Portland is a world leader in magical thinking on climate change. Last Wednesday, we saw the City Council wave its magic wand yet again, when it considered banning petroleum diesel in Portland by 2030. Only so-called renewable diesel will be available within the city limits. City staffers and proponents of the ban are confident the […]
A recent poll by the Portland Business Alliance found that 88% of voters believe their quality of life is getting worse. This is up significantly from 2017, when less than half of voters said the same thing. It’s not hard to understand why; all you need to do is step outside. Tents and trash line […]
Just over a year ago the Portland City Council cut millions from the police bureau, eliminating 84 positions. Prior to April 2021, 115 police officers left the bureau to either retire early or work in a different city, leaving 129 vacancies. Those absences are being felt across the Metro area. Portland police responded to 14 […]
A proposed ordinance aims to deprioritize some homeless camps considered “low impact” This week, Portland City Council will consider new rules for homeless camp clean-ups. If approved, the city will “deprioritize” camps considered “low impact.” But, what makes a camp low impact? The city says a camp is low impact if it’s 150 feet away […]
President Trump is frequently accused of lying. But he doesn’t have a monopoly on falsehood. Look around the Portland region and you’ll see our local politicians lying to us. We live in our own Pinocchio-land. Metro’s “Get Moving 2020” ballot measure is a $5.2 billion tax increase disguised as a transportation measure. It’s a permanent […]
Last month, the Metro Council voted to send a regional payroll tax to the November ballot. The rationale for the new $250-million-a-year tax is primarily to help fund a 12-mile light rail extension from Portland to Bridgeport Village in Tigard. It will also pay for a smattering of minor transportation projects throughout the region, but […]
During our late July heat wave, I was talking with a man who was sweltering, because Portland General Electric had turned off his air conditioner as part of a program to shed load during periods of peak demand for electricity. He was being paid $50 for his trouble. That may sound like a good deal […]
This week, Portland’s City Council will get the first annual report on how the city is spending its affordable housing bond money. The four-page report—yes, it’s really only four pages—is colorful and has lots of pictures but nothing about actual results. So, I did some research. Turns out, by the end of 2018, the city […]
How much do we have to tax something to make it affordable? You might think that’s counterintuitive, and you’d be right. But that’s exactly what the Portland-area Metro Council is doing with affordable housing through their Construction Excise Tax. So what is this tax? For every construction project valued at over $100,000, Metro taxes 0.12% […]