Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Rich Shepard]

On Wed, 8 Mar 2023, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:


Ridership on all mass transit has fallen and is stagnant. The original
dream was they would get all of the middle and upper middle class people
riding it when the Freeways like I5 and US 26 were overcapacity. For 4
decades highway policy in PDX has been to encourage congestion in order to
force people out of cars into transportation Alternatives.


Ted,

In 1973 I was living in east central Illinois (Urbana) when the arab oil
embargo hit. The politicos in DC urged eveyone to use public transportation
which was readily available in the Boston-DC corridor but not in flyover
country. Urbana/Champaign had no bus service and few taxis. The railroad
passenger train stopped once per day (as it did in Pocatello, ID, too). We
had no alternative but drive in our POVs.


I recall in the 1990's literally going 5Mph all the way from Cornelius
Pass Road to downtown PDX at 5pm at night. No longer, it's been years
since it's been like that.


When I arrived in Portland in 1990 I lived in NE and commuted to an office
downtown. Buses took about 45 minutes in the morning and 1 hour or more in
the evening. There were no places to park near a MAX stop. It took me about
15 minutes (morning) and 30 minutes (evening) to drive the 3 or so miles.

I was told that Portland deliberately limited parking downtown to get people
to use MAX or buses, but they provided parking no closer than Gateway (as I
learned when I moved to Troutdale), and that lot was small and had high
vehicle damage incidents. I wrote to the city suggesting they put a parking
structure over I-84 at 42nd Ave which is a hub for bus and light rail. Never
received a response. The furthest eastern MAX terminus is about 3 miles from
home and it took more than 1 hour each way to commute to downtown so I soon
gave up on that.

Policies may be nice in theory but have unintended consequences.

Rich

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

In NYC the LIRR is mostly above ground the subway is below ground, they are 
separate systems.

Some really interesting historical pics here of how the system is built:

https://www.quora.com/Are-the-streets-in-Manhattan-directly-above-the-subways-If-so-how-do-the-streets-not-collapse-with-the-weight-of-the-cars-buildings-etc-since-below-the-street-it-seems-to-be-hollow#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20there%20are%20blocks,electrical%20tunnels%2C%20and%20homeless%20villages.

I would have preferred the rail system underground as well in Portland but the 
increased cost would have prevented them from reaching Hillsboro and the 
Hillsboro mayor was heavily lobbying for it to get out to there.

The biggest problem with MAX, WES and the rest of those systems is they have 
been effectively obsoleted by the Work From Home trend.

Ironically, the biggest enabler of WFH is Intel since without their chips we 
would not have the infrastructure today for it to exist so that the average Ma 
and Pa Kettle could access it.

Ridership on all mass transit has fallen and is stagnant.  The original dream 
was they would get all of the middle and upper middle class people riding it 
when the
Freeways like I5 and US 26 were overcapacity.  For 4 decades highway policy in 
PDX has been to encourage congestion in order to force people out of cars into 
transportation
Alternatives.

The unexpected side effect though has been to force them out of their cars into 
working from their homes.  This destroyed the congestion needed to execute this 
policy.  It also is killing restaurant and other retail downtown and the city 
people are tearing their hair out over this.

Now the local governments are pursuing a new policy - trying to tax people out 
of their cars with tolling.  But the reality is that the wealthier workers - 
the ones with higher paid skills and who are in most demand - can negotiate and 
force WFH and so over time they will be paying very little in the way of tolls. 
  It will be the poorer less skilled workers who can be forced to go into 
offices who will be paying the bulk of tolling.  And the entire justification 
for tolling is to build new transit infrastructure - which is simply not needed 
today.

I recall in the 1990's literally going 5Mph all the way from Cornelius Pass 
Road to downtown PDX at 5pm at night.  No longer, it's been years since it's 
been like that.

