Just throw money

Several alert readers pointed me to Shane Kavanaugh's story in the O over the weekend about Linda Woodley, a convicted con artist to whose "nonprofit" the Portland City Council couldn't wait to give a $11.5 million grant to provide heat pumps to people of color. Alas, the story was behind the O's paywall, and I am not going down that path.

But the London Daily Mail has picked up the story and rewritten it, and so we can all get the gist of it for free now, here.

The tale reminds me of when the city handed out $3 million to people at the start of Covid, through something called "Smart City PDX," on the theory that the recipients were poor folks who would use it for internet access that they otherwise wouldn't have. Unfortunately, the money was dispensed in the form of unrestricted debit cards that could be used to buy who-knows-what, with no accountability by anybody.

There are many injustices in this world that need to be remedied, and tax dollars should be used to do some of that. But you can't do what Portland City Hall does, which is to hand a money hose to the first person of a certain profile who walks through the door and tell them to start spraying.

If only we had capable people in charge. Instead we have these bobbleheads running all the city bureaus:

And speaking of delinquent debts, today we get this little gem. Methinks somebody has a little problem, or maybe two. What a town.