I always thought that these were the sorts of elected officials that people like Jack wanted elected. Now that they've been in total control for so long (30+ years), you can see they're no better, if not worse, IMHO.
Portland (along with the whole states of California and Michigan) is a prime example of progressive political agendas run amok. Money never seems to be an issue with these people. They always find some place new to tax or put a fee on to get some new cash, all without thinking about unintended consequences.
It'll be interesting to see how fast downtown falls with nobody coming down on Sundays. I went down to Pioneer Place a few Sundays ago and it was already quieter than I'd ever seen it. The Apple Store was busy but all of those folks were waiting to spend their money on an iPhone (as Jack mentioned last week).
Until the entrenched idiots at City Hall and Salem are shown the door by the electorate, we'll keep getting more of the same. Just don't complain about it to me.
If this weren't where I was born and raised and my family wasn't still here, I'd have left Portland and Oregon long, long ago. BTW, could someone show me the way to Galt's Valley?
But it's okay: the manifold contributions of the "creative class" will more than make up for the shortfall in business downtown, right? I mean, naked bicycling and all-night block parties should bring in enough tourists to keep those already-choking businesses from going under, right? Right?
This really is the epitome of penny-wise and pound-foolish, but I knew it was coming. Portland has found a way to tax just about every aspect of life now. What this will do is keep people out of downtown who used to go on sunday and spend money. I bet the end result is a decrease in revenue.
Due to sheer idiocy on my part, I bought a home just 1.5 blocks inside the sw portland city limits; a move I've regretted ever since.
I quite honestly cannot remember the last time I ventured into the downtown area, although it was several years ago. I used to visit about once a week to enjoy the killer food at the Thai Princess, but that place went out of business for some odd reason. It's hard to imagine a business in downtown Portland having to fold, I know....
A couple of years ago (during the first year of that portland "I-tax") I was talking to an old timer who ran a business in downtown portland for over 50 years. His family had basically just started the process of closing up shop and moving outside of Multnomah county.
He was pretty upset about all the things portland has done to drive out small businesses over the last couple of decades. In his words, "They might as well just make it illegal to run a business downtown, because the results would be about the same".
We have to keep reminding ourselves that Parking Revenue is like the City Council's cracked piggy bank.
It is wondrous on how many ways it it used besides our streets-in fact none of it is. Recently Sam Adams has dictatorially decided that he'll use $3.2 Million (per year, I believe)of the Parking taxes for the Milwaukie Light Rail. That's why we need the rate increase.
Add that to the trolley subsidies made by the Parking Revenue and we've only scratched the surface on how Parking Revenue gets scattered.
I've just stopped going down as often myself. Doesn't make sense, there's enough great little neighbourhoods that have fun, local and interesting shops where they don't have fees for parking. Outside of the $1.60 an hour trying to find a spot is a PITA as well. Good luck Portland!
enough great little neighbourhoods that have fun, local and interesting shops where they don't have fees for parking
Yet. Mayor Creepy's already told the folks down on Hawthorne that they're getting them, and many others are no doubt on the drawing boards. Go by streetcar!
I just gave up my parking pass: I'm going to take the bus 3-4 days per week, then drive the rest and pay the rack rate to park. Downside: I won't shop after hours because I won't have free parking. Area restaurants will lose more sales revenue than the City earns from this increase: I guess that's their problem.
Lange, Pinot Gris 2015
Kiona, Lemberger 2014
Willamette Valley, Pinot Gris 2015
Aix, Rosé de Provence 2016
Marchigüe, Cabernet 2013
Inazío Irruzola, Getariako Txakolina Rosé 2015
Maso Canali, Pinot Grigio 2015
Campo Viejo, Rioja Reserva 2011
Kirkland, Côtes de Provence Rosé 2016
Cantele, Salice Salentino Reserva 2013
Whispering Angel, Côtes de Provence Rosé 2013
Avissi, Prosecco
Cleto Charli, Lambrusco di Sorbara Secco, Vecchia Modena
Pique Poul, Rosé 2016
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly Rosé 2016
Stoller, Pinot Noir Rosé 2016
Chehalem, Inox Chardonnay 2015
The Four Graces, Pinot Gris 2015
Gascón, Colosal Red 2013
Cardwell Hill, Pinot Gris 2015