Ted


-Original Message-
From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Tomas Kuchta
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 11:43 AM
To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

On Tue, Mar 7, 2023, 13:59 Ted Mittelstaedt  wrote:

> IMHO the problem with that is an excessive number of MAX stations.
>
> When I was in NYC I noticed very few stations downtown on the rail.  
> You got on at penn station then the train flew out to the bouroghs.  
> And that thing moved damn fast.  MAX rail speed is much slower IMHO 
> the result of political decisions of giving a stop to everyone to 
> satisfy people not willing to walk 5 blocks downtown.
> .


Max needs to go underground in the downtown area - only then it can go fast, 
don't stop at junctions and each stop can cover a few blocks with different 
exits.

IMHO - from simply learning/observing how it is done elsewhere

>

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Tomas Kuchta]

On Tue, Mar 7, 2023, 13:59 Ted Mittelstaedt  wrote:

> IMHO the problem with that is an excessive number of MAX stations.
>
> When I was in NYC I noticed very few stations downtown on the rail.  You
> got on at penn station then the train flew out to the bouroghs.  And that
> thing moved damn fast.  MAX rail speed is much slower IMHO the result of
> political decisions of giving a stop to everyone to satisfy people not
> willing to walk 5 blocks downtown.
> .


Max needs to go underground in the downtown area - only then it can go
fast, don't stop at junctions and each stop can cover a few blocks with
different exits.

IMHO - from simply learning/observing how it is done elsewhere

>

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

IMHO the problem with that is an excessive number of MAX stations.

When I was in NYC I noticed very few stations downtown on the rail.  You got on 
at penn station then the train flew out to the bouroghs.  And that thing moved 
damn fast.  MAX rail speed is much slower IMHO the result of political 
decisions of giving a stop to everyone to satisfy people not willing to walk 5 
blocks downtown.

Ted

-Original Message-
From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Vince Winter
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 7:52 AM
To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

To chime in on the Hillsboro commute. The max from near PSU to Hillsboro 
airport is hour and ten minutes to hour twenty minutes, depending on 
connections. This is my daily grind of commuting, right now.

On Tue, Mar 7, 2023, 07:27 Ted Mittelstaedt  wrote:

> Retail everywhere has been hard hit by Amazon.  I don't know the 
> answer for this but when a spark plug for my car from OReilly's costs 
> $12 a plug and I can get a box of 4 of the exact same plugs from 
> Amazon for $20 I don't see how you are going to recover it.
>
> Most of the problem with places looking scummy isn't the retail 
> businesses IMHO it's that current tax law and local laws all favor 
> keeping retail space intact even when it would be better to demolish it and 
> put in
> housing.   We need housing badly we need more retail space like a hole in
> the head.  If we didn't have an oversupply of retail space that gun 
> shop couldn't afford the stripmall space and wouldn't be there.
>
> Ted
>
> -Original Message-
> From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Ben Koenig
> Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 6:57 AM
> To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...
>
> Sidewalks are apparently not a thing in Hillsboro. For all the talk 
> about big tech in Hillsboro the actual center of the city has yet to 
> re-discover ancient Roman technology.
>
> Last time I was actually down there the whole area closed up because 
> someone made a run for it during a murder trial. Last 2 MAX stations 
> were closed and the entire area was on lockdown. TBH  Hillsboro is 
> like a white ghetto... people say great things but when you actually 
> go there it's nothing but dingy SMBs and semi-homeless dudes looking for an 
> opportunity.
> The whole place is spooky.
>
> I've learned recently that the "Hillsboro experience" is not uniform.
> People love to mention all the tech companies out here but there are 
> places where you can look behind the curtain and see a completely different 
> world.
> Kinda like at the Olympics where they built that wall to hide the 
> actual China from everyone. LOL
>
> That giant Salesforce building always makes me laugh. It's right 
> across from a dingy strip mall that has a church AND a gun store. That 
> street is like Corporate America, God 'n Guns, and Woke culture 
> staring each other down in a good 'ol Mexican Standoff.
> -Ben
>
>
> --- Original Message ---
> On Monday, March 6th, 2023 at 5:21 PM, Ted Mittelstaedt < 
> t...@portlandia-it.com> wrote:
>
>
> > There's lots of places afterwards near Hawthorne Farms. But like any 
> > suburban place they expect you to be driving cars to get to them. 
> > Mass Transit is sort of a novelty out there. It's kind of like the 
> > token green thing they drag out and show people to prove they care 
> > about the environment. LOL (disclaimer I grew up a few miles from 
> > there)
> >
> > Ted
> >
> > -----Original Message-
> > From: PLUG plug-boun...@pdxlinux.org On Behalf Of Keith Lofstrom
> >
> > Sent: Monday, March 6, 2023 2:52 PM
> > To: Portland Linux/Unix Group plug@pdxlinux.org
> >
> > Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 05, 2023 at 01:54:29PM -0800, Michael Ewan wrote:
> >
> > > If you can find a member at Intel or a sponsor there, the 
> > > auditoriums are free to use and are outside the security area. The 
> > > Hawthorne Farms site is ideal since it is on the MAX line. Of 
> > > course that implies people will want to travel to Hillsboro.
> >
> >
> > I've attended many IEEE meetings at Intel Hawthorne Farms.
> > The Max Blue Line stop is a 7 minute walk south of HF3.
> > A meeting at Intel might attract some interesting speakers and
> attendees. Not much nearby for afters.
> >
> > But then, I live in Beaverton, and I've noticed that many 
> > Portlanders
> encounter an invisible force barrier west of Washington Park, perhaps 
> the same force barrier that I encounter near Vancouver and Gresham and 
> Gladstone.
> >
> > Keith
> >
> > --
> > Keith Lofstrom kei...@keithl.com
>

