More mission creep for Metro

The chief bobblehead on the board of Metro, Portland's needless layer of government, admits that the original purpose of his agency is now obsolete. It was created to oversee the build-out of the Portland suburbs, which is now complete. But rather than putting in motion a dismantling of Metro, he wants to find new reasons for it to exist.

In the June interview, [Juan Carlos] Gonzalez discussed his priorities for Metro, but he also spoke about wanting to reorient the culture of the agency. Asked to elaborate on that, he said Metro’s original mission was simply to manage growth, but with the region seeing less growth lately, the agency needs to evolve.

“That for us means developing new muscles to create opportunity for our small businesses to thrive, for people to be able to afford to buy homes, to not just have a high quality of life but to have clear opportunities, a clear value proposition for what it means to be an Oregonian and what it means to raise a family or retire in Greater Portland,” he said. “I think those are fundamental questions that we need to throw everything at.”

Egad. "New muscles." Make up your own joke.

No, Juan, the agency needs to wind down, give its functions back to counties and cities, and dissolve. And sell the infernal zoo and that white elephant of a convention hotel!

Then again, I'm not too worried about Gonzalez's weird vision becoming a reality. One would expect him to go back now to his real job, funneling public money to construction companies, government employees, unions, and nonprofits. As we all know, Metro bobbleheads are supposed to keep such a low profile that no one can name them.