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  #1  
Old Posted May 22, 2014, 9:25 PM
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Shilo Rune 96 Shilo Rune 96 is offline
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Street Fee: Charlie Hales

Personally, I hope Charlie Hales just committed political suicide. I can't believe I voted for him.

What do you think of the Street Fee?

My budget is already stretched thin. It's either Renter's Insnare or a Street Fee, because they're both the same price apparently.
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  #2  
Old Posted May 23, 2014, 3:42 AM
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How bad are the roads there right now? This plan seems very vague to me and I can't believe it is something that has gotten this far.

Here in Jersey just about every road is riddled with potholes so if they passed a street tax here I would expect them to be out there filling holes the next day.

I am still on the fence with Hales, it didn't sound like you guys had that great of a choice, though I like many of the members on the current City Council, I just think Hales could easily be replaced....though I do like that he is a streetcar advocate and would personally love to see that system expanded.
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  #3  
Old Posted May 23, 2014, 4:39 AM
maccoinnich maccoinnich is offline
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Charlie Hales campaigned on a platform of maintaining Portland's roads. Randy Gragg jokingly refers to him as "Mayor Potholes". The city auditor has said that Portland doesn't spend nearly enough money on maintaining its roads.

The Bureau of Transportation receives very little money from the city's general fund - most of its budget comes from the state gas tax and from parking meter meters. The state gas tax hasn't kept up with inflation, cars are getting more fuel efficient, and people in Oregon are driving less. As we've seen in NW Portland, expanding the use of metered parking is no easy task, whatever the merits of it might be. PBOT needs more revenue, and fighting with the police and firefighters for general fund money isn't going to be a battle they can win. Oregon doesn't have a sales tax. Property taxes can't go up without a funding measure put to the voters. So the street fee it is.

All of which is by way of saying - Charlie Hales said he'd fix Portland's roads, and now people are upset with him for finding a way to do it?
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  #4  
Old Posted May 23, 2014, 2:02 PM
RED_PDXer RED_PDXer is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maccoinnich View Post
Charlie Hales said he'd fix Portland's roads, and now people are upset with him for finding a way to do it?
Totally. As the City Auditor outlined at the beginning of Charlie's term, the city's streets are in very poor condition and will only cost more if not addressed now. I voted for Charlie because he's already been in City Council and didn't seem to have higher political ambitions and therefore, he would do what he needed to do without the political fallout. He basically ran an unsexy campaign on cleaning house and putting the city in order. Kudos to him for actually doing something about it.
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  #5  
Old Posted May 23, 2014, 3:15 PM
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I admire the courage they have to enact this fee. The funding is needed and although a lot of it is going towards potholes, a significant amount is going to "safety" which essentially means a better bike lanes, more sidewalks, safer crosswalks. $40-$50m a year is a BIG DEAL in public money and I hope that once roads are brought up to a better state of repair, the funding split can shift more towards encouraging people to ride and walk more, take transit more.
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  #6  
Old Posted May 23, 2014, 6:12 PM
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I don't support this at all. I support the idea of what he wants to do, but not the method. Adding a new road fee to people's water bills? That makes no sense and it strikes me as bogus. If roads are part of water bills, I wonder what else can be tacked onto our water bills next?

It's a road fee. It should be tacked on to things like drivers license renewals and street parking permits. In other words, road fees should be tacked on to road use. Unless we're about to turn our roads into water collecting vessels rather than using them to drive on, adding a road fee to water bills is ridiculous. To be fair, if we are about to turn our roads into some sort of water collecting and filtrating system... well then, I stand corrected. If not, I oppose this. I support the idea, but not the execution. Try again Mr. Mayor, preferably with some common sense next time.
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  #7  
Old Posted May 23, 2014, 7:09 PM
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Originally Posted by 2oh1 View Post
I don't support this at all. I support the idea of what he wants to do, but not the method. Adding a new road fee to people's water bills? That makes no sense and it strikes me as bogus. If roads are part of water bills, I wonder what else can be tacked onto our water bills next?

It's a road fee. It should be tacked on to things like drivers license renewals and street parking permits. In other words, road fees should be tacked on to road use. Unless we're about to turn our roads into water collecting vessels rather than using them to drive on, adding a road fee to water bills is ridiculous. To be fair, if we are about to turn our roads into some sort of water collecting and filtrating system... well then, I stand corrected. If not, I oppose this. I support the idea, but not the execution. Try again Mr. Mayor, preferably with some common sense next time.
I have to agree with this, it should be tacked onto something else. Adding it to a water bill seems like a bit of a copout. Heck, they could try to have it tacked onto any car that is registered in Portland, though I don't know the logistics of doing something like that.
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  #8  
Old Posted May 23, 2014, 8:34 PM
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"Hales said the fee would increase annually based on a local construction cost index, but no more than 5 percent." - Doesn't even require city council vote.