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Vince Winter]

To chime in on the Hillsboro commute. The max from near PSU to Hillsboro
airport is hour and ten minutes to hour twenty minutes, depending on
connections. This is my daily grind of commuting, right now.

On Tue, Mar 7, 2023, 07:27 Ted Mittelstaedt  wrote:

> Retail everywhere has been hard hit by Amazon.  I don't know the answer
> for this but when a spark plug for my car from OReilly's costs $12 a plug
> and I can get a box of 4 of the exact same plugs from Amazon for $20 I
> don't see how you are going to recover it.
>
> Most of the problem with places looking scummy isn't the retail businesses
> IMHO it's that current tax law and local laws all favor keeping retail
> space intact even when it would be better to demolish it and put in
> housing.   We need housing badly we need more retail space like a hole in
> the head.  If we didn't have an oversupply of retail space that gun shop
> couldn't afford the stripmall space and wouldn't be there.
>
> Ted
>
> -Original Message-
> From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Ben Koenig
> Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 6:57 AM
> To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...
>
> Sidewalks are apparently not a thing in Hillsboro. For all the talk about
> big tech in Hillsboro the actual center of the city has yet to re-discover
> ancient Roman technology.
>
> Last time I was actually down there the whole area closed up because
> someone made a run for it during a murder trial. Last 2 MAX stations were
> closed and the entire area was on lockdown. TBH  Hillsboro is like a white
> ghetto... people say great things but when you actually go there it's
> nothing but dingy SMBs and semi-homeless dudes looking for an opportunity.
> The whole place is spooky.
>
> I've learned recently that the "Hillsboro experience" is not uniform.
> People love to mention all the tech companies out here but there are places
> where you can look behind the curtain and see a completely different world.
> Kinda like at the Olympics where they built that wall to hide the actual
> China from everyone. LOL
>
> That giant Salesforce building always makes me laugh. It's right across
> from a dingy strip mall that has a church AND a gun store. That street is
> like Corporate America, God 'n Guns, and Woke culture staring each other
> down in a good 'ol Mexican Standoff.
> -Ben
>
>
> --- Original Message ---
> On Monday, March 6th, 2023 at 5:21 PM, Ted Mittelstaedt <
> t...@portlandia-it.com> wrote:
>
>
> > There's lots of places afterwards near Hawthorne Farms. But like any
> > suburban place they expect you to be driving cars to get to them. Mass
> > Transit is sort of a novelty out there. It's kind of like the token
> > green thing they drag out and show people to prove they care about the
> > environment. LOL (disclaimer I grew up a few miles from there)
> >
> > Ted
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: PLUG plug-boun...@pdxlinux.org On Behalf Of Keith Lofstrom
> >
> > Sent: Monday, March 6, 2023 2:52 PM
> > To: Portland Linux/Unix Group plug@pdxlinux.org
> >
> > Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 05, 2023 at 01:54:29PM -0800, Michael Ewan wrote:
> >
> > > If you can find a member at Intel or a sponsor there, the
> > > auditoriums are free to use and are outside the security area. The
> > > Hawthorne Farms site is ideal since it is on the MAX line. Of course
> > > that implies people will want to travel to Hillsboro.
> >
> >
> > I've attended many IEEE meetings at Intel Hawthorne Farms.
> > The Max Blue Line stop is a 7 minute walk south of HF3.
> > A meeting at Intel might attract some interesting speakers and
> attendees. Not much nearby for afters.
> >
> > But then, I live in Beaverton, and I've noticed that many Portlanders
> encounter an invisible force barrier west of Washington Park, perhaps the
> same force barrier that I encounter near Vancouver and Gresham and
> Gladstone.
> >
> > Keith
> >
> > --
> > Keith Lofstrom kei...@keithl.com
>

