Bring a sign. Bring your lunch. Bring a friend. Bring your sense of humor. Satisfy your need to do something to stop those who have mismanaged our public funds and now want us to pay for it - again.
Only 20% of taxpayers have children in the Portland Public Schools. The other 80% pay the bulk of the taxes that educate those kids. We 80 percenters expect very little for our overwhelming educational investment.
If Portlanders keep approving property tax hikes the only people who will be able to afford living in Portland will be public employees sanctioned to carry weapons.*
Formerly known as Public Utilities, Portland General Electric and NW Natural have become POLITICAL Utilities by contributing a total of $50,000 to raise property taxes and rates on their own customers, that's you and me. This should NOT be a legal activity of Public Utilities. The currently in session Oregon legislature should take immediate action to stop all Public Utilities from contributing to any group advocating for tax increases of any kind.
These are the responsible adults who wouldn't think for a minute to omit accurate, complete maintenance and capital costs from NW Natural's annual budget. And yet they are willing to support a public bailout of the Portland Public Schools, an institution that is the exemplar of mismanagement of public funds, despite the fact that PPS has omitted the true maintenance, capital and unfunded liabilities costs from PPS budgets for decades.
Northwest Natural Gas contributed $25,000 to the PPS tax raising scheme. Are ratepayers and the Public Utility Commission OK with this? I'm a rate payer and I'm not OK with it at all.
If you are as angry as I am then let's work together to do something about it. A public protest march around city hall would be a good start. Are you in?
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Click here for additional commentaries on Public Housing Policy in Multnomah County.
Click here for additional commentaries on Single-Payer health care in Oregon.
Click here for additional commentaries on Portland Public Schools Property Taxes.