L'Ecole No. 41, Merlot 2013
Della Terra, Anonymus
Willamette Valley, Dijon Clone Chardonnay 2013
Wraith, Cabernet, Eidolon Estate 2012
Januik, Red 2015
Tomassi, Valpolicella, Rafaél, 2014
Sharecropper's Pinot Noir 2013
Helix, Pomatia Red Blend 2013
La Espera, Cabernet 2011
Campo Viejo, Rioja Reserva 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2013
Locations, Spanish Red Wine
Locations, Argentinian Red Wine
La Antigua Clásico, Rioja 2011
Shatter, Grenache, Maury 2012
Argyle, Vintage Brut 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #16
Abacela, Fiesta Tempranillo 2014
Benton Hill, Pinot Gris 2015
Primarius, Pinot Gris 2015
Januik, Merlot 2013
Napa Cellars, Cabernet 2013
J. Bookwalter, Protagonist 2012
LAN, Rioja Edicion Limitada 2011
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2009
Denada Cellars, Cabernet, Maipo Valley 2014
Marchigüe, Cabernet, Colchagua Valley 2013
Oberon, Cabernet 2014
Hedges, Red Mountain 2012
Balboa, Rose of Grenache 2015
Ontañón, Rioja Reserva 2015
Three Horse Ranch, Pinot Gris 2014
Archery Summit, Vireton Pinot Gris 2014
Nelms Road, Merlot 2013
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris 2014
Conn Creek, Cabernet, Napa 2012
Conn Creek, Cabernet, Napa 2013
Villa Maria, Sauvignon Blanc 2015
G3, Cabernet 2013
Chateau Smith, Cabernet, Washington State 2014
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #16
Willamette Valley, Rose of Pinot Noir, Whole Clusters 2015
Albero, Bobal Rose 2015
Ca' del Baio Barbaresco Valgrande 2012
Goodfellow, Reserve Pinot Gris, Clover 2014
Lugana, San Benedetto 2014
Wente, Cabernet, Charles Wetmore 2011
La Espera, Cabernet 2011
King Estate, Pinot Gris 2015
Adelsheim, Pinot Gris 2015
Trader Joe's, Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley 2015
La Vite Lucente, Toscana Red 2013
St. Francis, Cabernet, Sonoma 2013
Kendall-Jackson, Pinot Noir, California 2013
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Napa Valley 2013
Erath, Pinot Noir, Estate Selection 2012
Abbot's Table, Columbia Valley 2014
Intrinsic, Cabernet 2014
Oyster Bay, Pinot Noir 2010
Occhipinti, SP68 Bianco 2014
Layer Cake, Shiraz 2013
Desert Wind, Ruah 2011
WillaKenzie, Pinot Gris 2014
Abacela, Fiesta Tempranillo 2013
Des Amis, Rose 2014
Dunham, Trautina 2012
RoxyAnn, Claret 2012
Del Ri, Claret 2012
Stoppa, Emilia, Red 2004
Primarius, Pinot Noir 2013
Domaines Bunan, Bandol Rose 2015
Albero, Bobal Rose 2015
Deer Creek, Pinot Gris 2015
Beaulieu, Rutherford Cabernet 2013
Archery Summit, Vireton Pinot Gris 2014
King Estate, Pinot Gris, Backbone 2014
Oberon, Napa Cabernet 2013
Apaltagua, Envero Carmenere Gran Reserva 2013
Chateau des Arnauds, Cuvee des Capucins 2012
Nine Hats, Red 2013
Benziger, Cabernet, Sonoma 2012
Roxy Ann, Claret 2012
Januik, Merlot 2012
Conundrum, White 2013
St. Francis, Sonoma Cabernet 2012
The Occasional Book
Phil Stanford - Rose City Vice
Kenneth R. Feinberg - What is Life Worth?
Kent Haruf - Our Souls at Night
Peter Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang
Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games
Amy Stewart - Girl Waits With Gun
Philip Roth - The Plot Against America
Norm Macdonald - Based on a True Story
Christopher Buckley - Boomsday
Ryan Holiday - The Obstacle is the Way
Ruth Sepetys - Between Shades of Gray
Richard Adams - Watership Down
Claire Vaye Watkins - Gold Fame Citrus
Markus Zusak - I am the Messenger
Anthony Doerr - All the Light We Cannot See
James Joyce - Dubliners
Cheryl Strayed - Torch
William Golding - Lord of the Flies
Saul Bellow - Mister Sammler's Planet
Phil Stanford - White House Call Girl
John Kaplan & Jon R. Waltz - The Trial of Jack Ruby
Kent Haruf - Eventide
David Halberstam - Summer of '49
Norman Mailer - The Naked and the Dead
Maria Dermoȗt - The Ten Thousand Things
William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
Christopher Buckley - Thank You for Smoking
William Shakespeare - Othello
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cheryl Strayed - Tiny Beautiful Things
Sara Varon - Bake Sale
Stephen King - 11/22/63
Paul Goldstein - Errors and Omissions
Mark Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Steve Martin - Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Beverly Cleary - A Girl from Yamhill, a Memoir
Kent Haruf - Plainsong
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 113
At this date last year: 155
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (15)
The voters in the Multnomah County/Portland area, in their ideological wisdom, elect officials who chase the tax base out of town.
Posted by David E Gilmore | July 13, 2009 7:11 AM
I always thought that these were the sorts of elected officials that people like Jack wanted elected. Now that they've been in total control for so long (30+ years), you can see they're no better, if not worse, IMHO.
