Drums keep poundin' rhythm to the brain
In our recent check of our property tax bill, we noticed that a Portland parks tax that was there in previous years was gone. But we should have known -- it will back again soon. Zsa Zsa says they may borrow up to another $150 million if the voters let them.
I remember the last time we voted in a bond and accompanying tax for parks. It was supposed to be for maintenance, but they used it for new capital projects.
I wish we would take the millions that the city is putting aside to run a superfluous streetcar system, dedicate it to the parks, and leave the property taxes where they are. But hey, I guess I'm just not enough "for the children."
Meanwhile, they've come up with yet another plan to turn Washington High School into a community center for the long-suffering Buckman neighborhood. You guessed it -- condos! I wish I were kidding.
| Posted at 5:09 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (10)
Parks needs to prove that they won't do another bait and switch.
Posted by Truth | November 3, 2009 5:39 PM
Maybe Al Gore is done using his iron clad lock box.
Posted by Garage Wine | November 3, 2009 5:43 PM
The school-to-condo conversion thing has happened before in Portland. And I don't think the outcome was that bad.
Posted by john rettig | November 3, 2009 8:15 PM
Parks won't get a chance to do another 'bait and switch' is my bet.
I won't vote Parks any more money until the entire leadership of the bureau is gone.
If they parade out a bunch of "policies" as evidence that they can't use bond moneys for other purposes...just make sure that they are called 'liars' to their face. "Policies" in city documents don't mean squat....actually, they mean less than squat.
Posted by godfry | November 3, 2009 8:59 PM
Good grief. What's the other $130,000,000 for? Cover for Paulson? What a bunch of zombies.
Posted by Mojo | November 3, 2009 11:35 PM
I'll bet a large part of it is earmarked for the black hole known as the SoWhat District.
Posted by Jack Bog | November 4, 2009 12:33 AM
Somebody needs to give them a vocabulary lesson. The word "glut", as in "condo glut" does not mean _shortage_. And the word "condo" is French for _many_lawsuits_.
Posted by dyspeptic | November 4, 2009 10:49 AM
If a private issuer had pulled the switcheroo with the bond proceeds that Commissioner Saltzman and Parks staff did, they'd be having a very serious experience with the US Attorney and the SEC. Securities fraud gets serious attention.
Because its a public issuer and a general fund obligation, and the bond holders suffere no added risk asa result of the "diversion" to capital projects from the original description of proceeds use for maintenance, nobody is going to look at the lies by Parks in the run up to the bond approval election, or the failures to disclose in the offering documents.
Portland marches on. Yet another demonstration that we get exactly the government we deserve.
Posted by Nonny Mouse | November 4, 2009 12:13 PM
Not precisely on topic, but credit where credit is due: "Zsa Zsa" is a brilliant nickname. Takes its place just beneath the handle bestowed upon Rep. Dingfelder.
Posted by Roger | November 4, 2009 4:59 PM
It is ironic the one positive comment on the Oregonian website came from a flywater50, who according to the profile has a Beaverton Zip code. Now THPRD is a good run operation, and has some fine folks working for it and a very clear mission, it not the landscape architecture department of the PDC.
Posted by swimmer | November 6, 2009 8:17 AM