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

Retail everywhere has been hard hit by Amazon.  I don't know the answer for 
this but when a spark plug for my car from OReilly's costs $12 a plug and I can 
get a box of 4 of the exact same plugs from Amazon for $20 I don't see how you 
are going to recover it.

Most of the problem with places looking scummy isn't the retail businesses IMHO 
it's that current tax law and local laws all favor keeping retail space intact 
even when it would be better to demolish it and put in housing.   We need 
housing badly we need more retail space like a hole in the head.  If we didn't 
have an oversupply of retail space that gun shop couldn't afford the stripmall 
space and wouldn't be there.

Ted 

-Original Message-
From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Ben Koenig
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 6:57 AM
To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

Sidewalks are apparently not a thing in Hillsboro. For all the talk about big 
tech in Hillsboro the actual center of the city has yet to re-discover ancient 
Roman technology.

Last time I was actually down there the whole area closed up because someone 
made a run for it during a murder trial. Last 2 MAX stations were closed and 
the entire area was on lockdown. TBH  Hillsboro is like a white ghetto... 
people say great things but when you actually go there it's nothing but dingy 
SMBs and semi-homeless dudes looking for an opportunity. The whole place is 
spooky.

I've learned recently that the "Hillsboro experience" is not uniform. People 
love to mention all the tech companies out here but there are places where you 
can look behind the curtain and see a completely different world. Kinda like at 
the Olympics where they built that wall to hide the actual China from everyone. 
LOL

That giant Salesforce building always makes me laugh. It's right across from a 
dingy strip mall that has a church AND a gun store. That street is like 
Corporate America, God 'n Guns, and Woke culture staring each other down in a 
good 'ol Mexican Standoff. 
-Ben


--- Original Message ---
On Monday, March 6th, 2023 at 5:21 PM, Ted Mittelstaedt 
 wrote:


