Hales - "I'm not at all unwilling to think about new revenue," he added.

Great. That didn't take long.

It's interesting to look back at some of Hales' campaign literature:

"Fixing the small stuff is a big deal - there are over 60 miles of unpaved streets, many in outer SW and East Portland, and there are maintenance and access problems across the city. The City is not currently doing enough to make sure every Portland neighborhood enjoys a great quality of life. While these are some tough challenges, Charlie understands how to get the job done and is the only candidate with the focus and track record to get the City back on track, focusing on what matters in your neighborhood."

The source of this precious pull-quote is as follows:
charliehales.com/2012/10/mapping-the-need/

Aesop would have loved Portland. So much material.

Hales, in an interview Wednesday, said he wouldn't tackle the issue of a street fee or gas tax immediately. "Not right away," he said. "I'm not at all unwilling to think about new revenue," he added. But he said he wanted to get the bureau's financial "house in order" first.

Sounds like Tom Miller better have a Plan B lined up (provided he can pass their background check) sooner rather than later.

"People with a life and a brain, stay out."

You just choose not to obey the warning, or...?

Mayor-elect Hales published a white paper about the impact of Portland's urban renewal areas.

http://charliehales.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/URA-White-Paper.pdf

The white paper says:

In the budget year 2011-2012, a total of $96 million dollars was siphoned away from other services that otherwise would have received the resources. Meanwhile, police, fire, and parks suffer because newly developed areas, while having new public facilities, need basic operating services, but do not receive additional tax revenue to fund them because that additional revenue can only be used to pay back debt, not operate facilities. That means services from across the city must be thinned to cover this new development, or other local services are cut. It’s time to get better control of the URA’s in Portland.

and

As Mayor, I will lead a full reconsideration and ‘reset’ of our city’s economic development and redevelopment programs. It’s time to reset the course of the Portland Development Commission. I will make sure we ask ourselves the tough questions: What areas of the city need help? Where is the real ‘blight’ in need of Urban Renewal? Where can we declare victory and let past efforts pay dividends for our whole community? What is our strategy for citywide prosperity?

Don't we get shed of Tom Miller on day one of the Hales administration? Please?

If they inflation index on-street parking meter and city parking garage rates, it would put quite a damper on the trend of increases we've been seeing over the past few years. Perhaps we ought to take him up on this much of his plan.

Don't forget that parking meter revenue, which always went to roads, was raided to pay for Charlie's streetcar.

AND Charlie was gung-ho to give property tax exemptions ("abatements") to his buddies to build condo bunkers.

Thanks
JK

And now we have the new "equity tax" only on users of telephone landlines (voice, DSL)...

Portland City Council approves tax for land-line phone service providers

But a $50/year bicycle tax is "too expensive" to collect and wouldn't raise any revenue...

Forget about pavement made from icky old oil. Go to gravel, mountain bike and get a fat-tire grip. It wasn't that many years ago, most secondary streets East of 82nd were unpaved and fairly well kept. Rain water went to earth without storm sewers.

What tax won't city council approve and/or initiate?. . . . except for bikes, of course!

Great, the landline tax will hit those of us who are trying to save money by moving away from Comcast's predatory BS towards DSL.

Sine the Wife works in Vancouver now, I think its time we start looking North of the border. You have no idea how hard it is for me to say that, I've never liked Vancouver (still don't) and I refused to even look at homes there when we were looking as I wanted to stay in East Portland where I grew up.

My friends who moved from 80th and Powell to Milwaukie don't understand my utter disdain for the Milwaukie lightrail project. Since I commute on McLoughlin everyday, I have to watch the mess that this town is becoming. From the Lightrail construction to the SoWhat district to the backed up traffic caused by the extra traffic lights and removal of the turn lane onto the Hawthorne Bridge, to the dangerous game of "Wet rail line" you get to play when trying to drive on the tracks.... its truly insane.

Swede,
I wonder how many of us in this city feel as you wrote about, where will we move to? There seems to be an overlay of insanity wherever one looks, if one even dare look anymore!

Every time a bell rings, Sammyboy and his cronies want to raise taxes and fees on Portlanders. There are however exceptions in dictatorial Adamsville. The immature clowns have their misaligned special interest priorities that continue to receive nonconforming consideration. It is time the fee bell tolls on the slacker freeloading bicyclists and the highly subsidized streetcar riders. Hopefully in January, the new Mayor Elect Charlie will in short order give the crony Miller Clown his walking papers.

Swede,

Move to outer skirts of the Couv (unincorporated). Live cheap, and enjoy a 9% pay raise due to zero income tax. Still enjoy zero sales tax by shopping in OR and paying cash. What are you waiting for?

Jack, I hope one day you will heed your warning and move out of the City of Portland.

It's not giving up, it's getting on with life -- with fewer annoyances. Please join us.

Sitting out here in Clackamas county with all the other rednecks and peckerwoods with our 5 acres watching Portland self destruct. The only thing we miss in Irvington are the restaurants. The malls are plentiful and the parking free.

The Columbia River is like Portland's own Berlin Wall... freedom lies across the river, which is also why they will never allow the CRC to be built to improve traffic flow.

The road tax will capture revenue from bike riders. That's a good thing, isn't it?

The road tax will capture revenue from bike riders. That's a good thing, isn't it?

No, because the bicyclists will then claim that the entire funds collected are "theirs" and demand that it be 100% earmarked for bike projects.

Thus, everyone is taxed under the guise of spending on one thing, but reality is that only one narrow special interest gets the money and the benefit.

I think the term is "bait and switch".

December 2011

Overcommitted!
Mayor Sam Adams' Dream Transportation Projects Lead to Harsh Cuts

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/overcommitted/Content?oid=5268031

[...] PBOT was also recently signed up to spend $3.5 million a year (starting in 2013) on the Portland-Milwaukie light rail line, while committing about $1.3 million every year for operating the Eastside Streetcar.

There is hope. What happened in Lake Oswego this past election cycle proves it. The seven member council (which includes the mayor) was 4-3, in favor of Homer Williams, URDs, streetcar, tax and spend. After the election it went to 5-2, in favor of no new bonds, no new URDs, no new taxes, and priority services first. How’d this happen? Folks started paying attention. Folks got involved. They found good candidates and they supported them. I did and I have never been involved politically before. It took four years, but it happened. On a side note, I work in Portland, but it is the only thing I do there. I won’t support it. And I was born in the city well over 50 years ago. Left in 1981. So sad to see what has happened.