Take this fee and shove it
Here's an interesting story: A Portland real estate bigwig is refusing to pay his five-figure "downtown clean and safe" bill because he feels the blocks on which his properties sit are neither clean nor safe.
Hey, Barry! Don't forget to look into a potential Measure 5 challenge. If you have to pay the fee as a property owner and you didn't order the service, it could very well be a "tax" subject to Measure 5, and it could push the city over the constitutional limit. (It's already over it with water and sewer spending gone haywire, but that's another story.)
| Posted at 10:47 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (7)
As if the Menashe family is not well connected.
Hot dam, this flap could have BIG legs.
Posted by Abe | June 20, 2010 12:40 PM
I LOVE it!!!
Clean and Safe is nothing but another mafia like scam perpetrated word wide by the International Downtown Association.
Barry is a pretty gutsy guy to stand up to those folks...believe me!
I will have to give him a call and lend my moral support.
Posted by portland native | June 20, 2010 1:04 PM
Uh-oh, I see a visit from Randy's HIT squad in Barry's immediate future...Better make sure you don't have any code violations!
Posted by sittinherewatchinthewheelsgoroundandround | June 20, 2010 8:34 PM
My wife worked for Mr. Menashe for a while, and believe me, he WON'T be coming out on the wrong end of this one. He has both the money AND the connections to cause the city all kinds of headaches.
Although here is the part from the story that I found interesting. In the beginning of the story it says, "His buildings are full ..." later on in the story it says, "But Menashe said he won't pay his roughly $4,000 monthly fee because he thinks the street problems have pushed tenants away and driven up vacancies in his buildings."
So which is it? Are his buildings full? Or are his vacancies up? My wife had a huge laugh when she read the article (hint - you can get a pretty sweet deal on a lease from Barry if you're looking to rent downtown).
Posted by native oregonian | June 21, 2010 5:55 AM
"Are his buildings full?"
I don't think so. No one is full right now and I know he has that huge Credence bldg in Hillsboro on Hwy 26 that is sitting empty.
It'd be cool to see someone actually take these blood-suckers to court on these fees and charges they just make up and then everyone rolls over and pays.
Posted by Steve | June 21, 2010 6:03 AM
portland native... please quit insulting Italian-Americans with calling the crap the city does mafia-like.... the mafia has more honor than the bozos that run those scams.... just sayin'
Posted by American Italian Anti-Defamation League of PDX | June 21, 2010 6:15 AM
Downtown is neither Clear or Safe.
Posted by Mister Tee | June 22, 2010 11:25 AM