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Spiffy new jail too expensive to open
United Press International ^ | March 16 | upi

Posted on 03/17/2006 7:29:09 AM PST by george76

A $59 million jail featuring art and flat screen TVs in Portland, Ore., has been sitting unused for more than a year as the city can't afford to open it.

The Wapato Facility took two years to construct and can house 525 inmates at a cost of $20 million per year, ....

The county spent more than $600,000 on art for the jail, including a sculpture out front by the circular driveway.

There are 30-foot vaulted ceilings and private showers.

"I love coming to an empty $59-million jail," Giusto told the Los Angeles Times. "I get tired of telling people how dumb we are."

(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alimentary; alimentarycanal; arpaio; art; artandflat; bureaucrats; canal; corruption; donutwatch; dumb; dumber; ego; elections; emasculated; faghagpeoples; fascistic; featuring; feminazi; feminized; flatscreentvs; government; governmentspending; hightaxes; homosexualagenda; homosexualized; howdumbweare; institutionally; insufferable; insufferableego; jail; jailfeaturing; losangelestimes; oforegon; ore; oregon; peoples; peoplesrepublic; portland; republic; screen; sheriff; sheriffjoearpaio; spending; spiffy; spiffyjail; spiffynewjail; tax; taxes; taxrates; tooexpensive; toopen; tvs; wapatofacility
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To: Dark Knight

Austin, Texas does the same thing. When they built our new fire station, we were able to get them to simply make the fencing more decorative and have custom lights put up. I suggested a really kick-*ss flag pole, but they wouldn't go for that.


41 posted on 03/17/2006 8:28:42 AM PST by Richard Kimball (I like to make everyone's day a little more surreal)
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To: antiRepublicrat

'git 'er done.

And a large sports bar.


42 posted on 03/17/2006 8:37:33 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: George from New England

House the corrupt officials that built the place.

Idiots.


Great idea. That is the same bunch of idiots that tried to force homosexual "Marraiges" on the public a while ago...

They keep getting re-elected though...


43 posted on 03/17/2006 8:40:53 AM PST by Bean Counter ("Stout Hearts!")
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To: george76
"I get tired of telling people how dumb we are."

No, not dumb, criminal. The "people" who keep these officials in office are the dumb ones.

44 posted on 03/17/2006 8:41:06 AM PST by PLOM...NOT!
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To: scott7278

"Don't you know? Without $600,000 worth of art, it's considered cruel and unusual punishment."

Some politician/bureaucrat's boyfriend/girlfriend is an "artiste" so arrangements were made.


45 posted on 03/17/2006 8:44:37 AM PST by dljordan
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To: george76

That jail sounds more lavish than my house. What do inmates need with art and flat screen tvs? A cot and a toilet is all they need.


46 posted on 03/17/2006 8:45:59 AM PST by SmoothTalker
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To: george76

THE FUTURE IS NOW!!!!


47 posted on 03/17/2006 8:46:23 AM PST by Lazamataz (THE FUTURE IS NOW!!!!)
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To: George from New England
House the corrupt officials that built the place.

Maybe that was their intention all along (hey, if we don't get away with this, this is where we'll end up, might as well make it livable for us)...now the officials are laughing all the way to the bank.

48 posted on 03/17/2006 8:46:59 AM PST by PLOM...NOT!
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To: Mo1

The artwork is a rule the government types operate on around here. If they build a public building, a certain percentage of the cost has to be invested in really bad public art. It is a subsidy for lazy and untalented artist, and it makes leftist feel like they are doing something to improve the culture they are actually killing.


49 posted on 03/17/2006 8:50:53 AM PST by Busywhiskers (Democrats est delinda.)
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To: Dark Knight
Hundreds of thousands of dollars to grace a dump.

As is with most 'art' today, it would be hard to tell it from the trash in the dump.

50 posted on 03/17/2006 8:51:36 AM PST by 11Bush
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To: SmoothTalker

A tent city in the desert with no art, no flat screen tv's, no private showers...is my vote for the felons.


51 posted on 03/17/2006 8:55:16 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

Turn it into a Hippie hotel.


52 posted on 03/17/2006 8:58:09 AM PST by Sundog (cheers)
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To: Mo1

Portland has a 1% for ART rule (I used to live there and was on a public Board....we HAD to include "art" in our budget.)


53 posted on 03/17/2006 9:07:04 AM PST by goodnesswins ( "the left can only take power through deception." (and it seems Hillary & Company are the masters)
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To: dennisw
Running the jail comes out of a different fund. Namely current expenditures


That is usually the case. However, Wapato was built under a voter approved tax thingee that also included startup and operating costs. The operating costs were put into the general fund during construction and the money done got spent. It seems that our elected county officals learned well from Enron.
54 posted on 03/17/2006 9:07:25 AM PST by crazyhorse691 (Diplomacy doesn't work when seagulls rain on your parade. A shotgun and umbrella does.)
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To: Busywhiskers
If they build a public building, a certain percentage of the cost has to be invested in really bad public art.

You should see the "art" in Mannheim, Germany, coming in from the A656 autobahn. It looks like someone dumped a bunch of big, rusted metal slabs out the back of a C-130 while flying above the median. But I have to admit, it gets across the broken-down, rusted industrial aspect of Mannheim.

55 posted on 03/17/2006 9:07:42 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: goodnesswins
Portland has a 1% for ART rule (I used to live there and was on a public Board....we HAD to include "art" in our budget.)

If I understand correctly, it seems that you don't get to choose all the art, it being chosen by the hippie arts council. So probably no patriotic art or big flagpoles on beautifully engraved bases, right? Not a chance for an artistic memorial to those soldiers who have died fighting against terror?

56 posted on 03/17/2006 9:10:47 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: Sundog

Lock up stupid politicians who waste money on things like...expensive jails.


57 posted on 03/17/2006 9:16:35 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: Mo1
If you haven't had lunch yet, some "sample art"....

http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/sheriff/wapato_art.htm
58 posted on 03/17/2006 9:16:37 AM PST by jonathanmo
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To: scott7278

As for what passes for art nowadays, the "art" itself may be criel and unusual punishment.


59 posted on 03/17/2006 9:20:31 AM PST by Old Seadog (Inside every old person is a young person saying "WTF happened?".)
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To: wideawake

Just checked hotel rates for Portland, well over half have single rooms for $110.00 or less per day.


60 posted on 03/17/2006 9:24:46 AM PST by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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