Trials and tribulations of the upper crust (Jack Bog's Blog)

A former colleague of ours writes:

I live outside the city of Portland in unincorporated Multnomah County. (I know, you hate Dunthorpe, but that's where I live.) I got the city's mailing about the new program and how great it will be to have my trash picked up only every other week instead of weekly for the same money.
I called my hauler, Allied, asking them to confirm that since I'm not inside the city, my service won't be changing.

After working my way up to a customer service supervisor, she confirmed that I would in fact be under the Portland program, since Allied's franchise is from Portland, even though I don't live in Portland. She said I should call the city's trash hotline for more information.

So I called the city's trash hotline. A very polite CSR told me, after investigating, that I would be under the new program, because of an "agreement" between the city and Multnomah County. I asked him to give me information about the agreement, and he said I would have to call Multnomah County, and gave me a contact. (This agreement will be interesting to the Clackamas County residents in Dunthorpe who will also be under Portland's new program and don't live even in Multnomah County).

So I called the guy at Multnomah County yesterday. Again a very polite guy. He said he didn't think there was any "agreement" and that Allied just doesn't want to differentiate between customers in Portland and out of Portland. He said he'd get back to me, which he hasn't yet done. If he does get back to me and you're interested, I'll let you know what he says.

So now the knuckleheads of the Portland City Council don't just get to f*** up their own city; they get to f*** with a bunch of people who can't even vote against them.

There's a sitcom episode here, people. Maybe even a whole movie.

Comments (19)

Well, those who live in Dunthorpe can contribute all kinds of green to candidates who don't want to remake the CoP.

Posted by LucsAdvo | October 3, 2011 12:00 PM

Anschluss!

Posted by Allan L. | October 3, 2011 12:03 PM

Sam's tentacles have another year+ to keep growing. Sort of like a malignant tumor, isn't it?

Posted by Mr. Grumpy | October 3, 2011 12:06 PM

Müllkrieg!

Posted by cc | October 3, 2011 12:42 PM

That's a lot of time on the phone for the poor guy. He should have had one of the help do it for him.

Posted by Eric | October 3, 2011 12:44 PM

Don't hate when the chains of bondage are slightly less heavier than yours, celebrate their good fortune!

Posted by Pistolero | October 3, 2011 1:17 PM

Sitcom titles under consideration:

So You Want To Be Green'd! [A multi-billion-dollar combo version of "So You Want To Be A Millionaire" + "Punk'd!"]

Welcome Back, Kitzer [Recycling old laughs in the Governor's mansion with a new decorator.]

Sam Adams, Where Are You? [Eh -- nobody really cares, so long as he just stays far away.]

The METROs Show [Cute puppets in a high-priced comedy variety show with life-sized train sets.]

My Mother, The Bicycle [Soccer mom killed in a suburban road rage tantrum by a steriod-sotted city cop on administrative leave, comes back as a 20-something anarchist's chatty tall bike.]

Malcontent In The Middle [An everyman's life growing up in a spectacularly dysfunctional city. A laff riot.]

I Love Lunacy [Follow the foibles of those whacky high-density-apartment-dwelling supervoters.]

Goldschmidt [A show about everything wrong.]

Posted by Mojo | October 3, 2011 2:08 PM

Mr Grumpy, no lie, you know how you really read something quickly without looking closely??....I read your comment as
"Sam's testicles have another year +...

Posted by lw | October 3, 2011 3:30 PM

I've heard that he has rather short tentacle(s).

Posted by teresa | October 3, 2011 3:52 PM

careful, eric, pistolero and lucsadvo:

your bigotry is showing and it's just as ugly on your side of the spectrum.

Posted by The Other Jimbo | October 3, 2011 4:38 PM

Jimbo - You are familiar with the devil's advocate concept right?

Posted by LucsAdvo | October 3, 2011 6:54 PM

Mojo,
Thanks for the titles.
The METROs Show and Goldschmidt, a lot of material there.

Posted by clinamen | October 3, 2011 9:23 PM

Envy + jealousy + ignorance + fear = bigotry. Pulling down those who have more "stuff" is really lame.

Posted by Nolo | October 3, 2011 10:19 PM

Nolo if you truly believe in effort as the basis then inheritance should be outlawed right? (Devil's Advocate hat on since some of you seem to not understand it)

Posted by LucsAdvo | October 4, 2011 1:45 AM

Inheritance? Sure. And no death taxes to boot. If we had taxes on consumption rather than income, the very rich would be paying more of their "fair" share.

I have a disabled son and another child with a chronic illness who could use any inheritance from me to not have to be dependent on government handouts. Perhaps you believe that SocSec Disability payments will or should be enough. Even if our social welfare system were made solvent through taxing the "rich" , it would never be enough to satisfy the equity issue until we were all making the same amount. Then where would the money come from. Yes, I believe that my heirs should be able to benefit from my effort and thrift. And yours should benefit from your accumulated assets. I never want to depend on the government to determine my standard of living, though that is where we are heading. Sounds like the green-eyed monster is running amok these days.

Posted by Nolo | October 4, 2011 6:11 AM

I forgot to add - what is your definition of the freedom promised by our constitution? Mine is that people should be free from government interference in their lives. That requires me to be responsible for my own life and choices. The fact that out social safety net is screwed up is not enough for me to want to give up my freedom.

Posted by Nolo | October 4, 2011 6:19 AM

Whether you inherit wealth, or make a fortune on your own, you shouldn't have to fear a confiscatory government tax. Not in the year you make it, not in the year the government decides to reduce the deficit, not when you die.

If you don't believe in wealth creation, then you don't believe in Capitalism. If you people are be "allowed" to gain and/or inherit wealth, they should retain the rights to determine what happens with that money at their passing.

The estate tax is merely taxing money which has already been taxed (at least) once before, or was invested in some municipal enterprise.

Punish the wealthy and both capitalism and employment will suffer.

Posted by Mister Tee | October 4, 2011 6:35 AM

Oh the humanity! And all over where we dispose of our corn cobs.

Posted by Drewbob | October 4, 2011 9:13 AM

There probably is an agreement between Multnomah County and the City of Portland. Multnomah County generally contracts its planning and services for unincorporated areas to the nearest city or town.

Posted by Erik | October 4, 2011 1:17 PM

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Monday, October 3, 2011

Trials and tribulations of the upper crust

Comments (19)

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