A few days ago I posted the second entry in my Portland Hall of Shame series. Little did I know what a fuss I would stir up by selecting the Dixie Mattress Co. on Southeast Belmont as my latest inductee.
Jack Bog posted a mini-rant on his site entitled Not yuppie enough and now has 25 comments on that post. They're all over the board, but most fall blindly in line with Jack's defense of Dixie as though it is a local cultural gem rather than the nasty eyesore of a bad-neighbor business that it is. I'd like Jack or any of his Dixie Defenders to find one person who has a home or business near Dixie that feels the same way. He won't. That's because I'm not suggesting that Dixie be shut down as some of the people who commented without reading what they were commenting on seem to think. I'm simply asking that they clean up their act. By any objective measure the filthy storefront is disgusting and an insult to the surrounding businesses and neighborhood. There is nothing there to defend. Unless you're really into the confederate flag...
My point with the Portland Hall of Shame series is this: If you want to make money by conducting business in Portland, be a good neighbor and invest some of that money into maintaining a clean storefront.
My guess is that the same people who take issue with this basic concept probably also think it's every home owner's right to have grass five feet tall in their front yard growing around and through the two stripped, rusty cars sitting in the middle of it surrounded by a rotting fence with half the slats missing. With garbage strewn everywhere. Because actually giving a damn about your neighbors would be such a hip, trendy, corporate, yuppie, un-Portland thing to do.
Steve, either shut up or just move to Lake Oswego already. You and your ilk are a big reason Portland has changed for the worse over the past few years. Newcomers come in and want to change the place, instead of just accepting it for what it is.
Posted by: lisa | January 02, 2007 at 10:12 AM
Lisa,
You're completely missing Steve's point. It seems like you (and the other commenters on Jack Bog's blog) are confusing him with people who support gentrification and endless new development without care for the local neighborhood. He, rather, is trying to call out Dixie Mattress and Imperial Typewriters for what they are: eyesores that deserve pressure to improve their appearance.
Posted by: Sandra | January 02, 2007 at 10:37 AM
Lisa, Sandra in her comment above is far more kind than I'm inclined to be. This is MY blog. I welcome comments, but not people telling me to shut up or to leave town. If you don't like it, you shut up and go post on your own blog. And then crawl back under your rock. If you like filth and litter, go shop at Dixie and Imperial. I'll give my money to local businesses who deserve it.
[And I don't get why you and your 'ilk' insist on assuming that my giving a damn about Portland means I must be a "newcomer." I was born and grew up in Washington and have probably lived in Portland longer than you and the rest of the xenophobes lobbing this accusation at me.]
Posted by: Steve | January 02, 2007 at 10:51 AM
I don't think they're eyesores.
Posted by: lisa | January 02, 2007 at 10:51 AM
Well, that clears that up. Lisa, which of these do you own or work for? Dixie or Imperial?
Posted by: Steve | January 02, 2007 at 10:53 AM
Anyone who insists that DMC isn't an eyesore is just trolling--even DMC's staunchest defenders admit that the place is a hole, they just support the owners' right to run their business however they want.
And really, Lisa, Lake Oswego? C'mon, how dated is THAT reference? At least have some respect and tell those of us in the anti-DMC crowd that we should be living in the Pearl District or something like that. Lake Oswego, really.
By the way, Steve, may I nominate the "Oregon Theater" (nasty, seedy adult movie place on 36th and Division) for your next Hall of Shame recipient?
Posted by: Dave J. | January 02, 2007 at 01:33 PM
You're definitely right, Dave. It's bizarre how Jack and his readers haven't even bothered to read my entries -- or they're willfully twisting my words into something they can rant about. Of course, one look at the paid advertising on Jack Bog's site strips him of all credibility on this issue. He has a site-wide ad for a trendy NE bistro that the ad describes with words like "gorgeous", "sophisticated" and "upscale." It's run by Oregon natives, but you'll never find Jack and his non-reading ranters there. It's just too damn clean and well lit.
Posted by: Steve | January 02, 2007 at 03:14 PM
Certainly Dixie Mattress is a PITA, and it has always astonished me that otherwise politically correct Portlanders not only countenance the signage, but patronize the place as if it were merely another anti-fashion boutique. It should have gone the way of the old Coon Chicken Inn years ago. Then, too, as if the name and signage wasn't bad enough, the place was exposed for re-covering and reselling urine soaked mattresses some years ago. That didn't seem to slow down its business, either.
But, I guess if I wasn't a spoiled yuppie, I'd be FINE with those urine-soaked mattresses and that racist signage. Better book myself into a re-education camp before I commit any more politically incorrect gaffes.
