Out of one wallet, into another
An alert reader sends along a link to this story in the Weed, about how the "transportation" bureaucrats at Portland City Hall blew $299,000 paying some clowns in Canada to develop a cell phone app that didn't work. But to me what's even more disturbing is the giveaway program that the app was supposed to plug into.
For several years now, the city has run a program in the Northwest and Central Eastside parking districts called “Transportation Wallet,” which offers credits and passes for alternative transportation such as TriMet buses, ride shares and e-scooters. (It is also available to low-income Portlanders and those living in new multifamily apartment buildings, regardless of neighborhood.)
Honestly, it makes no sense in Portland to make a living and pay your own way. There's a handout for everybody if you know how to milk the system. "Ride shares"? You get a city subsidy for your Uber rides? And if you're in the right building, you get freebies no matter what your income is? And the reason for all this is?
I see from this obscene page that the program takes money by force from the developers who build the hipster bunkers. Then everybody wonders why rents are so high.
And I shudder to think, but could it be that the money somehow gets funneled through nonprofits, who take a cut? Oh yeah. It looks from this as though there are 18 "partner organizations" involved.
Oh, well. The rest of you, pay your taxes and tolls and feel guilty about driving your car. And don't you worry about that 300 grand. It's chump change compared to the big bucks that are frittered away by the car haters every day.
The public money handlers in the Portland area, act like the room temperature IQ nephews of a rich, patronizing, uncle.
ReplyDeletePray that the uncle stays healthy.
I think the uncle is moving.
Delete^Vote with your feet (if you can afford to? House repairs, moving, making new connections & work & medicine availability in the place you’re moving to) is the new thing?
ReplyDeleteCar infrastructure isn’t cheap.
Imma be honest, lately I’ve been finding the detached residence and dealing with cars & car-centric planning to be a a maintenance and cost nightmare.
Idk that the city is really helping the situation building oil/petroleum glue chip board garbage apartment bunkers that suck to cross ventilate; can’t take water damage, are heavily dependent on fire sprinklers, have jail cell like rooms; no green space snd will have higher ongoing maintenance costs than good row houses or houses.
But, for my own part; I’d like to live near where I work & would rather live in something like a Well built in a row house (with a covered insulated light well passage between houses and secure service alley). Would save energy costs, be more secure, more fireproof and quieter if thick brick walls or similar between, less fencing, less front yard to babysit, no manicured yards/suburbia/tons of swirly streets & paving, still have a private good size back yard with a garage/guest house/shop/granny flat on the alley?
Basically, be nice to recycle the materials; subdivide into apartment flats if you wanna/have people or all classes living close to eachother, cross ventilate, good views & eyes on the street, structures shorter than the green strip and front yard canopy trees, cheap/easy maintain with bite size basic tools any contractor or homeowner can have access to with only the 25’ facade to maintain to look nice, gleefully neglect/ignore the rest/sides don’t really wear out when not getting weather beaten/never paint them, quieter/better insulated & more fireproof than a cheap stick built detached, still walk/bike/take trsnsit, but have a car or access to a car if you need or want one?
Basically; I want the best of condo & detached house and trim all the fat; HOAs, car dependency, bad land use, long sewer & water lines have to go!
I e-bike and take transit as much as possible and recycle quality used tires in standard lower footprint sizes for a reasonably mid- sized old car & try to only use it when I really need it & drive less / not buy new cars.
All these flat taxes on cars are a drag. I’m not saying we should continue to subsidize suburbia with bull run water, impermeable absurd use of pavement on swirly streets , free/subsidized storage for cars & trucks with lots of fast Amazon delivery and oil to heat as well as long sewer lines for McMansions.
Tax new tire sales progressively on weight/size, eliminate the gas tax and semi-truck logbook & it’s bureaucracy as well as EV flat tax and GPS trackers for surge pricing they’re technocratically introducing.
Just consolidate all that crap, collect up front like a universal sales tax/user fee based on the actual thing wearing out the road by weight/miles traveled; the tires!
For housing, service alleys thru w/garage on the back and maybe back/carport up front so you don’t waste the length of the lot on a paved driveway and manage the runoff & have a couple indoor parking spots, one off street & one on street out front?
Boom! Livable nice row houses, similar density to some hellish apartment cube or commie-block/mid-century towers in the park thet never really worked as well as advertised.
Look, if you wanna live farther out, farm a little & have your machines and contractor junk; have some solar power and maintain your septic system & do you errands once a week in a circle, go for it!
It’ll never happen; but I’m as anti-car & pro absurdist energy efficient rail, boat lock/barge & bike for most transport w/virtually no suburban land use and traffic planning nor heavier longer distance rubber tires vehicles w/USA avg of 1.5 occupants…
…but I also realize people are going to have & need access to cars?
Something about Free Will and Independence.
Delete