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Street Level Economics |
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Geographic Area: Oregon Reporter: JFry I work in downtown Portland and take a daily 45 minute walk through the downtown area as exercise. I also note daily any subtle changes in the behavior of the homeless and destitute. Over the past year I have seen a significant increase in the number and types of homeless. The most disturbing aspect is the number that are dumpster diving in one dumpster. While the norm used to be 1 at a time, now I see 2-3 at a time. Another scary feature is that the clothing of some of the divers are fairly nice and you wouldn't notice them as homeless or destitute if they weren't hanging out of a dumpster or garbage can. Was the trip from affluence to poverty so swift their clothing didn't even have time to wear out and become ragged? ? ? Reporter: Michael B Maybe not be an economic development , but for over two years I’ve been interested in getting DSL for my home computer. Dallas, Oregon has might as well been Diego Garcia, as Qwest has always said “ sorry, not available – would you like to try our fine dial-up service”. I even went so far as to leave my e-mail on a waiting list, and forgot all about it. Until today. I cast a sidelong glance at the headlines and see “criminal investigation, “Qwest”, and “lost 30% of it’s value” all in the same cheery sentence. Hmmm, sounds bad for the big Q. What’s that e-mail say – my number is now eligible for DSL? Gosh, after years of creative revenue recognition – “Don’t I recognize you from the Island Club?”, maybe they want to get some real cash. Gee, should I help make their next interest payment? Nah…. |
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