> There's lots of places afterwards near Hawthorne Farms. But like any 
> suburban place they expect you to be driving cars to get to them. Mass 
> Transit is sort of a novelty out there. It's kind of like the token 
> green thing they drag out and show people to prove they care about the 
> environment. LOL (disclaimer I grew up a few miles from there)
> 
> Ted
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: PLUG plug-boun...@pdxlinux.org On Behalf Of Keith Lofstrom
> 
> Sent: Monday, March 6, 2023 2:52 PM
> To: Portland Linux/Unix Group plug@pdxlinux.org
> 
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...
> 
> On Sun, Mar 05, 2023 at 01:54:29PM -0800, Michael Ewan wrote:
> 
> > If you can find a member at Intel or a sponsor there, the 
> > auditoriums are free to use and are outside the security area. The 
> > Hawthorne Farms site is ideal since it is on the MAX line. Of course 
> > that implies people will want to travel to Hillsboro.
> 
> 
> I've attended many IEEE meetings at Intel Hawthorne Farms.
> The Max Blue Line stop is a 7 minute walk south of HF3.
> A meeting at Intel might attract some interesting speakers and attendees. Not 
> much nearby for afters.
> 
> But then, I live in Beaverton, and I've noticed that many Portlanders 
> encounter an invisible force barrier west of Washington Park, perhaps the 
> same force barrier that I encounter near Vancouver and Gresham and Gladstone.
> 
> Keith
> 
> --
> Keith Lofstrom kei...@keithl.com

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Ben Koenig]

Sidewalks are apparently not a thing in Hillsboro. For all the talk about big 
tech in Hillsboro the actual center of the city has yet to re-discover ancient 
Roman technology.

Last time I was actually down there the whole area closed up because someone 
made a run for it during a murder trial. Last 2 MAX stations were closed and 
the entire area was on lockdown. TBH  Hillsboro is like a white ghetto... 
people say great things but when you actually go there it's nothing but dingy 
SMBs and semi-homeless dudes looking for an opportunity. The whole place is 
spooky.

I've learned recently that the "Hillsboro experience" is not uniform. People 
love to mention all the tech companies out here but there are places where you 
can look behind the curtain and see a completely different world. Kinda like at 
the Olympics where they built that wall to hide the actual China from everyone. 
LOL

That giant Salesforce building always makes me laugh. It's right across from a 
dingy strip mall that has a church AND a gun store. That street is like 
Corporate America, God 'n Guns, and Woke culture staring each other down in a 
good 'ol Mexican Standoff. 
-Ben


--- Original Message ---
On Monday, March 6th, 2023 at 5:21 PM, Ted Mittelstaedt 
 wrote:


> There's lots of places afterwards near Hawthorne Farms. But like any suburban 
> place they expect you to be driving cars to get to them. Mass Transit is sort 
> of a novelty out there. It's kind of like the token green thing they drag out 
> and show people to prove they care about the environment. LOL (disclaimer I 
> grew up a few miles from there)
> 
> Ted
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: PLUG plug-boun...@pdxlinux.org On Behalf Of Keith Lofstrom
> 
> Sent: Monday, March 6, 2023 2:52 PM
> To: Portland Linux/Unix Group plug@pdxlinux.org
> 
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...
> 
> On Sun, Mar 05, 2023 at 01:54:29PM -0800, Michael Ewan wrote:
> 
> > If you can find a member at Intel or a sponsor there, the auditoriums
> > are free to use and are outside the security area. The Hawthorne
> > Farms site is ideal since it is on the MAX line. Of course that
> > implies people will want to travel to Hillsboro.
> 
> 
> I've attended many IEEE meetings at Intel Hawthorne Farms.
> The Max Blue Line stop is a 7 minute walk south of HF3.
> A meeting at Intel might attract some interesting speakers and attendees. Not 
> much nearby for afters.
> 
> But then, I live in Beaverton, and I've noticed that many Portlanders 
> encounter an invisible force barrier west of Washington Park, perhaps the 
> same force barrier that I encounter near Vancouver and Gresham and Gladstone.
> 
> Keith
> 
> --
> Keith Lofstrom kei...@keithl.com

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Ben Koenig]

--- Original Message ---
On Monday, March 6th, 2023 at 7:07 PM, Russell Senior  
wrote:


> Larry Brigman larry.brig...@gmail.com writes:
> 
> > Take light rail to downtown Hillsboro (3rd street station?) to find a
> > few places for after-hours. Sports Look is right at the stop. Other
> > places are only a couple of blocks away.
> 
> 
> Fwiw, anecdotally, public transit time from Hillsboro Transit Center to
> my home in NE Portland is 1.5 hours (and 35 minutes by car).
> 
> 
> --
> Russell Senior
> russ...@pdxlinux.org

Is that bus or MAX? I often take the MAX between NE Portland to Hillsboro and 
1.5hrs seems excessive.

