Pink Martini's Thomas Lauderdale: Memorial Coliseum "one of the best buildings in the city."

He's not an elected official or business leader of any kind, but musician Thomas Lauderdale one of the city's most admired figures in the arts & culture scene. His band, Pink Martini, is also internationally renowned.

Lauderdale was among those who organized a press conference at City Hall in support of Mayor Adams when the scandal involving Beau Breedlove broke out

But now, he says that while he doesn't necessarily regret defending the mayor against a rush to judgment happening during the Breedlove scandal, he is dismayed that the mayor is planning to demolish Memorial Coliseum.

"I am extremely disappointed in the position that Mayor Adams has seemingly taken," Lauderdale said this afternoon by phone. "Memorial Coliseum is one of the best buildings this city has, and one of the most beautiful."

Also, Lauderdale added, "We're a growing city and we don't have a comparable other facility. And certainly nothing we build now will be as beautiful. Look at the recent attempts by the city like the Rose Garden, or even the Portland Building. When you compare the Rose Garden to Memorial Coliseum it's clear which is the greater building."

"I also find it curious and alarming that all of this is happening in such an accelerated fashion, without a proper public process. This is unacceptable."

The pianist and composer whose Pink Martini work has been broadcast on French television, PBS, and staged at the Cannes Film Festival, recalls seeing the Oregon Symphony and numerous Trail Blazer games at Memorial Coliseum over the years. And this September, Pink Martini will be playing a concert at the Coliseum, which Lauderdale says will be part of Oregon's 150th birthday celebration and may also become part of the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's Time-Based Art (TBA) Festival.

"He’s told the veterans he’s promising them a better building," Lauderdale adds, "which is why the veterans are behind this. They’re not going to get a better building. We’ll be left with something as ugly as the Rose Quarter or the Portland Building. And then it will be too late."

Comments

[Lucas]

Next you ought to run a piece wherein an architect critiques Pink Martini's increasingly boring music.

Honestly, this is like a rejected Onion article.

[ws]

I've heard the coliseum frequently criticized for bad acoustics. So, it's good to hear that a musician believes the building has merit despite that particular issue.

Pink Martini's music isn't music I'm partial to, but to be fair, it's musicians have created music that many people seem to find exciting and enjoyable. Seems like they were even considered good enough to be invited to play at the White House.

[johnson]

What does Tonya Harding think of this whole mess?

[pylon]

Can the MC "shell" be kept, given a little TLC and energy efficiency, and be used to house the Live! businesses? It would probably look classier and less silly than some of the structures these entertainment zones are put in. It would also make for a great glassy rain shelter to view the city from while doing things inside. Turnaround on a project like this could be done very eco-friendly and quick. With less risk and cost.

Not putting the SMART tower in here during this development seems like a missed opportunity. It would help bring business to the area when there are no games going on, and be an additional draw for conventions.

[Paul Cone]

Lucas, in the statements above Lauderdale wasn't talking just about architecture -- he was talking about civics and the public process (or rather lack of, in this case), something which he knows about. From his Wikipedia bio...

"He graduated from Portland's Ulysses S. Grant High School in 1988, where he was student body president and editorial editor of The Grantonian. Thomas went on to study at Harvard University, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in History and Literature."

"Beginning in high school, Thomas became interested in politics. He worked in Portland City Hall, first under Mayor J.E. “Bud” Clark, in the office of international relations, and later under City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury on the city's civil rights ordinance. He was appointed by Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt to the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee; by Portland Mayor Bud Clark to the Metropolitan Youth Commission and by City Commissioner Mike Lindberg to the Public Safety in the Parks Task Force. In 1992, after serving a brief stint as a security guard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, he moved back to Portland … and became immediately involved in the No on 9 and No on 13 Campaigns, in response to two measures that would amend the Oregon constitution to declare homosexuality illegal."

[Aneeda]

Tonight's meeting was a complete waste of time. This mayor isn't really interested in listening to anyone...even when almost everyone in the room was telling him he is moving in the wrong direction.

