Blazers Begin PR Train on "Jumptown" Entertainment District by: torridjoe Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 10:30:00 AM PDT

Update, midnight 10/20--  It should be said that the Merc's (Sarah) Mirk was on this two months ago, and she also makes the salient point that the Blazers are not granted first dibs on the Rose Quarter, although I'm sure their submission will get plenty the look-see.... --------------------------  Your reporter is not paid well, especially if one agrees nothing is not "well." There are, however, myriad minor perks and fringes that have come up now and again, that offered at least something out of the ordinary if not a keepsake thrill. I got to ask Nancy Pelosi a question at a press conference in Portland in 2008. I've drunk free beer at an environmental coalition party, and I was able to meet Dan Savage while working last year's Rebooting Democracy. The Attorney General even stops by to chat when he sees me typing downtown at lunch. And I have two highly official-looking Obama visit press passes, complete with lanyard, that did indeed get me into media-restricted areas and past long lines--and to meet Colin Meloy of the Decemberists while waiting for the Senator/President. As noted, your mileage may vary as to the interest level or brush with greatness any of these opportunities represent. And I'm shamelessly name dropping, but in order to make a point: in four years Loaded Orygun has been to some interesting places, usually as a skeptical observer who invariably takes more than their fair share of strawberries from the cheese tray. But until last night, your reporter had never actually been schmoozed as, quote, "an opinion leader."  And yet there in Suite 33 of the Rose Garden, a half hour before the Blazers would squeak by the Denver Nuggets before a packed house sounding ready for the real games, were Larry Miller and J Isaac, President and VP of the team respectively. Also in attendance were several other "opinion leaders," all assuredly more legitimately so than I, including a friendly group representing the effort to get the USS Ranger carrier decommissioned on the Willamette downtown.  And sitting in a plush chair, drinking a Jones root beer, was your reporter. Supposed to be there, in fact. Invited, even. Came up via the special elevator and everything. The invitation was to hear one of the first outreach presentations of the crystallizing plans for redevelopment in the Rose Quarter, to be retro-trendily named Jumptown.  {A little on the presentation, some on the game, and a passel of photos below the jump...}