Portland (along with the whole states of California and Michigan) is a prime example of progressive political agendas run amok. Money never seems to be an issue with these people. They always find some place new to tax or put a fee on to get some new cash, all without thinking about unintended consequences.
It'll be interesting to see how fast downtown falls with nobody coming down on Sundays. I went down to Pioneer Place a few Sundays ago and it was already quieter than I'd ever seen it. The Apple Store was busy but all of those folks were waiting to spend their money on an iPhone (as Jack mentioned last week).
Until the entrenched idiots at City Hall and Salem are shown the door by the electorate, we'll keep getting more of the same. Just don't complain about it to me.
If this weren't where I was born and raised and my family wasn't still here, I'd have left Portland and Oregon long, long ago. BTW, could someone show me the way to Galt's Valley?
Posted by LexusLibertarian | July 13, 2009 7:38 AM
Hey, Samdy hates cars, so I am willing to oblige. I will go out of my way to avoid downtown for any reason.
Posted by Steve | July 13, 2009 7:40 AM
Yet another reason to park in the ODS tower on Third and Alder on weekends. $2 all day, and MAX is across the street.
Congrats, Portland. You are now going to see exactly $0.00 of my money from parking.
Posted by MachineShedFred | July 13, 2009 7:41 AM
But it's okay: the manifold contributions of the "creative class" will more than make up for the shortfall in business downtown, right? I mean, naked bicycling and all-night block parties should bring in enough tourists to keep those already-choking businesses from going under, right? Right?
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | July 13, 2009 7:41 AM
This really is the epitome of penny-wise and pound-foolish, but I knew it was coming. Portland has found a way to tax just about every aspect of life now. What this will do is keep people out of downtown who used to go on sunday and spend money. I bet the end result is a decrease in revenue.
Posted by mk | July 13, 2009 8:48 AM
The justification's nonsensical, too:
"The additional money, they say, is necessary to maintain service because of a drop in state revenue and gas taxes."
I have a modest proposal: reduce or eliminate the parking meter program. It's been done in several cities, with excellent results.
But surely not in Progressive Portland. We're the Greenest City in America (tm)!
Posted by ecohuman | July 13, 2009 9:05 AM
Washington Square: now $1.60/hour cheaper than shopping downtown, even on Sundays.
Posted by Isaac Laquedem | July 13, 2009 9:37 AM
And Clackamas Town Center also has free parking. You can also get there by bus and soon by MAX or even bike. But not by streetcar.
Posted by don | July 13, 2009 9:51 AM
Due to sheer idiocy on my part, I bought a home just 1.5 blocks inside the sw portland city limits; a move I've regretted ever since.
I quite honestly cannot remember the last time I ventured into the downtown area, although it was several years ago. I used to visit about once a week to enjoy the killer food at the Thai Princess, but that place went out of business for some odd reason. It's hard to imagine a business in downtown Portland having to fold, I know....
Posted by Max | July 13, 2009 11:52 AM
A couple of years ago (during the first year of that portland "I-tax") I was talking to an old timer who ran a business in downtown portland for over 50 years. His family had basically just started the process of closing up shop and moving outside of Multnomah county.
He was pretty upset about all the things portland has done to drive out small businesses over the last couple of decades. In his words, "They might as well just make it illegal to run a business downtown, because the results would be about the same".
Posted by mk | July 13, 2009 1:00 PM
We have to keep reminding ourselves that Parking Revenue is like the City Council's cracked piggy bank.
It is wondrous on how many ways it it used besides our streets-in fact none of it is. Recently Sam Adams has dictatorially decided that he'll use $3.2 Million (per year, I believe)of the Parking taxes for the Milwaukie Light Rail. That's why we need the rate increase.
Add that to the trolley subsidies made by the Parking Revenue and we've only scratched the surface on how Parking Revenue gets scattered.
Posted by lw | July 13, 2009 2:38 PM
I've just stopped going down as often myself. Doesn't make sense, there's enough great little neighbourhoods that have fun, local and interesting shops where they don't have fees for parking. Outside of the $1.60 an hour trying to find a spot is a PITA as well. Good luck Portland!
Posted by canucken | July 13, 2009 4:00 PM
enough great little neighbourhoods that have fun, local and interesting shops where they don't have fees for parking
Yet. Mayor Creepy's already told the folks down on Hawthorne that they're getting them, and many others are no doubt on the drawing boards. Go by streetcar!
Posted by Jack Bog | July 13, 2009 4:02 PM
I just gave up my parking pass: I'm going to take the bus 3-4 days per week, then drive the rest and pay the rack rate to park. Downside: I won't shop after hours because I won't have free parking. Area restaurants will lose more sales revenue than the City earns from this increase: I guess that's their problem.
Posted by Mister Tee | July 14, 2009 5:02 PM