"It made me very proud to be a Portlander and certainly proud to be Portland’s mayor."

I agree. That made me especially proud of Portland's Mayor.

That and also his overshadowing the inauguration of our 44th President back in DC with his press conference on his sex scadal.

And when he wrecked his pick-up truck(who knew he had a pick-up truck?) with his pants unzipped.

And news of when he was interupted by the janitor in the Men's bathroom in City Hall, french kissing and groping some underage intern.

Proud to have him as our Mayor.

Maybe I missed the news, but has anyone actually filed a challenge to the arts tax? I read about one person who was considering it, but so far haven't seen an actual lawsuit.

I had to drive by that hideous thing next to the Hawthorne Bridge today.
There was someone up on a man lift welding in the mist!
The trolley was empty but I noticed the number 6 bus was full at 2:30 in the afternoon.
Portland isn't the only city with a problem mayor. Check put Torornto Canada...they have a mess there too!

Great site you link to! But they misspelled "pedo" in the site's name.

I love Sam's "Instagram" site. Just a big load of empty frames. Waiting for something substantial to materialize... Waiting... waiting... still waiting...

Maybe I missed the news, but has anyone actually filed a challenge to the arts tax? I read about one person who was considering it, but so far haven't seen an actual lawsuit.

Somebody unsuccessfully challenged the ballot title, but that doesn't mean much. I know that I will not pay it without protest until the Oregon Supreme Court tells me I have to. I'm still trying to figure to whether to challenge it in advance, refuse to pay and let the city come after me, or pay and sue for a refund.

There's a good chance I won't be blogging about my own case once it gets close to going to court, however. At that point you'll have to read about it elsewhere.

Delusional. I wish the city didn't waste money on this drivel. But it is fitting and entertaining as material for another Portlandia episode.

We have some big industry, but 85 percent of Portlanders works at businesses with 10 or less employees.

That can't be true. Is that even possible?

Maybe if you don't count the legions of government employees. Like Dopey himself.

I left a snarky comment on the article. Bet it doesn't stay up there long.

Thanks, Jack, but I'm not going to read anything that relates to that grinning goon SaMadams' pic. Can't. Just can't. Unless it's breaking news about him being stolen by a dingo.

Jobs? We don't need no stinking jobs! We can walk. And forage.

I have to say, with 62% approval, even if it gets declared unconstitutional, they'll just put in some small tweaks to comply with whatever the court finds, and submit it the next round. Who was opposing this? Not enough organized opposition to stand up to something like that.

Hans Christian Andersen started his famous tale this way......."Once upon a time there lived a vain Emperor whose only worry in life was to dress in elegant clothes."
One could paraphrase that sentence to fit much of what goes on in all of the nooks and crannies of Portland's city hall.
I wish they'd teach the classics in PPS.

I'd like to rephrase that question:

"Given that, as the City gets more expensive, what can be done to keep employers here?"

or

"Give that, as the City gets more expensive, what can be done to keep families here?"

I'm getting tired of artists being a protected species in Portland. Why not welders, or sales clerks, or nurses?

The really important news isn't that Sam Adams is channelling his inner Ruprecht, although I fully expect to see him take a job as a consultant in Oklahoma City's new hipster heaven just so he can beat on pots while yelling "OKLAHOMA! OKLAHOMA!" over and over. No, the real news is that Portland Monthly is still publishing. Do they actually have readers, or is the whole magazine a big money laundering stunt that doubles as journalism grad workfare?

When I first read this, I thought that the person who was speaking was young and had a very poor education. I was right. I judge this and most of what I see coming from government today as a demonstration of shallow and immature thinking.

Ya gots ta vote more carefully.

I'm getting tired of artists being a protected species in Portland. Why not welders, or sales clerks, or nurses?

This is one of the reasons I was concerned about the head tax is that negativity would be cast towards the artists.

This is sort of like politics where certain ones "in" may get grants, awards, etc.
I would venture to say that the majority of the artists in our city receive nothing.
The artists I know work hard at their craft, public sees the final result and knows not what has transpired to achieve those. Many teach, some have second jobs, (that welder may be a sculptor and that nurse may be a fiber artist.) You may have seen artists at booths at fairs, etc. These are visual artists, some graphic designers, if one looks around most everything we look at has been designed by a visual artist. Set and costume designs in plays, production, lighting, film, and then the field of music, production of festivals, these are all aspects that many may not realize are part of our community.

It is running a business and this tax may actually be a burden for some of them as well. The ones I know are responsible and know about budgeting, in fact I think would be better at decisions in government than the ones currently running matters.

Now, as in every field there are those who don't do well and some might be considered slackers. I am not in touch with or do not know about those in the "new creative class" here that folks talk about so can only speak for the history of the ones that have been here for years.

I do believe that when collection time does come for this tax, the negativity towards artists will increase. That is sad because their contribution to our community, is valuable.

I might add that throughout the years I have noted that the artists in our community are continually asked to donate work for fund raisers and they have generously given much of their work even though some of them may need the support themselves.

Clinamen--I didn't intend my comment to be a knock against artists. Rather, why single out one specific category for special treatment, over and over again? Why not try to make this a good place for everybody?

Michelle,
Understand and agree.
What has happened in my view is the cream is being taken off the top as we know for "insiders" and it hasn't left our city a good place for everybody.
As we have observed by threads on here, week after week, and there are still 24 days left.
However, I am not feeling very secure that any of this will change soon or with the new ones coming in.
I hope Jack will do his cyber office party this year and we can have some merriment and enjoy each other's company.

The idea that bicycling and public transportation are the ultimate - or even an appropriate - mode of getting around for artists at large is pretty shallow. Try and transport large works of art, large installations or even heavy pieces on a bike or on public transportation. The artistic community is as diverse as any other and is not overwhelmingly composed of poor, young creatives crafting 'zines on their desktop letterpresses and flogging knitting whimsey on Etsy.

I will add that as far as the schools not having money to provide art and music, many of us know a that if a clamp on the spending by our officials on pet projects here had been done, we wouldn't be in this fix.

I see it as hypocritical on Sam's part, as he has seen fit to be a mover of the money to these pet projects and then turns to be a "hero" to some in the art community. Don't these people make connections?

Despite all this, I can see why people voted for this wanting art and music in the schools and in our community. I believe people voted for this as it sounded good, but were not told the details of where this money would be given or how it would be collected or that they might be setting precedent for a head tax.

What next? A head tax to use our parks, a head tax to take care of our roads, a head tax to use mass transit, the list can be long if this takes hold.