torridjoe :: Blazers Begin PR Train on "Jumptown" Entertainment District

I'm going to make some style notes on the presentation, but will say up front that it's not necessarily a negative a value judgement. I'd personally rather things are informal and less evident of needlessly high prep budgets, and as someone who showed up in an Oregon Brewer's Festival server shirt and jeans with major wear-induced cuff fringing, who am I to fault on style? That said, the presentation was conducted on what appeared to be a notebook PC gathered around by about 8-10 people, with a number of slides that Isaac went over as the arena noise announcing the lineups and stoking up the fans, continued to crescendo.  The sliding plexiglass door between the seats and the lounge part of the suite? Only marginally effective as a sound baffle (although who would want to be in a suite at a Blazers game and not be able to hear it inside the suite?) It was brief and high level, and an attempt mostly to signal that the ball is rolling, and that the team feels ready to proceed in a concrete manner that had not seemed ripe over the several years, since an entertainment district had first been proposed as a way to invigorate that section of town (and--cough--make some more dough).   High level can also be a synonym for vague--although the v's I recall actually being used were a "valid, viable vision." It's becoming clear that "sustainability" is a necessary marketing touchstone that any good company will insist the developer consider talking about, if not actually pursuing. In this case, the Blazers boasted of their relative recognition around the league as a sustainable arena and team, and promised that level of committment to Jumptown. When I asked whether LEED certification was a potential path, I was told it very well might be. So there's that.  But the bottom line plans-wise is that something interesting will be done with the Memorial Coliseum to use it more and more efficiently, they want some kind of broad plaza with daytime activities as well as night, and if you want to imagine what it would look like it's...bars, restaurants and clubs. (Or as Isaac enthusiastically pointed at the accompanying photo-collage slide, "beer...and coffee!") That's not to say that's all it will be, but rather that seems to be about all they know for sure. So we're still at the stage where everything can sound really good, and indeed it did. That area IS a deadzone. It's prime real estate, that if regularly active and inviting could in turn make the Convention Center more appealing, especially if the additional rooms of the hotel the Blazers want to build comes to fruition. There's urban renewal money waiting and earmarked for the whole plan, and the developer's group is willing to put in a stake and so far promises to do it the Portland way.  But what's the point of going to a PR event with your eyes and ears open if you're just going to be polite and accept what is given? Why couldn't I just steno the whole thing and parrot back how great I think it's going to be (which, in fact, if it actually gets done right it will be)? Because that'd be a waste of the opportunity to honestly talk about the implications of what they were proposing. I think most concerns the Blazers team worry themselves with predominantly surround financing, permitting, viability--the logistics of major commercial development. Certainly that's what gets talked about at the suite level, amongst the Wells Fargos and Comcasts and Pepsis, whether the team hears about other things in other venues or not. So I asked a question that came to mind as Isaac discussed the name of the project, Jumptown--the nickname of the former neighborhood around which the Rose Quarter now stands, a lively area of clubs and stores that catered mostly to the African American minority of the North/NorthEast side. In choosing as the name for your club zone the area that was essentially razed to create it, and to evoke the memories of a part of town that was organically jumping--and replace it with a traveling-hotspot developer's vision of what Portland loves to do, I hope the team understands the scar that still exists about the remaking of N/NE, particularly with respect to Emanuel Hospital but also the gentrification of the Mississippi/Albina areas...and I wondered how the team plans to address any of those scars and feelings as they proceed. Isaac didn't blink. He offered a fairly good defense of the team's neighborliness and ties to the community, and certainly no one would deny that the front office, coaches and players have done a 180 with regards to their relationship with the city. We love them unabashedly again, no question. But he was unable to offer concrete steps, and we may love but we're not stooges. That is going to be a crucial part of the success of the area, on a number of levels. Forget schmoozing me; when will the neighborhood associations get their schmoozing?, the churches and the schools, the local businesses already there--especially bars and restaurants--and the people who will be expected to embrace the traffic and the noise and the frat boy fights and urination as ultimately good for them too. Perhaps some of it indeed is already being done. I look forward to seeing the effort further manifested. The game itself was awfully high-intensity for a preseason game, and the always-rowdy Nuggets are a good test of the Blazers execution. Portland blew an 11 point first half lead to fall back as many as 12 in the 4th quarter, before Greg Oden scored almost all of his 16 points and carried the team to a two-point victory. He had foul trouble for the first time all preseason, and everyone was kinda bummed that he only got 16 minutes as a result, but he was dominant playing with 5 fouls for several minutes before finally succumbing and fouling out. Get ready for a much more consistent beasting this winter! The first half was fun enough to watch from the suite boxes. Shortly before halftime I lit out for the public restroom--not knowing there was a private head although of course I should have realized there would be--and when I returned Isaac was himself visibly relieved: "Oh, I'd hoped you hadn't left. I was trying to get everyone some courtside time." And down the elevator we all went, and the serious schmoozing began. First row baseline, directly corner to the Nuggets bench and right of the Blazers basket for the 2nd half. That's where I spent the final 24 minutes of the game. Ever been courtside at a professional basketball game, preseason or otherwise? Me neither. It's like a different world. I've been at floor level and you can see how big these guys are, but sitting under the basket is the only place you can really feel it for the sweaty, punctuatingly violent game that it is. Bodies literally flew, and I know some people say literally when they don't mean it, but I mean it--I watched a guy lock bodies with an offensive player and then have a fellow defender break the lock with a hard check that sent his unlocked teammate bouncing crazily with wide semi-vertical steps across the floor. I cringe everytime I see Brandon get nailed on TV, and let me tell you--happening right in front of you it's even worse. My God, I want to make the man soup or something. He's getting CLOBBERED, tough bastard.  So if the goal was to send me home with a distinct case of "Wow," mission accomplished. Not even John Kroger buying me a latte can compete with that. As I left the court Isaac greeted me warmly again, left his card with an urging to call him and talk more, and patted me on the back as I walked past to retrieve my coat upstairs and nick one more Jones soda from the suite fridge. When you hear politicians and others say that kind of special treatment and personal connection doesn't change their view of things, they are feeding you a line of BS. Having someone do nice things for you that are fun and accessible only to a very few people, and promise you access to them on the same friendly terms, how are you not influenced? I'll avoid the rap by saying that I've always thought Jumptown as a concept was a decent idea, and still do--but we're not yet at the stage where someone has to prove what's in the pudding (prove it's pudding? Or is the proof itself in there, like a fortune?) Let's say the upshot of the evening is that I'm still looking forward to seeing what the Blazers have in store for the Rose Quarter, and I'm still on board--but ever skeptical nonetheless. And let's finish with some shots I took from courtside, with the sometimes-brilliant, sometimes-heinous iPhone...   look ma, courtside! Towel guys and cameramen sitting in front of me! The visiting gang... Pryz tangles with the perennial Ugliest Baller winner, Chris Andersen, while Richard Pryor-lookalike Andre Miller works it at halfcourt   Nene and a buddy during a timeout. Check out the baby blue kicks!   Kenyon Martin--who dat calling me out?   Ah, it's all good (later, Martin jawed with a courtside heckler, telling him "I'm not gonna get kicked out--I work here") Speaking of kicks, here's a multi shot of some Nugs... More bench action. The camera LOVES Birdman! Martell and Aaron Afflalo, eyeing each other before the restart The best picture I was able to get of Oden during the 4th. He was moving too quickly the rest of the time, like a demon!

Tags: Blazers, pro basketball, Rose Garden, Rose Quarter, entertainment district, Larry Miller, J Isaac, Convention Center, Ranger Project, photos, (All Tags)

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