[David Benson]

The Memorial Coliseum has become a member of the Portland family. It has hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of memories attached to it. The memories evoke images of what happened inside the bowl of athletic competition, but also images of downtown across the river by day or shimmering at night. The Coliseum is specific and irreplaceable. It's destruction should be resisted by civil disobedience if necessary.

[anon]

Last night's meeting was a sham. Adams was talking like the rose quarter is a done deal - no other sites look to be on the table. I want to know this: where was the public process during the site selection?!

Adams spoke about this plan as if it is the culmination of decades of study. When in reality, these are new plans that are completely separate from past studies/reports/etc. - a result of recent closed door sessions with a bunch of private entities (paul allen, that baseball family who is supposedly going to sell sam's magical bonds, cheesy baltimore developer who aims to bring Fuddruckers and ESPN Zone et al. to our central core) and unqualified city beauracrats. City beauracrats who are apparently expiditing the process and holding the goals of these private developers higher than those of the City of Portland.

Thank you to the Office of the Mayor for this display of short sighted, foolish, abuse of power. Is it too late for a RECALL?

[Douglas K.]

It's too early for a recall. He gets six months. But between this debacle and his flip-flop on the CRC, I'm prepared to vote to recall him if it goes on the ballot.

We got one useful bit of info. Turns out there's a viable alternative site in the Rose Quarter. There are a pair of low-rise parking structures north of the Rose Garden, apparently in public ownership. Tear them out and there's a site big enough for a minor league ballpark. However, the was rejected out of hand. The City prioritizes the survival of two small parking structures over the Coliseum.

After being asked about this several times, the Mayor finally responded by explaining we can't tear them out because ... their revenue supports the Coliseum. Get rid of them and the Coliseum needs to replace $500,000 per year of revenue. So presumably we need them in place to support the new ballpark.

(And we can't put a new revenue-generating parking structure on the surface lot immediately north of the Coliseum because ....?)

Yeah. The meeting was a joke. At this point, it comes down to Dan Saltzman to put the brakes on this juggernaut.

I'm generally supportive of the overall project, but the process stinks. Too many options have been rejected without study, and we're being told we need to rush because of a set of arbitrary and artificial deadlines. The City needs to stop, step back, and take a SERIOUS look at more ballpark sites in an open public process. Get rid of the false choices. Why was it Lents or Rose Quarter with nothing else on the table?

[Sean Casey]

First a 12 lane bridge across the Columbia. After demolishing the old one.

Next, demolishing Memorial Coliseum.

What's next? Paving over Lone Fir?

Progressive government? Yeah, right. The only change is that the powers that be drive hybrids and recycle.

The smokey back room deals have simply moved to the outdoor patio. Color it green, blue, red or whatever. Power is as power does.

[DC]

We shouldn't be as surprised as we are since Sam's political resume was built on back room dealings. He can't help himself, as he showed so clearly last night. 90 minutes of passionate questions, 15 minutes of canned answers, then send everyone home. Meanwhile, Randy's designing the flashing neon rose for the roof of Yeon's Visitor Center.

[mongoose]

What an embarrassment. People like Sam are the reason why most people don't vote, because when they do believe in someone, they get burned.

[Lucas]

"Memorial Coliseum is one of the best buildings this city has, and one of the most beautiful."

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20090818/NEWS/908180334/1001

"...but there's no way in hell you'll catch ME playing a show there..."

NO IRONY FOLKS

[Lucy Perez]

Congrats Thomas I could have been only you! I was just reminiscing my watching you write music so long ago, while you were supporting your causes - at La Luna long ago. I admired you then, and I admire you now.
Love,
Your Maria de la Luz

[Lucy Perez]

CORRECTION: Congrats Thomas, IT could have been only you! I was just reminiscing my watching you write music so long ago, while you were supporting your causes - at La Luna even then you were doing something for your community. I admired you then, and I admire you now.
Love,
Your Maria de la Luz

[Lucy Perez]

P.S. Acoustics can be engineered and modified...to suit just about any environment. That should not even be an issue. - Maria de la Luz