He read my mind
Finally, one of the candidates for mayor of Portland has said something specific that speaks to me. And it's James Posey. His thought is this:
Posey, a small-business man, advocated getting rid of the Portland Development Commission based on urban renewal money, which he said goes too often to the city's rich and powerful.As a Portlander who pays urban renewal property taxes into the great PDC slush fund, only to see it buy theaters for the Pearl District and aerial trams for Homer Williams, I say, right on, James Posey!
And if we can't abolish the PDC (I'm sure the deck is stacked to make that next to impossible), we ought to tear it apart and put it back together in such a way that our (and Uncle Sam's) tax dollars go to projects that a majority of Portland voters support.
If my ballot were on the kitchen counter today, I'd be blackening the circle for Posey. Actually, at this point, a vote for any candidate except Mr. Moneybags is a vote for a runoff. And that's a very good vote.
| Posted at 8:57 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (6)
Ditto on the "right on Posey" comment. For the amount of money that PDC gets to play "Sim City" we could eliminate the business income tax, reduce property taxes and let market forces revitalize the economy in this town.
Posted by Dave Lister | April 19, 2004 8:05 AM
I have my own issues with PDC, but I'd never back any move that left me or my city at the mercy of unfettered "market forces" either.
Posted by The One True b!X | April 19, 2004 9:24 AM
Heh. I thought people here might be interested in what came up on today's On This Day In Oregon which I link to in my sidebar:
"The City Council has been duly organized, but what progress has been made by way of creating ordinances, we are not informed. It is to be hoped, however, that something will be speedily done, to protect the persons and property of our citizens from lawless violation, at the hands of desperadoes, who came here to gamble, cheat, rob and steal, and murder if it suits their fancy, or subserves their interests."
Oregonian
April 19, 1851
Posted by The One True b!X | April 19, 2004 9:52 AM
I guess everything goes full circle. Now the citizens need protection of their persons and property from lawless violation at the hands of our local governments.
Posted by Dave Lister | April 19, 2004 10:18 AM
By the way, I don't support "unfettered market forces" either. That's why we have zoning laws. What I don't support are social engineering development schemes in which a small group thinks they know best where we should work, how we should get around and how we should live. That's got PDC written all over it. Just talk to the scores of old Portland businesses, paying good wages (and plenty of taxes), who are looking at PDC shoving a Home Depot down their throat.
Posted by Dave Lister | April 19, 2004 10:21 AM
Any time you can like to Steve Duin, it's a good day.
Thank you for keeping us non-Oregonian subscribers up on Portland politics. Even if I'm not in Portland and don't get a chance to vote for someone who does affect my day, I like to be informed. People don't hang up on me so fast.
Posted by jill | April 19, 2004 1:29 PM