Just took that survey this morning also. And the SW Corridor rigged survey. That one was the height of manipulated planner speak. "Do you like this or love this?"

I took that push poll this morning. The part about Metro getting involved with incineration really got me. They phrased it as Metro having to build the facility and it was be costly. I smell a bond measure here. I seem to recall several years ago Schnitzer Inc. proposed building such a facility on their property in N. Portland at no cost to the tax payers. The idiots at Metro didn’t consider that a private company could do it. In fact they mentioned the facility near Salem which they neglected to mention was privately held. Metro folks are such creeps. All they want to do is increase their bureaucracy.

I took them as well, and they're bizarre. At least there were options for comments (which will be promptly discarded).

They're planners. What do planners do?

Listen to citizens? NO

Review previous assumptions? NO

Consider doing nothing as valid? NO

Endlessly plan new PROJECTs? Heck a Yeah!

Metro is a flawed institution because it is full of planners and managers of planners, and parasites of managers of planners.

The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan.

The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan.

If I may paraphrase...

The more the plans fail, the more the planners try harder.

That's because only an incredibly arrogant and naive person would ever think they can steer societies and economies by way of big plans. The spectacular failure of multiple experients in communism during the 20th Century couldn't have demonstrated this better.

And, since arrogance knows no humility, failure is usually first attributed to not trying hard enough, i.e, to not beating the patient over the head long enough, then when that still fails, it'll be because somebody else spoiled the plan.

The tragedy is, Portland has become a huge magnet for people who think like this and to make matters worse, will find gainful employment in government practicing their mindset.

When I took the survey, I commented several times that:

The low cost option is the most sustainable because money is a valuable commodity.

I should have continued:
Leaving money for our children is the most sustainable way to ensure we do not compromise the people of the future in their meeting their needs. History has shown that only wealth has stood the test of time of meeting the needs of future generations.

I suspect that no one at Metro will understand this.

Thanks
JK

I guess they are making lemonade out of their lemons. Sample is huge and skews female and older, which is exactly likely voters. Not so good for getting opinions of young males, but great for push polling.

"Do you like it or love it?" captures it perfectly!.

Can the following be done? Copy and paste at least the rigged questions to something like word and to the blog so these questions can be transparently exposed.

Annotated surveys and results are always published here:

http://www.optinpanel.org/index.php/work

A January report on project costs etc. is available here:

http://rim.oregonmetro.gov/webdrawer/rec/232099/view/Metro%20Council%20-%20Council%20Meeting%20Records%20-%20Meeting%20Packets%20-%20Council%20Work%20Session.PDF

Slim, Jim.

Jim, there's slim to none information there, unless you looking for how much polling us to not listening to our opinion costs.

Thanks for, uh, nothing.

Jim's Twtter posts and re-posts (same thing really) are anything but neutral on political matters. As a public employee, I am paying for this guy to publicize organizations, viewpoints, and support favoring one side of the political spectrum over another. As a Communications
Director for Metro, one would think his job would be apolitical, but no. The big, worst-kept secret about Metro is it's decidedly left-leaning values and lockstep attitudes about pushing these values onto the rest of us as well as favoring a huge tax and spend government.

This is why we need to get rid of Metro. They are no longer just a vehicle to coordinate regional services such as waste management (I might add that garbage is something they are good at creating), they have ASSUMED an expanded role as dictators to most of the state's population. As an interesting experiment in regional government created in the 70s, we can admit that some experiments fail. This one failed and became bloated in the process. We have a state government, let them do this work and send everyone at Metro home. One budget problem solved.

Many experimental and "new" ways of thinking about our society in the 70s have given us a chaotic present with little of substance for a younger population to compare and test their ideas and institutions to and against. The baby was thrown out with the bath water and now it's hard to get her back. In the meantime, put a muzzle on public employees and teach them the differe ce between opinion and unbiased communications. In the past, Middaugh would have been fired for advertising his personal opinion on the government's dime and that is one baby we need to save!

I would like to see a fact based study showing how many millions of dollars are spent on an annual basis administering our byzantinely complex land use laws from a state, metro and city/local level.

The government does not have a revenue (collection of adequate tax) problem. They have a spending problem and wasting millions on things that don't matter.

Jim Middaugh,

Metro should halt nearly all of their planning work until a genuine test of the public will is completed.

This letter to Damascus following a 66% & 78%
defeat of the planner's plans should be applied to every other arena.

Metro has no consensus or public approval.
It is all a phony manipulation at taxpayers expense. They are devouring millions planning plans that fail and what people do not want.
The perpetual chicanery to roll over communities is despicable.

From ODOT:
Mayor Spinnett and Damascus City Council Members,
In June 2011, following a public vote that rejected a comprehensive land use plan the Damascus City Council had previously adopted, ODOT requested that the City postpone further work and spending of federal funds on the City's Transportation System Plan (TSP) until consensus could be reached among community leaders on a working land use map to be the basis for further comprehensive plan efforts.

It was hoped a decision from the City Council could provide the necessary assurance that funding would not be spent developing a TSP for a comprehensive plan that would later change, requiring additional funds be spent revising the TSP.

ODOT very much appreciates efforts by the City Council and city staff (e.g. Steve Gaschler) to give ODOT the assurances requested (Resolution No. 12-295).

However, with recent passage of a voter initiative in Damascus requiring voter approval of all comprehensive plan and zoning actions submitted to the Department of Land Conservation and Development and Metro it is unclear that the assurances as previously envisioned are sufficient for moving ahead to spend federal funds on planning work at this time.

Over the next few weeks, with further consultation from the City, we will need to take some time to review our options.

In the meantime, I'm afraid we need to put a hold on further development of the City's TSP.

ODOT looks forward to meeting with your staff over the next few weeks to lay out a plan for working through this new issue.

Ross Kevlin, Region 1 Planner, will be in touch with your staff to schedule a meeting.

Regards,
Kirsten Pennington
ODOT Region 1 Planning Manager

I took the poll and gave them a piece of my mind. I expect that I'm on a "list" now somewhere of citizens who are not in lock-step compliance.