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Hello,

Basic bottom line is one of trust.  If a cultural license plate is purchased with the understanding that the money will go to the arts or the salmon plate  will go to support the health of the environment and the money is not used as intended it is a real breach of trust.  To use the money for anything else is not only dishonest, it is a kind of fraud.  I and others will be very hesitant to purchase these plates again we are just paying for a fancy plate without the funds being used for its intended use.  

Government wonders why people distrust it so much and it is seemingly small decisions like this that over and over again erode that trust.   

While I understand the many challenges facing government at this time it is important to  keep in mind the reason for the purchase of the license plates.  To use the money for any other purpose is simply betraying those who bought the plates.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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I live in Portland but own a small aprtment building in Tacoma across from a lovely historic park where I stay part time. However, the issues are the same everywhere. We have been battling pimps and prostitutes in the park for the past three summers to little avail. The neighbors are now trying to put together a focused program working with the police, Metro Parks and the city. The problem is a continually moving target and they people involved in thei illegal activities are very adept at adapting, often at the spur of the moment. The pimps and prostitutes bring in the drugs dealers and users who are often the homeless and it spirals downhill from there. The homeless drug users bring an element of violence to the park making everyone uncomfortable.

One thing we are requesting is bicycle patrols to get officers out of their cars and in the park (street) where the activities are occuring. We feel this would be a strong deterrent as the pimps and dealers do not want close scruntiny or the attention.

One of the frustrations seems to be the lack of communication among agencies with too much finger pointing at one another. We recognize that this is a social problem hard to control but we are looking at long term solutions now so we do not have to fight this battle day in and day out and especially summer to summer.

Diane Frank

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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I am a small time real estate investor and as a result have had many real estate loans. Many times I have been offered more than I can afford but have always borrowed only as much as I can reasonably repay.

What I have not heard in any discussions, local or national, is the role of the title company, a kind of safety valve. On each and every loan I have ever had the escrow officer at the title company has discussed the terms of the loan with me to make sure I understand what I am signing. I find it hard to believe that so many borrowers are innocent victims of the loan business which is not to say that there is not a slimy underbelly to the mortgage industry.

Too many borrowers have taken loans they cannot afford and have used their homes as a personal ATM card. I know a couple who are in their 60's, have lived in their home for 35 years and have a mortgage that is staggering, having pulled so much of their equity out of it to buy "stuff".

It is my opinion that the mortgage loan crisis is a result of a harmonic convergence of greed by both lenders and borrowers.

Diane Frank

posted 5 years, 4 months ago
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