They won't leaf us alone (Jack Bog's Blog)

We wrote last week about this year's version of the Portland leaf tax, and we reproduced the ludicrous "opt out application" that we received from the city. About the only redeeming quality we could find in the mailer was that it was pretty plain and seemed cheap to produce.

But if we thought that was the only mailer we were going to get from City Hall about the program, we were badly mistaken. This week, along comes the inevitable:

Can't imagine what it cost to produce that thing, and to snail-mail both this one and the previous one. There doesn't seem to be any way on earth that the new "fee" is even breaking even for the city, much less raising any net revenue. So why are the Sam Rands so hellbent on pushing it on the affected neighborhoods? For one thing, it tells the other neighborhoods, who complain that they don't get leaf pickup, to quiet down -- and shutting people up is the hallmark of the current city commissioners. And for another thing, it once again gets the city right up in the faces of the people who live here. For some reason, to the politicians in these parts, that feels so darn good they need to do it at least weekly.

In an event, this is a perfect piece of free campaign literature for Eileen Brady, who says she will get rid of the leaf tax. Who says tax dollars can't be used for political campaigns?

Comments (10)

"Urban forest." Puh-lease...

Posted by dg | October 6, 2011 10:17 AM

Eileen Brady, another evil-doer in the 1%.

Posted by Sam Clemens | October 6, 2011 10:21 AM

“Urban" is the new hot buzzword for local politicians that can be appended to virtually any noun. It helps ease any discomfort the masses may experience as they are brought under the control of the local soviet, oops! did I say that? I meant planning bureau.

CoP knows what's good for you!

Posted by Mr. Grumpy | October 6, 2011 10:40 AM

Sam Clemens, sock-puppet or regular old garden variety troll?

Posted by msmith | October 6, 2011 11:16 AM

According to the city's admin rules, the opt-out deadline is in October.

Posted by Garage Wine | October 6, 2011 11:48 AM

Portland, it doesn't bring much to the party.

Posted by LL | October 6, 2011 3:39 PM

Jack:
Thanks for the "Opt out" notice and info from the city. My notice is buried in a pile on the floor somewhere. So...., reading the fine print below item No. 2, I was able to "Opt out" with my computer at the PortlandOnline.com/leaf day and printed up a receipt just in case "they" come after me?
VTY,
The Old Curmudgeon

Posted by Michael Whitmore | October 6, 2011 5:33 PM

The opt-out form (online) requires that you agree to the terms, including that your residence may be "spot-checked" to make sure you are complying. But my reason for opting out is that I'll deal with my own leaves (and the inevitable leaves that fall from my neighbor's tree.) How are they going to spot check--show up on the leaf days to ensure that I'm not trying to get in on the action? Why not just give the drivers accurate lists?

Posted by Dave J. | October 7, 2011 10:06 AM

The problem with this leaf program is that they don't wait for all the leaves to fall before sweeping the street!

Posted by al m | October 7, 2011 11:03 AM

Wait...wait...wait...

It was the frippin' CITY OF PORTLAND that pushed the damned trees in my 'planting strip' on my wife. They told her that it would improve the city and the only cost to her would be to water them during dry periods the first couple of years.

I tried to take one out that that CITY numbskulls had planted too close to my water meter and was told I would have to replace it.

Posted by godfry | October 10, 2011 2:02 PM

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Thursday, October 6, 2011

They won't leaf us alone

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