I loved watching the KGW news team openly mocking our Mayor tonight. What a joke. They were supposed to be describing the evolution of the opt-out program but they couldn't do it without sounding like a standup routine at Harvey's.

Next election we've got to concentrate on a Mayor Removal Program.

One fall day, Jack was out raking leaves, when he noticed a hearse slowly drive by. Shortly after came another hearse, and following that, was a dog, followed by about 200 people walking in single file. Jack stopped one of them and asked, "who was in the first hearse?" "Randy Leonard," he replied. "I'm sorry," said Jack. "What happened to him?” "My dog bit him and he died.” Jack then asked who was in the second hearse? The man replied, "The Mayor, my dog bit him and he died as well.” Jack then said, “can I borrow your dog?” "Get in line” replied the man.

OK, I kinda borrowed this one!

I wonder how many trees are worth a $30/yr tree tax?

I'll bet a lot of them disappear.

Thanks
JK

Vive le nervous breakdown!

The real scary thing is, now that the leaf program crashed,our awesome Mayor is taking on gun control.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/11/portland_mayors_proposed_gun-c_1.html

Jack, would you mind removing all of my previous posts to your blog on this subject, so that I may credibly employ this strategy?

Thanks for the link to the opt-out form.

Well, now at least they will have an excuse for blowing through thR city budget.

In the linked article, SamAdumbs said "We messed this up." Problem is, that quote can be used for damn near everything he touches in city government. Sam, get a clue.

I wonder how many trees are worth a $30/yr tree tax? I'll bet a lot of them disappear.

Hah.

If everyone subject to the tax turned just one large tree on their property into firewood they could probably sell it to profit enough (after paying city tree killing fine) for a decade's worth of leaf fees.

With responsible tree management practices a homeowner could easily keep up with this fee. Just plant a new tree every ten years beside the stump of the one you had to cut down to pay the next decade's fees.

It's sustainable!

Stumptown lives!

I think it's great that a precedent is being set for paying or opting out of city imposed fees...

Let me get this straight. The Samster employs a new leaf fee aimed at shaking down the locals for tens of thousands of dollars and he ends up with no cash and has to spend tens of thousands of dollars to handle the onslaught of paperwork........priceless.

Let me get this straight.

I'm not sure you did. It's public money that's being squandered on this.

If it wasn't so sad, Portland's weirdness would make a good comic strip or comedy show.

The City's next step, following its current logic, will be to shut off stormwater drain service to the most heavily treed parts of town, so that the leaves won't get into the drains and pipes.

Nah, next SamRand will place their office chairs in the gutter and sit there and command the rain to stop draining into the sewers. Only they'll expect it to work. They heard Neil talk about it just last night.

Missing from the opt out form is the option to collect your leaves and then dispose of them, over time, in your every other week yard debris pickup. We pay for year around yard debris collection, yet for most people December, January, February, and perhaps March are months when the yard debris pickup is not used. It would be great to receive full value of that fee service.

neprcp, good point.

Why not have our city controlled garbage services have yard debris collection only once every month or every three weeks in December, January, February to gain three or two more leaf/debris collections in October and November as we clean up our gardens, landscaping and leafs in the fall?

You'd think with Sam's 30 staff members, all environmentalist with major practical experience and common sense, would think of that before charging $30 to $60 more to collect leaves only once a year as if they know exactly when the leaves will fall and when the homeowners can manage their daily schedules to be home to clean up their own leaves to avoid the fees. And it's remarkable that they know that leaves only fall straight down onto one's own property and the wind never blows in the fall. If his staff (and others) only had a little life experiences, they might think outside their cubicles.

I'm beginning to think that Sam's quick decision to hammer citizens again is part of his "Work Stimulus Program". He's making jobs for Portland Bureaus to manage Leaf Fees collection, fines, notices, hearings, court cases and the phone lines.

He's a genius....a job creator. And that's how the Oregonian probably will see it.

The City's next step, following its current logic, will be to shut off stormwater drain service to the most heavily treed parts of town, so that the leaves won't get into the drains and pipes.

Except it's not just the stormwater that backs up if that approach is used.