Korma #3 - City Portland Street Lights

We have a street light in front of our house that has been out for about a year. I noticed that in the HOA newsletter that we receive - which is not actually from our HOA, but from the HOA for the larger, adjoining neighborhood - there was a number to call for street lighting problems. So I decided to call and see if we can get the light changed and working again. The man who answered was very nice and very eager to help. He asked my address and phone number and said while he didn't recognize the address as being within city limits, the number of our house sounded like it would be in bounds for their service area. He said he'd get a ticket opened and have it fixed within two weeks.

About 10 minutes later, he called and left a VM stating that he was sorry, but we are on a private street and the City of Portland cannot change that street light. He said it is to be maintained by the developer of the community. I followed up with our builder who said the developer had sold the development and had no more involvement in the community; she suggested I go to our HOA, which has recently been transferred from one management agency to another. I did this; they were nice and said they would look into it (we'll see what happens there).

But, this korma is in kudos of the man at the City of Portland street lighting division. He just called again and said he did more investigation for me. He called our adjoining HOA and get details from them and then took time to call me and give me all information he could. He even apologized for not being able to help further! I told him he had gone way above and beyond what he needed to do and I was most appreciative.

I'm sure there will come a time when I have to deal with horrible government bureaucrats here in Portland, but as of now, all dealings D & I have had with the DMV, the immigration service, the post office, and now the street lighting division have been nothing but extremely pleasant and pain free. Score one for nice people!

Korma #2 - Local Vendors

One thing I absolutely love about Portland are the many local vendors offering things for sale in non-permanent locations. For example, every summer across from a diner nearby us, they sell fresh local berries all summer long. They also sell flowers, honey, jams, etc.

Yesterday I decided to stop and get some cherries from a guy who has been selling for about a week. They are delicious!

I'm not sure if it's just my perception, but it seems like Portland (vs other cities, e.g. Denver) has a lot of more these types of street vendors. Maybe it's because we don't have any sales tax and that makes it easier to regulate? I don't know. Either way, I really do enjoy being able to conveniently stop and buy whatever is fresh for the day.

Korma #1 - Helpful Salesclerks

I went into one of my favorite little shops here in Portland to see if they had a little sweater to go with a dress I have. I described what I was looking for and she said they didn't have any in stock, but I could order it to be custom made and pick out the color of the yarn - and it's ready in 1-3 weeks. How great is that? One local woman makes all those clothes in her shop on her loom. It's pricey stuff, but totally worth it because it keeps me cozy warm in the winters.

While in there, I asked if she knew what happened to another shop nearby that I liked. She didn't, but got out a map of local stores. Then, when we couldn't locate the shop on the map, she called them up for me and got their address. Talk about helpful!

Korma

The other day it occurred to me that I should do posts that are the opposite of falafel posts. Posts about things that don't annoy me, but rather that make me happy. I've decided to call these posts Kormas (named after another ethnic food, this time Indian).