-Ben

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Russell Senior]

Larry Brigman  writes:

> Take light rail to downtown Hillsboro (3rd street station?)  to find a
> few places for after-hours.  Sports Look is right at the stop.  Other
> places are only a couple of blocks away.

Fwiw, anecdotally, public transit time from Hillsboro Transit Center to
my home in NE Portland is 1.5 hours (and 35 minutes by car).


-- 
Russell Senior
russ...@pdxlinux.org

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Larry Brigman]

Take light rail to downtown Hillsboro (3rd street station?)  to find a few
places for after-hours.
Sports Look is right at the stop.  Other places are only a couple of blocks
away.


On Mon, Mar 6, 2023 at 5:21 PM Ted Mittelstaedt 
wrote:

> There's lots of places afterwards near Hawthorne Farms.  But like any
> suburban place they expect you to be driving cars to get to them.  Mass
> Transit is sort of a novelty out there.  It's kind of like the token green
> thing they drag out and show people to prove they care about the
> environment.  LOL   (disclaimer I grew up a few miles from there)
>
> Ted
>
> -Original Message-
> From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Keith Lofstrom
> Sent: Monday, March 6, 2023 2:52 PM
> To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...
>
> On Sun, Mar 05, 2023 at 01:54:29PM -0800, Michael Ewan wrote:
> > If you can find a member at Intel or a sponsor there, the auditoriums
> > are free to use and are outside the security area.  The Hawthorne
> > Farms site is ideal since it is on the MAX line.  Of course that
> > implies people will want to travel to Hillsboro.
>
> I've attended many IEEE meetings at Intel Hawthorne Farms.
> The Max Blue Line stop is a 7 minute walk south of HF3.
> A meeting at Intel might attract some interesting speakers and attendees.
> Not much nearby for afters.
>
> But then, I live in Beaverton, and I've noticed that many Portlanders
> encounter an invisible force barrier west of Washington Park, perhaps the
> same force barrier that I encounter near Vancouver and Gresham and
> Gladstone.
>
> Keith
>
> --
> Keith Lofstrom  kei...@keithl.com
>

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

There's lots of places afterwards near Hawthorne Farms.  But like any suburban 
place they expect you to be driving cars to get to them.  Mass Transit is sort 
of a novelty out there.  It's kind of like the token green thing they drag out 
and show people to prove they care about the environment.  LOL   (disclaimer I 
grew up a few miles from there)

Ted

-Original Message-
From: PLUG  On Behalf Of Keith Lofstrom
Sent: Monday, March 6, 2023 2:52 PM
To: Portland Linux/Unix Group 
Subject: Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

On Sun, Mar 05, 2023 at 01:54:29PM -0800, Michael Ewan wrote:
> If you can find a member at Intel or a sponsor there, the auditoriums 
> are free to use and are outside the security area.  The Hawthorne 
> Farms site is ideal since it is on the MAX line.  Of course that 
> implies people will want to travel to Hillsboro.

I've attended many IEEE meetings at Intel Hawthorne Farms.
The Max Blue Line stop is a 7 minute walk south of HF3. 
A meeting at Intel might attract some interesting speakers and attendees.  Not 
much nearby for afters.

But then, I live in Beaverton, and I've noticed that many Portlanders encounter 
an invisible force barrier west of Washington Park, perhaps the same force 
barrier that I encounter near Vancouver and Gresham and Gladstone.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom  kei...@keithl.com

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Keith Lofstrom]

On Sun, Mar 05, 2023 at 01:54:29PM -0800, Michael Ewan wrote:
> If you can find a member at Intel or a sponsor there, the auditoriums
> are free to use and are outside the security area.  The Hawthorne
> Farms site is ideal since it is on the MAX line.  Of course that
> implies people will want to travel to Hillsboro.

