I see that a majority of the Portland City Council has
started the process of getting out of that worthless "joint homeless office" setup with Multnomah County. The county, which controls the office, is just making the situation on Portland's streets worse, and city commissioners Gonzalez, Mapps, and Ryan say they're tired of paying for the county's counterproductive ways.
Those gents are all in the middle of tight election campaigns, and I'm sure they've done polling that shows the city's voters are absolutely disgusted with the lack of meaningful action on street camping despite all-time high taxation. The trio want to show the voters that they're disgusted, too.
As soon as the vote was taken to start drafting the city ordinance to get the withdrawal done, the county chair and drama czar, Ms. Chevy Vega, took to Twitter to denounce them all:
But the three amigos are right. Don't throw good money after bad. We're stuck with JVP for two more years, and she's never going to change her ways. The only way to force her to come to her senses would be if Vadim Mozyrsky and Sam Adams both got elected to the county commission. And to tell you the truth, I think they're both going to lose. Vega will have her three votes, and probably four, for the remaining two years of her term. She can and will continue to mismanage the response to the army of drug addicts and thieves camped out, when they're not dying, on Portland's streets. What does she care? It's nice enough on Council Crest, where she lives now.
I doubt that the city will actually pull out, but it's a nice signal to send as the ballots arrive at the homes of the voters. Meanwhile, regular readers here know what I'm going to say next. We need to merge the city and county, like the big boys do in California, and end the bickering. Merge Metro in, too, that most obviously needless layer of government. Until then, if the county commission chair wants to be a stubborn buffoon, she can do it without cash flow from City Hall. The county gets plenty of money from elsewhere.
The city should turn off its flow to the "joint office" and put those millions toward something, anything that might actually make a dent in the street troubles. Giving the dough to Multnomah County has been about as effective as burning it.
If the county stopped wasting money, I’d consider staying.
ReplyDeleteMerging County and Metro into the City of Portland would be heroic and groundbreaking. Local government redundancy strangles well-meant financing for programs where "nothing gets done very gradually." It's past time to eliminate this wasteful dumpster fire.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that the good citizens of Gresham, Corbett, Fairview, Wood Village, Maywood Park, Troutdale, Suavie Island and Linnton wouldn't be quite so sanguine as you about this proposal.
DeleteIf you're going to propose this (something I generally support), these folks need to be given a plan to exit MultCo in the process. I'd be willing to be a month's pay that every single one of these cities/entities would LEAVE MultCo by acclamation!
They can have their own county.
DeleteFirst create a new county made up of the non-Portland parts of MultCo, and name it Boogaloo (i.e., MultCo 2: Electric Boogalo). Boogaloo would be 8th largest county in Oregon, between Deschutes and Linn counties. As a new county, Boogaloo residents wouldn't have to pay MultCo's Business Income Tax or Preschool for All tax.
DeleteNext, merge the Portland part of MultCo into the county for a combined city/county. Portland people get all the government they want: Arts Tax, Business Income Tax, Preschool for All tax, Business License Fee.
Now that there are four counties in Metro's jurisdiction, Boogaloo should have a referendum on whether it should join Metro. If Boogaloo voters say no, then they get out of Metro and don't have to pay the Supportive Housing Services income taxes.
So "Boogalo" would be a new County split in half by the City of Portland? I suppose you could carve off some land to the north (where Hayden Island & PDX are) to join the two. Since Maywood Park is completely surrounded by the CoP, they would be SOL.
DeleteAnd this is JVP with a taxpayer-funded executive coach. Imagine how much worse she could be.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet voters will continue to vote for every single tax measure placed before them, no matter how much the money is mismanaged.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I just don't understand. Voting the same way time and time, yet expecting different results.
DeleteNot sure what they're are smoking at the joint office, but their vision sure is fuzzy...
ReplyDeleteQuite frankly, if the city burned the cash it could be used for heat and cooking. Evil JVP and the county just flush it down the toilet.
ReplyDelete