When they got there, the cupboard was bare
The lefties, hacks, and flacks who just got elected to the Portland City Council are going to be hitting the ground running in the midst of a budget crisis. So, too, are the three questionable newbies joining Dear Leader and Normal Julia on the Multnomah County Commission. For all of the newly elected, it will be like trying to learn how to drive in a driver's ed car that's on fire.
By summer, they'll all be calling for new taxes. Meanwhile, they'll green-light new "urban renewal" scams to stick new tappers into the public coffers. But re-de-fund the police! And of course, the nonprofit grifters, public employee unions, and construction dudes will continue to run everything, expense be damned.
With the property tax base softening and people with money leaving or not moving in, it's hard not to conclude that Portland's downward spiral will be continuing for the indefinite future. The bobbleheads who were just elected are clearly not up to the task of pulling out of it.
We've got a couple of interesting years ahead, and not in a good way. Treading water would be the best possible outcome, I'm afraid.
Back in the day, the Oregonian did community spirited articles on successful business people who were able to navigate the difficulties of managing complex operational problems. Maybe if they restarted doing those articles, some of the competent management types could be encouraged to try their hand in politics.
ReplyDeleteSadly, the big O is in even worse shape than either the county or city. Half the ads in this past Sunday's edition were promos for their online version. Looks to me like the actual paper paper's days are numbered.
DeleteEditor Bottomly recently wrote optimistically of support from the corporate overlords in New Jersey. But they've got to be hurting. My old employer, the Jersey Journal, is gone for good at the end of the next month.
Delete"Competent management types". ROTFLMAO. The best elected official we had at the city was a publican.
ReplyDeleteWhat would better equip a leader to run a complex organization: owing and operating a small business, with all that entails in budgeting, personnel, dealing with vendors, etc., or coming from the Non-Profit Industrial Complex? Add the added burden of OLCC, drunk patrons, the Oregon Lottery, etc., and being a publican is about as good training as there is.
ReplyDeleteIf you won't vote for ANY Republican under ANY circumstance, whattya expect?
ReplyDeleteIn Portland politics, there are no Republicans.
DeleteAnd NO common sense. Bud Clark was the best!
ReplyDeleteGive the new mayor a chance. He has all the right intentions. Time will show whether he can navigate through the no-profit industrial complex.
ReplyDeleteIf the new mayor pulls it off. He will have earned hero status.
DeleteIf I understand it correctly, he has zero power under the new charter. Once the city manager is confirmed, the mayor's authority is down to cutting ribbons and kissing babies. The socialists and Hardesty types on the City Council can, and I predict will, laugh in his face.
DeleteReminds me of the three little pigs, but with a twist. A whole lot more pigs but not one of them smart enough to build a house out of bricks.
ReplyDeleteGood News! We've made the top ten in least affordable cities!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.doxo.com/w/insights/report-the-most-expensive-and-most-affordable-largest-u-s-cities-2024/