"poorer households would pay $8.09 a month"
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Old Posted May 23, 2014, 8:46 PM
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Indeed, it is a copout. And if this is the way Hales and Novick intend to govern, mine is a guaranteed vote against them in 2016. I've lost respect for both of them.

Trying to slip a new fee for roads into peoples water bills is wrong. Hales and Novick should be embarrassed that they thought it was a good idea, and they should go back to the drawing board to try again. Raise money to maintain the roads by increasing fees tied to the use of roads. And perhaps find a way to fine idiots who think they need studs to get to Walmart for 6 months out of the year.

I'm not against raising the money. I'm against doing it so ignorantly.

Frankly, I expected better from Hales and Novick - especially Novick. I guess I now know not to, and that's disappointing.
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Old Posted May 24, 2014, 12:26 AM
RED_PDXer RED_PDXer is offline
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This fee should've been implemented years ago. It's no wonder we have shit for roads. No one wants to pay for anything or make someone else pay for it.
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  #11  
Old Posted May 24, 2014, 7:22 PM
davehogan davehogan is offline
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Originally Posted by RED_PDXer View Post
This fee should've been implemented years ago. It's no wonder we have shit for roads. No one wants to pay for anything or make someone else pay for it.
Yet only 53% of this fee is going to maintaining roads.
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  #12  
Old Posted May 24, 2014, 9:47 PM
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Originally Posted by davehogan View Post
Yet only 53% of this fee is going to maintaining roads.
And it's going to be slipped into people's water bills rather than being added to fees related to roads.

And it's going to automatically increase each year, automatically jacking up people's water bills.

It's just so poorly thought through - probably for the sake of doing it the lazy way. The city should be increasing fees related to roads and road use. Increase drivers license costs. Increase street parking costs. Find a way to charge the idiots who think they need studs six months a year to get to Walmart. Oh, but that would be too hard, so instead, the city wants to sneak an automatically escalating fee into our water bills. That's a copout.
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  #13  
Old Posted May 25, 2014, 3:10 PM
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Originally Posted by 2oh1 View Post
Oh, but that would be too hard, so instead, the city wants to sneak an automatically escalating fee into our water bills. That's a copout.
Our existing road funding is uninflated, which is part of the problem, as is the increasing fuel efficiency of vehicles. Another problem is that the roads designed less than 20 or 30 years ago lack the basic safety infrastructure that we need - sidewalks, safe and frequent pedestrian crossings, bike lanes, etc. We'd need a monumental increase in gas taxes and/or vehicle fees and parking fees to implement even a modest road maintenance and safety improvement program that arguably improves everyone's lot - residents and businesses. Water and sewer bills are collected directly by the City so would be the most efficient way to implement.

I take transit just about every day and drive barely 3,000 miles a year, but I'm happy to pay $12/month to have better, smoother roads, safer walking and biking facilities, and the jobs that support them.

Hales and Novick have been discussing this proposed fee for the last six months, so I'm not sure it's "come out of nowhere" as the media has portrayed it. That said, it would be nice to have some constructive dialogue about how to make the fee more palatable for businesses. Basing it on trip generation rates (which i think is what they have done) doesn't make sense when downtown businesses don't generate as many auto trips, already are self-taxed for a local street improvements, and rely on a much smaller footprint of streets. The Winco's on 122nd Ave, fast food restaurants with drive-thrus and businesses like it, on the other hand, should have the highest bills in my opinion, based on their complete reliance on a spread out street grid.

If I was mayor, I would've suggested implementing a rate of about 50% of what they are proposing, with a very public plan to seek a public vote for increasing the rate to reach a certain level of funding and indexing that rate to inflation. Simultaneously, creating an accountability webpage that tracks where the money is going and what's been done to improve efficiency.
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  #14  
Old Posted Aug 27, 2014, 4:58 PM
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Quote:
Portland street fee: City unveils potential six-year wish list for safety projects topping $109 million



By Andrew Theen

Portland transportation officials continue to run the gauntlet of committee meetings as the summer of the street fee rapidly comes to a close for City Hall leaders.

On Tuesday, at the latest meeting of one of those city-appointed groups, the Transportation Needs and Funding Advisory Committee, the city produced the most detailed list to date of potential transportation projects.

It's a wish list, and admittedly in draft form (The document handed out Tuesday was titled: Safety project list - Straw-man ***Draft Low-Confidence Cost Estimates ***).

But PBOT leaders gave a snapshot of the type of safety improvements they'd like to accomplish during a six-year period. The list included an estimated $109 million in dozens of specifically identified sidewalks, pedestrian crossing, bicycle and other safety projects.
...continues at the Oregonian.
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