Posted by: dyspeptic | January 02, 2007 at 03:49 PM
Steve, I totally agree with you. Businesses have a responsibility to clean up their acts, and while it doesn't mean they need to be run out of a neighborhood, it does mean they need to clean it up, at least. I posted and ranted a year ago about an eyesore in my neighborhood, http://lelonopo.blogspot.com/2005/12/corner-gentrification-forgot-worst.html and drew attention to a mess. They cleaned it up within a month after I brought it to the attention of neighbors and the city: often it just takes people calling it out that it's not okay with them for it to be acted upon.
Posted by: Lelo | January 02, 2007 at 06:38 PM
Nah!
It's always nice to have on obtrusive, weed-like reminder of the resilient ignorance and racism inherent to humanity, especially in our apparently 'too-white' Portland... lest we forget that a good portion of the far corner of the country is still mired in small-minded segregation and ugliness.
Yee-ha! It's an unintentional enlightenment present! We must love even the intentionally ass-hatty!
Happy new year, barbarous hicks! We welcome you with open arms! Chicken's on the grill and the PBR's out in the back yard, just look out for the dog poop.
Posted by: Will Von Wizzlepig | January 03, 2007 at 02:03 PM
This might be a good post for moderation, but I just commented on the bog blog and figured it would likely go away quickly. Cross-comments below.
If anyone wants to chip in I would be happy to present the staff at Dixie with a feather duster and provide instruction on how to use it.
MR
Mr Bog,
You really like to stir up the poo don't you. Having only heard of you and your blog in the past 24 hours, I am convinced that you are less concerned about Portland or Oregon than making sure that someone, somewhere syndicates you as a conservative blogger. I can't even imagine your dreams.
Steve said it, both in his initial blog post, and here in your comments, that it isn't about shutting the place down, and that it isn't about becoming a Zupan's or Stumptown or any other high-falutin business your sycophants might want to decry today. It's about showing basic self respect, the same thing that many people use to disparage hipsters or whatever "class" they deem to be gentrifying Belmont. "Take a shower before coming to work." "Dust the storefront more than once every five years." Same thing people.
I work on that block of Belmont. I receive complaints from customers almost every day about the people that camp outside of Dixie. Every morning, when I can be sure my stomach can handle it, I sweep up the trash and puke that people feel comfortable leaving in front of a neglected storefront. On more than one occasion I have seen someone who works at Dixie walk out, walk past me, and not even bother with a nod hello, let alone a thank you.
Recycling mattresses? Power to you. Locally owned business? Awesome. Hard times financially? I wish you the best in getting over them. Can't dust your display windows or make eye contact with your neighbor to diminish the potential insult of the stars and bars on your place of business? Makes me wonder.
Made it to the end? Type product code #44566 into any corporate restaurant and recieve a free appetizer with any two entrees.
Mostly Running.
Posted by: Mostly Running. | January 03, 2007 at 09:27 PM
MR,
I am glad you posted here. It only took about two hours for all trace of your post (and one other) to vanish from BoJack's site. Hard to believe that this is the behavior of an educated law prof. It's also hard to stomach that he allows racist crap on his site but nukes anyone who does not toe his line.
The irony, of course, is that his main audience is a group of right wingers and libertarians who constantly rant about "freedom."
In the end his paranoia is pretty close to the president that he claims to disdain.
Who put the aging white male baby boomers in charge?
Posted by: Zeke | January 03, 2007 at 11:18 PM
Thanks for the voices of reason everyone. Not sure what's going on with Jack Bog, but people are definitely noticing that he's getting a little freaky of late. He's famous for deleting comments that don't fall in line with his views or that he or his followers can't immediately argue against.
In a recent post over at the Mercury about yet another sensational post by Jack Bog, one reader wrote:
Bog admitted in the comments on the post in question that he actually *banned* the Mercury IP address so they couldn't access his blog. He seems to have done the same to me because I now get a "Forbidden" server error when I try to access his blog. He's also refused to post my last couple of comments trying to clarify my position. That really is sad -- and a little weird...
[On an even scarier note, one of Bog's readers posted a comment on my Dixie entry a short while ago telling me that I'm no better than "the neo-nazi punks who think the Confederate flag represents hate and racism." None of Bog's readers are even bothering to read my post before they comment based on his twisted version of it.]
Posted by: Steve | January 03, 2007 at 11:39 PM
My experience w/ Jack's blog is that he will allow you to say almost anything you like as long as you do not make it about him. That's why Mostly Running's post got deleted--he opened up by criticizing Jack. I love the guy (in a blog way), but he won't abide any negative statements about himself. It's kind of like umpires in professional baseball--they will let you say "That call was horseshit," but if you say "You are horseshit," you'll be ejected immediately.
So, criticize the views, don't criticize the man.
