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Tim Ramis鈥� fascination with how cities grow was fed by fire.

鈥淲hen I was in high school, cities were burning down,鈥� said Ramis, now a Portland-area attorney. 鈥淲atts was burning; places were really in distress. Cities, how they work, were the stories in the newspaper and on the cover of Time magazine almost every month. It became an interest of mine.鈥�

That boyhood fascination grew into a career as a land-use and municipal law attorney. Now it鈥檚 leading Ramis in another direction as the editor of a website called Tim鈥檚 City. Light on words but rich in visuals, the site is designed to serve as a place for people to share their ideas and opinions about the components that make a city a great place to live.

Ramis grew up in Portland, but when it came time to attend college, he headed to Princeton and Stanford. He eventually found his way home when he enrolled in the University of Oregon School of Law. After graduating with his law degree in 1975, he was hired by Washington County. It turned out to be the perfect place for a young attorney who also happened to be a land-use nerd.

鈥淎s the least senior person, I was assigned to represent the planning commission because the meetings were at night,鈥� Ramis said. 鈥淚 considered it a great gift.鈥�

Ramis went on to develop a private-sector land-use and municipal law practice. Five years ago his firm, Ramis Crew Corrigan, joined Jordan Schrader. The resulting firm, now called Jordan Ramis, focuses on business law and a trademarked niche known as 鈥渄irt law.鈥� The latter deals with legal issues related to real estate, development and construction.

His professional interest in land use dovetailed with his personal passion for urban affairs and eventually led him to dig into the Internet in search of information about the topics. He dove into the world of blogs. But even as he built a list of favorite sites, he found himself still hungry for what felt like elusive content.

鈥淭here are a lot of great writers out there, but I was looking for something that was more like a television channel 鈥� something that was more visual, something that would showcase good photography,鈥� Ramis said.

It eventually became apparent the only way to find the type of site he was looking for was to create it himself. The decision has led him to places he never anticipated, casting him into new roles as producer, director and even video star.

He isn鈥檛 alone in the adventure of learning new skills for the website, however. His wife, Marina, is a graphic artist who designed the Tim鈥檚 City logo. More recently, she鈥檚 taking turns behind the camera as photographer and videographer.

鈥淪he鈥檚 doing some of the shooting,鈥� Ramis said. 鈥淚 even got her out in a snowstorm in Pittsburgh when I wanted to talk about the city.鈥�

Tim鈥檚 virtual city has other real-life inhabitants. At least three attorneys from Jordan Ramis are involved with the website. Nathan Isaacs, who previously worked at Jordan Ramis and now runs his own social marketing firm, handles the technical parts that make the website work.

Even with that help, Ramis is still casting a wide net to find people interested in providing videos and photos. He links to existing blogs, such as the Portlander Brian Libby鈥檚 Portland Architecture blog. The site also serves as a showcase for photographers who post their photos to visual social media site Flickr. It operates under the concept of collective licensing, which lets people use photographs from the site as long as they adhere to certain requirements set forth by the creator (such as providing a photo credit).

The mix of media types is deliberate, according to Ramis.

鈥淒ifferent stories lend themselves to different ways of storytelling,鈥� he said.

Because Tim鈥檚 City is less than one year old, its content is nowhere near what Ramis would eventually like to offer visitors.

鈥淚鈥檇 like to have more video on urban-related issues in our area, with more talking heads than just me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檇 really like to start building 鈥� the pages where we spotlight projects.鈥�

The challenge with having so many ideas is trying to find the time. And that鈥檚 where Ramis wants to reach out to others interested in topics such as urban planning, transportation and land use.

鈥淚鈥檓 not trying to do an infomercial for (Jordan Ramis),鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to create a forum for professionals 鈥� that鈥檚 about building great cities. I want to feature the work of professionals from this area: architects, developers, construction companies, planners, city engineers.

鈥淓ssentially, what I鈥檇 like to do is distill from our experience in Portland-Vancouver, the things that work and the things that don鈥檛 work in building cities and places,鈥� he added. 鈥淚鈥檓 less interested in the theoretical and academic, and much more interested in what鈥檚 happening right outside your front door.鈥