"where are the tighty righty taxpayer "watchdogs" and their lawyers?"

They've been run off by the BlueOregon crowd shouting them down at every turn.

I think a broader initiative is required to get cityhall out of the school business. Measure 5 is restricted to property taxes and schools, and cityhall can shuffle funding around between its various tax revenues. Water and sewer bills probably don't qualify as property tax dollars.

It's rather hopeless in the city of Portland anyways because most polls show the electorate in love with big government, choosing to ignore its larger misadventures and debt pile up. My bet would be things don't change until the bill collectors show up when revenues drop precipitously. In other words, when mother federal government can no longer afford to bail out localities and states by printing more money, and the economy slides deeply as a result; then austerity may be forced but only after peoples with assets and income are run out of town.

So far, the exodus has been rather quiet.

Former Mayor calls BS on Urban Renewal.

Is the ponzi scheme unraveling?
I think so.

http://www.clackamasreview.com/opinion/story.php?story_id=127420875415102400

In Portland the tighty righty taxpayer "watchdogs" are not enough to disrupt the Creepy regime.

It will take more of this

http://bojack.org/2010/05/how_urban_renewal_kills_off_li.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:TIF_graph.pdf&page=1

"So far, the exodus has been rather quiet."

Do you think they're going to call us up and let us know? We won't know the effects of Measure 66 & 67 until we have a few years of tax return data to sift through. The real problem is businesses and investors who never come here in the first place.

I believe the "satellite district" thing was tabled as part of the deal to get the "Friends of Urban Renewal" off the city's back on the latest River District extension/boundary change/theft.

What does it say about Portland Public Schools that Marshall would rather roll the dice with David Douglas?

I believe the "satellite district" thing was tabled as part of the deal to get the "Friends of Urban Renewal" off the city's back on the latest River District extension/boundary change/theft.

Yeah, that's what I recall, too: a threatened lawsuit and/or Sten's hasty departure killed off that idea.

What does it say about Portland Public Schools that Marshall would rather roll the dice with David Douglas?

East Portlanders are treated like red-headed stepchildren by the city and PPS, and with DD's enrollment increasing, Marshall may get more resources with DD than it ever did with PPS.

The Marshall folks would be well served to join the David Douglas District. That school district is very well managed and in spite of having over 50% of their students on free lunches and having the highest minority demographics in the city; still get budget balanced and offer great education opportunities for those that want it. It is the best school district on the east side, and actually manage better than Lake Oswego or Corbett but have lower statistics because of their large minority and illegal immigrant demographics.

The Marshall folks would be well served to join the David Douglas District. That school district is very well managed and in spite of having over 50% of their students on free lunches and having the highest minority demographics in the city

Basically because they get more money per head when kids are in ESL or on the free lunch program. Most schools shop it out to families, even if they can afford to feed their kids and/or they speak English well.
Its a big racket.

“Most schools shop it out to families, even if they can afford to feed their kids and/or they speak English well.” Believe me, David Douglas, Parkrose and Centennial don’t need to shop it out.

"They've been run off by the BlueOregon crowd shouting them down at every turn."

yeah, all 12 of them (the blueoregon crowd).

"--where are the tighty righty taxpayer "watchdogs" and their lawyers?"
I don't see any loosey-lefty taxpayer "watchkitties" and their lawyers, either.

I may have missed information on this blog about this, but whatever was behind Sten's hasty departure?

By having only one high school campus (except for Fir Ridge, the alternative high school), the DD district is able to concentrate their resources in one location, thereby being able to offer a larger variety of classes, among other things. Yes, a second high school would reduce overcrowding, but it might not pencil out financially.

Believe me, David Douglas, Parkrose and Centennial don’t need to shop it out.

Must be pretty bad. A few years ago when my wife and I were both on unemployment, we didnt qualify with three kids in school.
They said we made too much money.