main way of getting around.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Amy Ruiz, news editor for the Portland Mercury, will leave the paper to join the Mayoral team of Sam Adams.
According to the Mercury blog, Ruiz will be Adams’ Strategic Planning and Sustainability Policy Advisor.
Ruiz covered many transportation and bike-related issues during her tenure at the Mercury including the scrapped Sauvie Island/Flanders St. Bridge project and the Safe, Sound and Green Streets proposal, in addition to the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project (she has been a vocal opponent).
Ruiz will bring to Adams’ office a passion for policy issues and a general wonkiness (and I mean that as a compliment), along with an attention for detail and strong work ethic.
The Mercury’s loss is Adams’ gain. Not only will Ruiz likely prove to be a solid member of his staff, but by hiring Ruiz, Adams has taken away someone who would likely have been one of his biggest critics. Ruiz followed City Hall politics very closely while with the Mercury and while she meshed with Adams’ penchant for green initiatives, she wasn’t afraid to call Adams out.
I’m sure there are also a few folks on the CRC staff who will breathe a little easier knowing that Ruiz isn’t sitting in the back of their meetings, typing away on her laptop.
Ruiz will join former Oregonian reporter Wade Nkrumah (Adams’ new communications guy) and former BTA executive director Catherine Ciarlo (who will be Adams’ transportation policy advisor).
For more on this story, or to bid farewell to Ruiz, check out the announcement on Mercury blog.
Wow, didn’t see that one coming. Congratulations, Amy.
Most excellent news. Congratulations, Amy!
Hey, I NEED a job too.
Amy’s the best. She’s been doing a great job of covering local politics for a good long time now. I hope she enjoys the chance to make the news, not just cover it (albeit very intelligently).
I will miss her from the Mercury, but this is great news for the city. And I suspect the CRC people aren’t going to be any happier having her working for the city than working for the paper…
aside from mike meyers, who is a metal fan like myself, amy ruiz is the only person who writes for the mercury that i don’t want to bury alive.
This is excellent news. Amy has consistently been ahead of the curve on reporting sustainability issues. digging for the real stories and shedding light on overlooked voices in the debates. Congrats and look forward to watching what she can accomplish and helping her.
I do hope that the merc finds someone suitable to cover the CRC. Ms Ruiz = teh R0x0r!
congrats to Amy, loved her coverage of the CRC at the Merc & only hope she takes the same jaundiced view of that pig-in-a-poke CRC swindle to City Hall with her.
btw, i have no idea what pig in a poke means, but am quite sure it’s not a good thing.
A “poke” is a burlap bag in which farmers used to put pigs for sale. You would never buy a pig in a poke because sometimes, unscrupulous farmers would put unwanted cats in the bag instead of pigs. If you checked in the bag before buying what you thought was a pig, and a cat ran out, you had “let the cat out of the bag”.
She’s sorely going to be missed; quite the tough replacement job for the mercury.
Well, Mr Maus, in retrospect, it would certainly seem that you identified the reason for this surprise appointment: the buyout of someone with the potential of revealing Mr Adams as self-preserving prevaricator.
You did not, however, suggest any specific qualifications that Ms Ruiz had met for the invented position.
Are there any other criteria — besides “Must love bikes” — for mayor or for whatever it was that was intended for Ms Ruiz that you deem necessary? Does integrity consist entirely of bike riding?