Don't forget to remember
This came in the mail the other day: the wasteful annual glossy full-color brochure (with wasteful annual insert) making a big deal out of the fact that the City of Portland may actually show up and sweep the leaves off the streets a couple of times over the next two months.
This mailing sure stirs up some memories. Remember when Sam Adams, then the mayor, came up with the brilliant idea to charge every household along the sweeper route $15 or $30 a year, depending on the precise location, for this basic service? Of course, the bobbleheads on the City Council, led by Admiral Randy Leonard, went right along with it. I remember frantically raking up every leaf, so I wouldn't have to pay, just to spite those bastards.
Eventually their successors got rid of their leaf tax. When Chloe Eudaly has better judgment than you, well, son, that's no way to go through life.
And to think, now Sam the Tram is all that stands between us and another couple of years of the Reign of Terror of the worst county commission chair we've ever had. The memories are sad, but the current scene brings even more bitter tears.
I have always wondered how such a mundane, basic service managed to become a political football with an ill thought out charge, then a point of false protection when the absurd charge(which cost more to administrate than the income the charge produced) was eliminated. Leaf pick up should occur in every neighborhood of Portland once a month from October to January. It’s part (a very small part) of what the taxes we pay should cover.
ReplyDeleteNow overlay income on the map….
ReplyDeletePBOT has cut residential street sweeping entirely. Even though its budget has increased 30% (adjusted for inflation) over the last ten years.
That's because BIKE LANES! AND MORE BIKE LANES!
DeleteYour Portland gasoline tax dollars at work.
DeleteCommuters on bikes really hate leaves. Cars.
ReplyDeleteNot so much.
Note to taxpayers (doesn't include tent-dwelling, addicted vagrants): don't forget to move your vehicle off the street, otherwise you'll be handing over a big chunk of change to the City of Portland to get it out of impound.
ReplyDeleteThat's great for you. In the meantime, the rest of Portland hasn't had its streets swept in at least 16 months. The City that Works!
ReplyDelete16 months? If only my 'hood were so lucky. We're on year three of no street sweeping. But still paying for the leaf districts to get a good Fall cleaning.
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