Time to wallow in the mire(s)
These days it hardly seems worth it to write about local issues. The United States is now a tin pot dictatorship, and the planet is burning. Given the scope of those disasters, the things that are making headlines in little old Portland seem too trivial to worry about.
But I'll give it the old college try with this one. Now, I'm not a grouchy old coot who resents paying for public education – lack of education is what's gotten our country into its current mess – but I've gotta say, the Portland public school district is a real embarrassment. Here they are with enrollments plummeting, and yet they're platinum-plating the high schools in such a wasteful manner that even the cozy consultants can't hold their tongues about it. The construction dudes are absolutely fleecing the taxpayers.
The school district suits aren't the dumb ones. It's the voters. "For the children"? Automatic yes on every tax increase. School district board candidates? Virtue-signaling is the only credential needed. It's no wonder people with real lives are leaving town and the number of new suckers coming in is dwindling.
Okay, that was uplifting. I'm going back to trying to ignore the screaming headlines for a while.
With the likely tariffs coming on Saturday, and the workers who might not be legal going underground, how much will those bloated costs increase? 10%? 20%? Sadly, some of the people who might vote no are probably the ones packing up and moving out.
ReplyDeleteApparently they failed at economics, math, and public relations...
ReplyDeleteThe type of construction contract that the school district is using -- Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) usually features a guaranteed maximum price and reimburses the general contractor for their costs and a pre-set percentage profit atop the costs. A major problem with these CM/GC contracts is that only the general contractor knows the actual costs they are incurring, and they have a huge incentive to pad them. For example, Hoffman Construction could hire a subcontractor to perform all the electrical work, and that subcontractor will bill Hoffman for the amount it bid. However, Hoffman and the subcontractor could have a side agreement, maybe based on the dollar amount of business the sub does with Hoffman, that gives Hoffman a rebate at the end of the year. There would be no way for client -- in this case the school district - to know about this arrangement. There are other significant problems with the CM/GC approach as well.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see Jack's post when he learns the latest reading and math scores that were released today.
ReplyDeleteWould have voted no regardless, but this voter is just tapped out. Auto insurance up 20% annually for the past few years. Ditto for homeowner's insurance. Health insurance up similarly this year. None of it is sustainable. Yet the powers-that-be continue to think our wallets are inexhaustible.
ReplyDelete"[T]in pot dictatorship" That's good. That's very, very good.
ReplyDeleteWith all of the worsening Portland and Oregon Democrat dysfunction and ruin there's should be no reason to mention Trump and Republicans. FYI Intel lost 55% of it's stock value in the last year. Oregon schools, worst in the country, has no High school graduation requirement in math, reading or science till 2029. And so on.
ReplyDeleteI keep hoping that the radical left will lose its grip on local politics.
Delete“it’s stock price” - apparently schools are no longer teaching the difference between a possessive pronoun and a contraction.
DeleteNothing will change as long as the Pot Smoking Spandex Mafia remains in control.
ReplyDelete“it’s stock price” That's a common typo. Your phony concern is petty and so preciously Portland.
ReplyDelete