I've attended many IEEE meetings at Intel Hawthorne Farms.
The Max Blue Line stop is a 7 minute walk south of HF3. 
A meeting at Intel might attract some interesting speakers
and attendees.  Not much nearby for afters.

But then, I live in Beaverton, and I've noticed that many
Portlanders encounter an invisible force barrier west of
Washington Park, perhaps the same force barrier that I
encounter near Vancouver and Gresham and Gladstone.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom  kei...@keithl.com

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Russell Senior]

On Sun, Mar 5, 2023 at 3:08 AM John Sechrest <
sechr...@seattleangelconference.com> wrote:

> I have found for the many workshops and meetings that I run in Seattle,
> that having a consistent place and time, with low friction makes a
> different in attendance.
>

Yes, I agree. Consistent location and time is important. When I started
going to PLUG meetings 20 years ago, I recall it taking me like three
months to figure out where I was supposed to be and when. I kept
remembering the next day, or too late in the evening, and so forth.

However, we are in a transition phase right now and some uncertainty and
variability is already built in, so the incremental cost is relatively
small.


>
> To that end, I had someone scrape all of the "tech" meetup happenings in
> the seattle area meetup and built a spreadsheet of venues, sponsors and
> meeting room sizes.
>
> That ended up with some insight into the opportunities
>
> While there is then the associated pain of keeping something up to date,
> The ability to look at the venue list can be helpful to the community.
>
> This is what my list looks like in Seattle.
>
>
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dFNsuOkeeZjtDX6gchl6HDWdhrUbp7lFwGHcZTolGUU/edit?usp=sharing
>
> I was able to get it updated a couple of times by using Filipina Virtual
> assistants.
>
> I wonder if there is any interest in building a data set like this for
> portland, so you can give a gift to the community organizers who are
> trying to make a stronger ecosystem?
>

We already have calagator.org, which has a lot of this information. But
your methodology also helped remind me calagator exists and might be
exploited for this purpose.


>
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 5, 2023 at 7:05 AM Russell Senior 
> wrote:
>
> > There is more work to do in exploring the General Meeting venue solution
> > space. The Portland Building was nice, and vaguely workable, with some
> > downsides:
> >
> >a) building access is at least as bad as PSU. Outside door locked,
> > calls to building security were not particularly welcome due to the walk
> > involved for the poor guy, meaning we had to station someone at the door
> > to let people in.
> >
> >b) they are going to want to start charging, unless we can find a
> > bureau sponsor (which is possible);
> >
> >c) they want a city employee to babysit us (which *might* be
> > possible, but it's hard to imagine, I have some feelers out);
> >
> > I am going to keep pushing, because I think it's bad policy to treat
> > community groups as unwanted aliens in public buildings, but I'm just
> > one person. Victory is not assured.
> >
> > On the plus side, no one was frisked for nail clippers.
> >
> > I am going to ping the PSU people again, but I think the most likely
> > venue for April at this point is probably back at the Latvian Center.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Russell Senior
> > russ...@pdxlinux.org
> >
>
>
> --
> --
> [image: www.seattleangelconference.com]
> 
>
> *JOHN SECHREST*
> *Founder, *Seattle Angel Conference
> TEL  (541) 250-0844EMAIL  sechr...@seattleangel.com
> Schedule A Meeting 
>
> http://seattleangelconference.com
> @nwangelconf
>
> An Investor driven event bringing together new investors and new
> entrepreneurs to expand the startup ecosystem.
>

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Michael Ewan]

If you can find a member at Intel or a sponsor there, the auditoriums
are free to use and are outside the security area.  The Hawthorne
Farms site is ideal since it is on the MAX line.  Of course that
implies people will want to travel to Hillsboro.

