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I think that this report definitively shows that the high tax approach of Multnomah County and Portland does not work.  If this is a “uniquely toxic” environment for disadvantaged groups despite the high taxes we pay here, then perhaps we should try the approaches of lower tax municipalities in Texas or Florida.  Regardless, the report shows that high taxes (9% income tax at the state level) are not the answer to the problems of disadvantaged groups.  It is distressing to know that we seem not to be getting much for what we pay.

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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Sam Adams does not speak for me when in his comments of last night he implies that Portlanders are just as afraid of police as they are criminals.  That is the view of the anarchist fringe in this town.  MOST citizens regret the Chasse incident, find the others ambiguous, and support the police as our bulwark against criminality.  The Mayor seems more concerned with fringe views than those of the majority.

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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These incidents are all different.  Those who treat them as all the same lose all credibility.  The police action in Washington Park incident was totally justified.  As a citizen, I would not ask this officer to risk his life in the face of a knife wielding man.

posted 3 years, 2 months ago
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Yes, the police need training and need to be sharp.  But members of the public need to learn to obey police commands.  Negative incidents would be fewer if people simply obeyed the commands (and, of course, followed the law in the first place).

posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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There is one solution to this problem which, although not available to everyone, is available to more than we like to think:  move.  That’s what I did.  I moved from an extremely expensive large city to Portland where a comparable house was much more affordable.  Consumer magazines show that there are many, many places with housing cheaper than Portland (some in Oregon itself).  Not for everyone I know.  Especially for older people with ties.  But for younger people, if it is unaffordable now, rather than struggle for decades, try a Midwestern city with comparable housing one third as cheap as Portland.  The geographic trends of affordability/unaffordability will not alter in the future, they will intensify.  And these trends cannot be reversed by governments.  People will move to desirable parts of the country—and bid up the housing there.  If you cannot afford a certain city now, it will be worse in ten years.  It is not helpful to people who cannot afford a city to suggest to them that it is possible to swim upstream.  Better “go with the flow” in a cheaper city.  Not always possible, I know, but we should not ignore what is, for many people, a real (and realistic) long term solution.

posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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Vanguard Total Bond Market was <up> 5% in 2008.

And its expenses are lower than <any> other Oppenheimer
Bond fund.

That says it all.

State officials should have directed parents toward Vanguard.
Anyone with minimal financial literacy knows this.

posted 4 years, 4 months ago
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All panhandlers are polite and easy-going? Either you are dreaming or the dozens of my women friends who find Pioneer Square uncomfortable are dreaming.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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I think how you framed the issue contributes to confusion. Obviously not all homeless people panhandle and not all panhandlers are homeless. The panhandlers on freeways are dropped off by people driving vans. Who knows whether they are homeless or not. Legislating against aggressive panhandling is not legislating against homelessness. The two issues should not be fused in the way your program does.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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