Road Pot-Hole Season is starting early!

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I have been reading your posts carefully and thoughtfully.

What is obvious to me is that you are not living in Portland, and while your posts have brought up some interesting observations and suggestions, it's very clear to me that you do not "know" Portland intimately.

For locals, things here are not so clear cut.

Even though your thoughts are appreciated, your opinions with Portland's problems with pot holes, road maintenance, and the use of road salt seem to be coming from very much an "outsiders" perspective.

We are not California, we are not the midwest, we are not Seattle.

Taxes and "more money" to take care of problems are not the answer here.

Portland voters, more often than not are willing to "share the burden" if the argument is legit.

However, the last couple of decades worth of politicians made great promises, and talked a great talk, but never "walked the walk".

Voters here are slowly starting to wake up and are slowly staring to make changes.

Portland politics are a very interesting, and are often confusing to people that are recent arrivals, or to ones trying to make sense of them from afar.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

I have been reading your posts carefully and thoughtfully.

What is obvious to me is that you are not living in Portland, and while your posts have brought up some interesting observations and suggestions, it's very clear to me that you do not "know" Portland intimately.

For locals, things here are not so clear cut.

Even though your thoughts are appreciated, your opinions with Portland's problems with pot holes, road maintenance, and the use of road salt seem to be coming from very much an "outsiders" perspective.

We are not California, we are not the midwest, we are not Seattle.

Taxes and "more money" to take care of problems are not the answer here.

Portland voters, more often than not are willing to "share the burden" if the argument is legit.

However, the last couple of decades worth of politicians made great promises, and talked a great talk, but never "walked the walk".

Voters here are slowly starting to wake up and are slowly staring to make changes.

Portland politics are a very interesting, and are often confusing to people that are recent arrivals, or to ones trying to make sense of them from afar.

I've been getting the same impression. I keep wondering if he's in the wrong forum.

[OneTimeSEALover]

Totally in the right forum. Doesn't matter if I'm not "from Portland" (though I certainly spent enough time there). But to me it seems Oregonians want things but hate the notion of paying for them. When things don't go your way, it is time to beat up on politicians. They know it comes with the territory, but It is also true nothing ever was actually solved in this way. Could be a long time if ever that some of these problems ever get solved. Time maybe for a grass roots movement to elevate an activist into office who has some integrity. And then to back that person with financial commitment. Not more ballot initiatives to protect taxpayers' pockets.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by OneTimeSEALover

Totally in the right forum. Doesn't matter if I'm not "from Portland" (though I certainly spent enough time there). But to me it seems Oregonians want things but hate the notion of paying for them. When things don't go your way, it is time to beat up on politicians. They know it comes with the territory, but It is also true nothing ever was actually solved in this way. Could be a long time if ever that some of these problems ever get solved. Time maybe for a grass roots movement to elevate an activist into office who has some integrity. And then to back that person with financial commitment. Not more ballot initiatives to protect taxpayers' pockets.

Some of the comments you have made about conditions in Portland don't pertain to Portland. Regarding politicians, most have promised to fix the sidewalk/street problems and that's why they got voted in. No one objected to more taxes for streets and sidewalks, but when taxes were raised these same politicians used them to build bike lanes and to serve other special interests.

Why do you think people are so opposed to the Arts Tax?

And BTW, many politicians have run as activists which is also why they were elected.

I suggest you GOOGLE the history of Portland politics before you make such broad, sweeping statements. What you're saying has been done over and over again without success.

[OneTimeSEALover]

I did sort of wonder why taxes for road repair became taxes for bikes. It is annoying that people on bikes are treated as fair haired sons. "Most bikeable city" has become a national boondoggle. This is not and never will be Netherlands. I'm much more favorable to making transit a preferred alternative than all these amenities for bicycles, In the early 50's, when I got my first rusty bike in Portland, the absence of a bike trail or lane never stopped me from doing what I wanted to do. Even as a 6 year old, I had the common sense NOT to mix in heavy traffic. My parents didn't even need to warn me. And there wasn't any big campaign to get me or other PPS classmates on bikes. We could barely afford one car, and that car was almost never available for travel. So feet, bus, and bike were it for just about everything. NOW, when bikes are discretionary? Oh, build more BIKE lanes. It is sickeningly American. We can't just make a decision and do it. No, we have to blow it all out of proportion. Take sides. Proclaim some "principle" that we're fighting for. Give me early postwar when we were just lucky happy to have peacetime.

[karlsch]

A self-styled anarchist group in Portland, Oregon, has put a middle finger up at authorities and begun to patch potholes. Portland Anarchist Road Care says that “state neglect has caused the streets to fall into disrepair”, and promises to take “the state of the roads of PDX into the hands of the people”.
Masked anarchists 'rise up' to fix Portland potholes

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Wish they were still filling potholes.
I think that was a "15 minutes of fame" kind of thing.

The city has repaired a ton of the potholes, but I have noticed that the repairs were done in a great hurry, and in a slipshod manner.

At least the worst ones got filled, but I see some major street repaving happening in the next few years.