That being said, he's 100% wrong about Dixie Mattress Company, and he's completely misunderstood Steve's views.
Posted by: Dave J. | January 04, 2007 at 09:13 AM
Dave J.,
That makes sense, and I debated for a while whether to include the first paragraph in my comment. I was just amazed when looking through his archive how much his tone had shifted. I went in swinging, got wooed by him towards the middle, and then began to wonder what sort of traumatic event sent him so adrift. I should have stayed on topic, and I appreciate the feedback for helping me if choose to post there again.
Mostly.
Posted by: Mostly Running. | January 04, 2007 at 12:13 PM
See also: the broken window theory.
That is, when people see something/somewhere in a run down state, they feel somehow justified in contributing to it- by littering, vandalizing, breaking another window out, etc.
It may not be a provable fact, but I have personally seen this kind of behavior and I'm sure Mostly Running could vouch for it, too.
One person's lax efforts can denigrate the diligent efforts of those around them.
http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20061224.html
Posted by: will von wizzlepig | January 04, 2007 at 01:10 PM
"Broken window policing" was very big in the 1990s as a crime fighting strategy. That is, instead of just focusing on the big crimes (murder, rape, armed robbery), police focused attention on the "petty crimes" that turn a neighborhood into an eyesore, the theory being that once the neighborhood is run down, the more serious crimes are more likely to occur.
I know some scholarly articles on broken window policing have appeared in public policy/social science journals, but I'm too lazy to search for them right now.
But, yeah, that's pretty much my main quibble with DMC: they turn a good 1/3 of the whole block into an eyesore, and this in turn attracts other bad behavior (litter, graffiti, etc.).
Posted by: Dave J. | January 04, 2007 at 02:08 PM
Thanks for the great discussion all.
Dave, that's definitely a policy I could get behind -- I think it's a great idea. Problem is, Jack Bog doesn't. He can criticize me (as he's done multiple times on his blog), but he deletes -- or fails to publish at all -- replies I post to defend myself against those attacks and clarify my points. And then bans me from even accessing his blog at all, as he did the Mercury staff.
He did the same thing when his readers started posting personal insults about me based on his complete misrepresentation of what I said. He never published any of my comments, but has left up things such as:
When someone tried to come to my defense -- since I couldn't -- Jack Bog shot back with a threat:
I wish your characterization of Jack Bog were true, but his behavior and the written record show otherwise. We'll never know how much of this actually goes on outside this thread because Jack is such a diligent censor that I'm sure much of it never shows up at all...
Posted by: Steve | January 04, 2007 at 03:06 PM
Again, a cross-comment, and I hope you don't mind. Posted less than five minutes ago to the Bog:
Quote Bog:
Gee, that's a lot more civil than what I removed. Try your comment again. Be polite and don't call people names. Stay on the topic -- don't attack people.
I don't think that your offer is sincere. I did not call people names, nor did I stray from topic. I questioned your manipulation of commenters, and their opinions, to serve your own agenda.
By saying "that's a lot more civil than what I removed" you imply that you had to remove what I said because it was so offensive, immediately diminishing any credibility that a new poster would have. You put me on the defensive immediately, and I must now prove to you, and your readers, that I am not a profanity-spewing bigot, a situation you have consciously avoided putting actual profanity-spewing bigots in.
My full comments that you deleted are available here.
I doubt you will allow this comment to stand for too long, but I would love to hear back from you about my original question. What are your standards for deleting a post? Have you chosen to publish them, or are they simply a product of your dreams? You have my email address.
Sincerely and respectfully,
Mostly Running.
Posted by: Mostly Running. | January 04, 2007 at 10:41 PM
Cross-comment away, MR! I appreciate your comments and Jack Bog continues to post only what he likes to hear, so I'm happy to publish the whole story here. I see that he's already deleted your comment!
Posted by: Steve | January 05, 2007 at 11:11 AM
So if they get the store front looking nice are we all OK with the fresh painted flags??
Posted by: Billy Bob | June 27, 2008 at 03:28 PM
Billy Bob says:
But of course! And they have so many choices. the U.S. flag, the LGBT rainbow flag...
As I said in the comments on my original post on this: I can't say it better than the head of the history department at Louisiana State University:
The Confederate flag is what it is - a symbol of racism and hostility.
Portland shop defends its Dixie flags
Posted by: Steve | June 27, 2008 at 05:01 PM
Your all a bunch of Ignorant people, the Black Folks also had slaves before the civil war. Your a bunch of Lincoln Lovers and Federal 14 amendment Salves to the Big White House in Washington D.C.
Fascist run government and a Zionist-Communist society.
Posted by: Oregon Herbalist | July 27, 2008 at 04:05 AM