If your town had an Ikea maybe I'd move there

Except for Renton. Unless we could work out a deal where I lived in the Ikea.

There is a whole bunch of controversy surrounding the new Ikea sign marking the Portland location that is set to open this summer (I have inside information that it could be until Christmas, but as of today the Oregonian says summer, but they might not have the inside info like I do). You're like what up with this sign? Why is Portland all up in Ikea's bidness bothering the bajesus out of it? Well, apparently here's the scoop (courtesy of the Oregonian):

The Ikea sign now rises at Cascade Station, at the intersection of Northeast Airport Way and Interstate 205, in a new calling card that's four times higher and 10 times larger than any new sign allowed elsewhere in the city: 100 feet high with three panels that are each 13 feet by 52 feet.

It's so big it has to have blinking lights so that a jet doesn't plow into it," says City Commissioner Randy Leonard, who oversees city signage but knew nothing of the sign until he drove past it.
"I'm not convinced this is legal," he added. "We have clear public policy. The sign code is rooted in land-use law. There are requirements for public hearings."

Ikea sees it differently

"We came to the dance after the rules were made," said Joseph Roth, public affairs director for Ikea United States. "We made very clear what our store and signage requirements were. And we were told that they would be compatible with Cascade Station."

But the sign regulations governing the Cascade Station Development -- and Ikea -- are dramatically different from those that apply to the rest of the city. The city's "Title 32" code outlines numerous sign requirements throughout the city, many of them specific to particular areas, from the so-called "Broadway Bright Lights District" to Old Town Chinatown. But at Cascade Station both signs and building designs are approved by a four-person committee created under a development agreement negotiated among the city, the Port and Cascade Station's main developer, Trammell Crow.

So that's it in a nut shell. I mean, that's how Ikea rolls, with the big sign and what not. Whatevs, just don't scare them away. Keep scaring Walmart away, I'm behind you on that one. But I long for Ikea after my first 5 hour shopping experience in Renton (Seattle location).

FYI The Portland store will be 280,000-square-feet of Swedish shopping goodness (smaller than the 350,000-square-foot store in Seattle so maybe it will only take me 4 hours to go through it). They started hiring employees last week (of the 400 they project to hire for this area).

Something to leave you with you Portland livers, lovers, and enviers:

Some of Ikea's ideas may go over well in eco-friendly Portland, such as encouraging shoppers and employees to use mass transit and charging for shopping bags to encourage conservation.

You know as soon as they open I'm buying one of those blue shopping bags they sell to bring back everytime.