Open and shut case
I could hardly believe my eyes when I read that Portland and Multnomah County are actually shutting down homeless shelters. Wait, is the problem solved?
When we voted for Keith Wilson for mayor, he assured us that he would (1) create thousands of new shelter beds and (2) either coax or force the street people onto them. Apparently he got the first part done, more or less, but neither he nor anyone around him really had the guts or the smarts to do the second part. And so taking the shelters apart may not effect any more of a change in the street crisis than opening them did.
It's not clear whether we're going to try something else, or just give up. Meanwhile, Juan and the Metro crew continue to collect the "homeless tax" from the upper middle class and wealthy who haven't packed up and left the state. That tax has racked up more than $1.4 billion dollars, with a "b." Where did it all go?
I'm ready to give up on Wilson. He may have been better than the wingnuts he ran against, but he's not up to the tasks at hand. Portland continues to drift, and not toward improvement.
I thought Portland was "back" and the doom loop had reached its base case. Wilson and RCL3 both said so...
ReplyDeleteWast, fraud, and abuse. Why are Portlanders not upset? Only 10% or so of people have to pay this tax. Like the preschool for all tax, every resident should have to pay something. Then we’d find out how generous Portlanders really are.
ReplyDelete“Everyone should have to pull some of the tax load” sounds like a conservative platform.
DeleteOne thing that will turn you into a fiscal conservative - getting up early every day for another hard day of work and paying ridiculous levels of income tax, homeless tax, and preschool tax while political leaders waste it. That’s ok, my home is currently for sale and soon there will be one less person to pay it all. Unfortunately, i think that means eventually they’ll be coming for your hard-earned money.
DeleteAmen. It's so easy to vote for a tax when someone else has to pay for it.
DeleteThis is what-happens when we elect someone with no political experience, who has convinced voters that they will be the one to finally fix everything.
ReplyDeleteAnd besides his massive waste of resources on new shelters (which people who actually do the work say would be better spent on creating truly-affordable/permanent housing - what Home Forward is supposed to be doing), I also had a big-problem with his disregard of the democratic process when the Blazers came-begging. He had arranged secret meetings with them - apparently that's because he knew The People would object to what was being proposed, and so he thought he was going to hammer-out a deal without the Council or the voters' involvement.
For me, his political career was done & over as soon as I learned about that.
(Another one-term-wonder who crashed & burned - https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2026/08/former-portland-commissioner-mayoral-hopeful-faces-600k-lawsuit-home-foreclosure-court-records-show.html)
See anyone out there who can do the job?
DeleteI think there are many who could do the job. But, they’d never do it because they’d need evenhanded coverage from the major local media, and that’ll never happen.
DeleteSure, there's good-people with govt/political experience who would like to serve in elected office.
DeleteBut these days, between dealing with the fundraising / lobbyists, and the increasing level of threats of violence, not a lot of them are willing to step-up.
I know of a State Rep in a coastal town who has people follow him & his family members around, when they're just out shopping or whatever (not for any specific reason, except that he's a Democrat). Who would sign-on for that, especially if they have children living at home-?
(And good-point about mainstream media, where you're having to always try to correct their version of reality.)
Be specific about even-handed media coverage. I take issue with statements like that. By even-handed, people usually mean that they want the media to simply justify their beliefs.
DeleteSome people like the current media.
DeleteThe O, WW, local TV, national networks? NYT, WAPO, WSJ, Fox, Rogan?
DeleteWhat about a Mayor or City Councilor BoJack-?
ReplyDeleteC'mon dude, you know you want to do it.
Delete-->> https://www.portland.gov/auditor/elections/run4office
You could email them for comment, but all you'd get back would be out of office replies. They're all either at conferences or taking "some much deserved time off."
ReplyDeleteWaste? Meh.
Fraud? Nah.
Abuse is the correct word.
Wilson was a media darling. The legacy press did absolutely no deep dive into his background or qualifications. And Portland voters failed to do their homework. And they approved a radical new charter that essentially kneecaps a strong executive--as Wilson has learned the hard way. He has allowed the council to go nuts and has only broken one of dozens of tie votes--his only real power. Then he hired LIII, a disaster waiting to collect a $-million severance. The entire top level of the bureaucracy is hollowed out, with the DEI express waiting to fill the empty slots.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad I was able to live and enjoy Portland before the dumpster fire.
ReplyDeleteYou can't solve the "homeless" situation if the leadership is "rudderless", "clueless", and "heartless"...
ReplyDelete