Interview
here with the guy behind the current recall campaign. I think some of his responses reflect accurately the ignorance and country-bumpkin mindset of so many Portlanders, including many otherwise-"liberal" friends of mine. They'll say things to me like "I just don't understand why they have to build these apartment buildings so tall" while staring at a 5-story building. Or they'll bitch about the lack of auto storage in new projects impacting their ability to park in front of their houses, never once considering the idea that on-street parking should be priced to better balance out supply and demand ("What??? I'd have to pay a monthly parking fee? Where's my pitchfork?!"). The streetcar, and often MAX as well, are targets for derision. Rarely do I ever hear any cogent critiques of architecture and urban design or any comprehension of how things get funded (i.e. that you can't just divert money for a streetcar line to, say, affordable housing or street paving with the wave of a wand). By striking contrast, and as you might expect, my European and South American friends who live here don't even blink an eye: of course you want to increase density, of course you want to expand your transit system, of course you don't want to subsidize car ownership.
Guess I've been feeling frustrated lately by many of the citizens of this city that I love most dearly...
Hotseat: Ray Horton
A native Portlander talks about his (so far) lonely effort to recall the mayor and a city commissioner.
July 16th, 2014 AARON MESH | City Hall | WW
Ray Horton is fed up.
......
Why are you upset at Portland government?
You just get discontented as you get older, and I’m no different than most people. But I also think there’s an attitude from City Hall that, oh boy, there’s new people moving in, and we’ll make a lot of money here.
I feel the city is my enemy.
I used to go downtown and get a $5 parking ticket. Now I get an $80 parking ticket. It’s about how much money they can get out of people, rather than how they can serve the people.
What specific budgeting choices do you have a problem with?
We could go back six or eight years to
the light rail that’s going to Milwaukie at the expense of paving streets. A nice thing for the city to have, but I don’t think it’s a priority, especially when Mayor Hales and Commissioner Novick are claiming, gosh, we just don’t have the money to do what we should have been doing for the last 10 years.
That money was spent on light rail, and
bicycle lanes, and conferences for teaching middle-aged white men how to behave.
Do you have other gripes about the city?
Apartments popping up on every corner. The math is pretty easy. You say, to heck with the character of neighborhoods and anything that makes the city charming.
What’s driving the apartments comes right back down to greed at City Hall.
...more at WW
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