU is going to build between 5th and 6th on College will hold about 900. But President Weiwell and VP Desrochers say that PSU will build 3000 units this decade. The sooner, the better. Currently, 2000 units stand so the added units will make a total of 5000.

They can do both: They can build the dorms and buy the two buildings on the campus parkscape, the former Ione Plaza ("The View") as well as the Park Plaza Apartments. That would move things along to get things in order.
 
BroadwayVik said:
The two units PSU is going to build between 5th and 6th on College will hold about 900. But President Weiwell and VP Desrochers say that PSU will build 3000 units this decade. The sooner, the better. Currently, 2000 units stand so the added units will make a total of 5000.

They can do both: They can build the dorms and buy the two buildings on the campus parkscape, the former Ione Plaza ("The View") as well as the Park Plaza Apartments. That would move things along to get things in order.
Click to expand...

I've emailed Wiewel in the past and the university doesn't want to use eminent domain. Very, very stupid but that is their stance. PSU tends to keep itself down.
 
The University District needs to be the University District, not a hodge-podge of dispirate and, likely, discordant interests. Can you imagine some building owner holding up progress in the development of the University District simply because he or she wants to be obstinate?

Wiewell is an astute player. Maybe Wim is concerned about political retaliation if University District eminent domain were imposed? Maybe the political game would get ramped up to the point of not being able to compete effectively? What could be deterring him from seeking this remedy? Portland real estate values would benefit greatly from a clearly-defined University District for the downtown area.
 
Back in the 50s we did the original "eminent domain" - a neighborhood development project with large bond issues to back it. It set up our original base between 11th and 6th with the core on Broadway. The Town Fathers have never forgotten it. It took huge amounts of property off the tax rolls and eliminated a thriving (well, sort of) little neighborhood with mom and pop shops and housing. Ever since, there has been a lingering sense of resentment at the loss of taxes and buildable property. You bet your booty there's resistence to eminent domain! Wim is right to keep the issue off the front burner. You're right that we need a clearly defined University District, but we'll have to build it messy and piecemeal. Right now we're scattered all over the place, jumping over to 4th and north to whatever cross street. Over the next couple years a University District will emerge and people will wonder where it came from. The answer - piece by little piece.
 
That's probably the best strategy then. I really want to see us get the View (Ione Plaza) and our old building site that we had to sell off to AAA. Buy, buy.
 
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