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Oregon Stadium Campaign
News
Portland, Play
Ball!
June 18, 2003
:: Issue #5
2 FAST 2 FURIOUS? – OR
JUST THE RIGHT SPEED?
A Week Jammed with
MLB...
If we told you that some of the top executives from Major
League Baseball would be in town for a face to face meeting, that a state
senate committee would conduct a hearing on stadium construction legislation,
and the almost “Portland” Expos would be only 175 tantalizing miles
and a little bus-trip away – yielding more than 15 broadcast and print
stories – you’d probably say,
“That’s not a bad
month.”
However, all that occurred in less than 72 hours last week.
Not to mention recent favorable editorial items from the
Medford
Mail Tribune (espousing the tourism benefits that will accrue throughout
Oregon) and
Eugene
Register-Guard (endorsing the MLB Jobs Bill). Here’s the week that
was, in case you couldn’t catch up with all the details:
Strong
Pitch to State Senate Committee
The Oregon Stadium Campaign
presented a very detailed and determined case to the Oregon State Senate Rules
Committee on HB 3606 – also known as the MLB Jobs Bill – last
Thursday in Salem.
State Senator Kate Brown, co-chair of the committee,
called the presentation "very compelling."
Covering all bases, from job
creation to economic development to stimulating the statewide tourism industry
to quality of life, the 90-minute presentation even managed to turn one
previously undecided observer from rural Oregon into a strong proponent of the
bill. The gentleman from Sublimity was so emphatic in his newfound support,
that some elected officials asked if he was a plant. He was NOT!
The
Rules Committee will conduct more due diligence over the coming days before
scheduling a vote on the measure. If passed in the Rules Committee, HB 3606 is
currently on track to be referred to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, but
there’s growing momentum for simply sending it directly to the full Senate
for a vote.
Now is the time to reach out with personal contacts to all
key state senators. For more information on how to do that, please refer to the
OSC website @
http://www.oregonstadiumcampaign.com/govt.htm.
Governor Kulongoski Supports the Bill
At that same
hearing, Howard Lavine, a policy adviser to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, proclaimed the
Governor’s strong endorsement of the MLB Jobs Bill.
"He's comfortable supporting the bill because of the extraordinary
protection to the state and taxpayers," Lavine said. "He's satisfied that House
Bill 3606 meets his bottom line requirements."
OSC
Tour Stop
And at almost the exact same time as the Salem
testimony, 55 hard-core fans were traveling up I-5 in an OSC custom-coach bus,
fully stocked with pizza and pop courtesy of Mayor Vera Katz and others, to see
Portland’s potential home team of next year taking on the Seattle
Mariners. As the 12th and final television camera left our crew to enjoy the
game, the hearing was just winding down in Salem. We’ll let you decide who
had the most fun as you read the following excerpt quoting Montreal Expos
General Manager Omar Minaya from a story in the Seattle Post
Intelligencer.
A group of fans bused up from Portland to see the game
last night. But this group was up to see the Expos, the team Portland hopes to
lure West.
"That's a first for me," Minaya said. "I'm glad they're
coming to support our club. We have a good team to watch."
MLB Executives Drill Down with the Mayor & Governor’s
staff
By the end of the week’s whirlwind it was almost easy
to forget that three of MLB’s key executives had come to town for the
first face to face meetings since March with OSC leaders, Mayor Katz and staff
and representatives of the Governor’s office.
Emerging from
several hours of intensive meetings, Mayor Katz told a horde of media that it
was time for Portland to show cautious optimism in it’s attempts to land
the Montreal Expos. With OSC leader David Kahn at her side, Katz & Kahn
summarized the meeting as another in a series of important steps that still
need to take place and said MLB remained quite encouraging of Portland’s
efforts to secure the Expos before the relocation committee reports to
Commissioner Bud Selig in mid-July – though much work remains in that
tight time frame. MLB executives did view PGE Park and asked a number of
questions about the use of the stadium as a temporary home for the Expos.
Later that same day, at lunch with numerous supporters, the MLB
executives were informed that Oregon’s list of supporting civic, business
and non-profit organizations has grown to nearly 600, with the recent addition
of Fred Meyer and many others.
Oregon CARE
Package
The final exclamation point to the week came when The
Oregonian’s John Hunt captured an eye-opening quote from Montreal Expos
relief pitcher Dan Smith, while Smith was preparing for a game at SAFECO field.
He was discussing the Expos’ travel schedule and said how much he hoped
that Portland would land his team saying “I think Portland would be a
great place to call home.”
Let’s just say the good folks at
the Portland Oregon Visitors Association took note and sent off a special
Oregon care package to Smith to share with his teammates and make sure they
know exactly just how welcome they would be, should MLB send the Expos our way.
The proud founding
sponsors of the Oregon Stadium Campaign are:
Pacific Power,
adidas,
Platt Electric,
The Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde, Oregon
Sports Authority and
Moffatt/Rosenthal. |
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