On Sat, Mar 4, 2023 at 10:04 PM Russell Senior  wrote:
>
> There is more work to do in exploring the General Meeting venue solution
> space. The Portland Building was nice, and vaguely workable, with some
> downsides:
>
>a) building access is at least as bad as PSU. Outside door locked,
> calls to building security were not particularly welcome due to the walk
> involved for the poor guy, meaning we had to station someone at the door
> to let people in.
>
>b) they are going to want to start charging, unless we can find a
> bureau sponsor (which is possible);
>
>c) they want a city employee to babysit us (which *might* be
> possible, but it's hard to imagine, I have some feelers out);
>
> I am going to keep pushing, because I think it's bad policy to treat
> community groups as unwanted aliens in public buildings, but I'm just
> one person. Victory is not assured.
>
> On the plus side, no one was frisked for nail clippers.
>
> I am going to ping the PSU people again, but I think the most likely
> venue for April at this point is probably back at the Latvian Center.
>
>
> --
> Russell Senior
> russ...@pdxlinux.org

Re: [PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[John Sechrest]

I have found for the many workshops and meetings that I run in Seattle,
that having a consistent place and time, with low friction makes a
different in attendance.

To that end, I had someone scrape all of the "tech" meetup happenings in
the seattle area meetup and built a spreadsheet of venues, sponsors and
meeting room sizes.

That ended up with some insight into the opportunities

While there is then the associated pain of keeping something up to date,
The ability to look at the venue list can be helpful to the community.

This is what my list looks like in Seattle.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dFNsuOkeeZjtDX6gchl6HDWdhrUbp7lFwGHcZTolGUU/edit?usp=sharing

I was able to get it updated a couple of times by using Filipina Virtual
assistants.

I wonder if there is any interest in building a data set like this for
portland, so you can give a gift to the community organizers who are
trying to make a stronger ecosystem?



On Sun, Mar 5, 2023 at 7:05 AM Russell Senior  wrote:

> There is more work to do in exploring the General Meeting venue solution
> space. The Portland Building was nice, and vaguely workable, with some
> downsides:
>
>a) building access is at least as bad as PSU. Outside door locked,
> calls to building security were not particularly welcome due to the walk
> involved for the poor guy, meaning we had to station someone at the door
> to let people in.
>
>b) they are going to want to start charging, unless we can find a
> bureau sponsor (which is possible);
>
>c) they want a city employee to babysit us (which *might* be
> possible, but it's hard to imagine, I have some feelers out);
>
> I am going to keep pushing, because I think it's bad policy to treat
> community groups as unwanted aliens in public buildings, but I'm just
> one person. Victory is not assured.
>
> On the plus side, no one was frisked for nail clippers.
>
> I am going to ping the PSU people again, but I think the most likely
> venue for April at this point is probably back at the Latvian Center.
>
>
> --
> Russell Senior
> russ...@pdxlinux.org
>


-- 
--
[image: www.seattleangelconference.com]


*JOHN SECHREST*
*Founder, *Seattle Angel Conference
TEL  (541) 250-0844EMAIL  sechr...@seattleangel.com
Schedule A Meeting 

http://seattleangelconference.com
@nwangelconf

An Investor driven event bringing together new investors and new
entrepreneurs to expand the startup ecosystem.

[PLUG] Venue for next month ...

[Russell Senior]

There is more work to do in exploring the General Meeting venue solution 
space. The Portland Building was nice, and vaguely workable, with some 
downsides:


  a) building access is at least as bad as PSU. Outside door locked, 
calls to building security were not particularly welcome due to the walk 
involved for the poor guy, meaning we had to station someone at the door 
to let people in.


  b) they are going to want to start charging, unless we can find a 
bureau sponsor (which is possible);


  c) they want a city employee to babysit us (which *might* be 
possible, but it's hard to imagine, I have some feelers out);


I am going to keep pushing, because I think it's bad policy to treat 
community groups as unwanted aliens in public buildings, but I'm just 
one person. Victory is not assured.


On the plus side, no one was frisked for nail clippers.

I am going to ping the PSU people again, but I think the most likely 
venue for April at this point is probably back at the Latvian Center.



--
Russell Senior
russ...@pdxlinux.org