A Portland Giant Passes

Steve Harris, who owned Ruski's and Rosie's has died. The Bollard gives him a proper obituary.

Harris did more to make Portland an enjoyable place to live than any mayor or city manager in modern times or, for that matter, any private citizen I can think of. No offense to the memory of P.D. Merrill, but Harris is just as deserving of an 80-foot-high public art installation. How about a giant bottle of J&B placed outside Rosie’s on Fore Street, where that saw-toothed abomination Tracing the Fore currently sits like a series of silver dog shits in high weeds? Or a smokestack painted to resemble a cigarette that sends clouds of real tobacco smoke in the direction of Portland City Hall and Augusta? Or the world’s tallest tower of Spam cans? I’ll leave it to the artists to decide.