School says no to tax, State gets sued.

School says no to tax, State gets sued.
The Tribune reports that a group called the Oregon School Funding Defense Foundation is planning to sue the state for inadequate funding of our schools. This biennium the state funded the schools for $5.8 million. The Oregon Quality Education Commission determined $7 billion was the correct amount for adequate education. The Oregon Education Quality Foundation (OEQF) is part of the bipartisan legislator for the state. It is the OEQF’s duty to determine the amount the state funds schools, and it is the legislator’s duty to fund the schools, as it is deemed so in the Oregon constitution. News Review however doesn’t seem to think that the group has a case. Review seems to think that no where in the constitution is it written that the state must provide “adequate” funding.

Article VII, Section 8 reads as follows:

Section 8. Adequate and Equitable Funding.
(1) The Legislative Assembly shall appropriate in each biennium a sum of money
sufficient to ensure that the state’s system of public education meets quality
goals established by law, and publish a report that either demonstrates the
appropriation is sufficient, or identifies the reasons for the insufficiency,
its extent, and its impact on the ability of the state’s system of public
education to meet those goals.

(2) Consistent with such legal obligation as it may have to maintain
substantial equity in state funding, the Legislative Assembly shall establish a
system of Equalization Grants to eligible districts for each year in which the
voters of such districts approve local option taxes as described in Article XI,
section 11 (4)(a)(B) of this Constitution. The amount of such Grants and
eligibility criteria shall be determined by the Legislative Assembly. [Created
through initiative petition filed Oct. 22, 1999, and adopted by the people Nov.
7, 2000]
Note: Added to Article VIII as unnumbered section by initiative petition
(Measure No. 1, 2000) adopted by the people Nov. 7, 2000.
Note: The lead line to section 8 was a part of the measure submitted to the
people by Measure No. 1, 2000.


The full Oregon constitution can be downloaded here. It’s required that you have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it. If you are unable to view PDF formats you can access the web version here.

On another note, the school board has declined the tax proposal by Potter, making it clear that the city has had enough tax hole fills. This does however leave a $56 hole in the budget after the current tax expires this summer, at least that’s what the tribune reported. From the Tax Proposal Potter released (summary), it seems to state that the I-Tax has already expired for all but Centennial, Parkrose, Reynolds and David Douglas. Potters Tax was shot down for obvious reasons. For one it would mean that rather than the city or state paying for the schools using the taxes Oregonians already pay, we would be paying more. For another fact, Potter tries to make it look as though the city will be going in halves with the people, and the truth is he merely noted that he would “request” money from the city for the schools.

- - - Excerpt from the Tax Proposal - - -
The Mayor will make a request of City Council members to dedicate $5 million in
one-time money to the Portland Schools’ Preservation Plan; $1 million to each
district. Mayor Potter believes strongly that every stakeholder must share in
making Portland’s schools better.
- - -

Power company overcharging Portlanders?

PacifiCorp is being charged by city hall with accusations of over charging Oregonians for their power. Currently PacifiCorp provides about one-forth of Portland’s power. The hearings started last Thursday, because PacifiCorp requested a rehearing back in October, after the city issued them an adjustment reducing their increase of $26 million.

Though the Tribune makes it sound as though they are being charged, it’s quite different. PacifiCorp submitted their purposed increase in the rates and the city reduced that amount (by how much I’m unsure at this point). PacifiCorp then filed for a rehearing so that it could voice it’s opinion in the matter (i.e. explain the increase).

The city claimed that PacifiCorp had already overcharged Portlanders by nearly $1 billion back in November. Clearly PacifiCorp denies this, but it doesn't look good when it wants to increase the current rates. Randy Leonard said then that the charge was "inappropriate". How this equals overcharge is all in the minds of our commissioners. These over charges allegedly go back to 1997. Leonard was the sort of "whistle blower" for PGE last year, and it appears as though he's on to something new, following the money trail of PacifiCorp's documents.


The map here shows the area PacifiCorp provides power to, that being a large chunk of north Portland.

More hope in Bus Mall battle

As the March 15th deadline approaches for the new bus mall plan to be “set in stone” everyone it seems has decided to look at this plan realistically, that is, “Ah! That won’t work!” Organizations, boards, developers, bus drivers, and old folk alike all agree this plan is a disaster that is going to happen. Traffic jams on every intersection, people in danger, businesses losing profit and all of downtown being put out of business causing riots in the streets and the city of Portland to be swallowed whole and vanish into the darkness. Well, not quite like that but you get the idea, BAD. I wonder why it is though that it seems it’s taken so long for them to figure it out. I can understand the businesses not acting; they have been lied to and told the plan “was set in stone.” But developers and organizations with better resources than I should have seen this coming and put it in it’s tracks fast. Now rather than try to develop a new plan that works before March 15th, most groups are pushing for a new date to be set. Ron Buel, former owner of Willamette Weekly, will unveil a better plan supposedly today. I’ve looked but I just can’t seem to find a link to the new plan Buel purposed.

Image credited to The Tribune

My reasoning for disliking the bus malls new design is simple. The bus mall is just that, a place where the buses come in, drop people off and pick people up, and then leave again. The current bus mall is easily backed up and has just enough buses running on it to cause problems but none too sever. The new plan however, adds cars into the mix, which simply do not belong there in the first place (I mean geez like there’s no where else to go?) and has the train and bus lanes weaving for no real reason. Why do they have to weave? Put the train on the left and the buses on the right and everything works just fine, why add time and energy to making them weave? I mention also that currently there is just enough room for large sidewalks and two lanes for buses. The new plan shows just as large of sidewalks, a lane for the bus, a lane for the train, and a lane for the cars. There are more buses than that people! No way will all those buses be able to fit comfortably in one lane.

More arguements

Previous Bus Mall Post

The truth!

Credited to Tom Tomorrow and The Salon

More waves made in tram business

The Mercury seems behind in their information, but seems to have other information. They are missing the key concept about the email from Sarah Graham, the architect for the tram, informing Vic Rhodes and Matt Brown that the cost was going to be more than $15.5 million. They did however bring up a good question, "Who is going to opperate the tram?"

The Mercury did also refer to the battle between Potter and Adams, saying that Adams will have to "spin the audit" in order to show he's turned it around. I'm not fully aware of where Scott Moore was going with that statement, but there's no "spinning" an audit, that's why it's an audit. It's given as a represented maximum price the finished product should cost, if everything is done just as it says. Besides, why would Adams need to "spin" it? Adams didn't lie to the public, or to the city, and Adams can't control the price of the Swiss franc, nor the price of a ton of steel. All Adams is doing is trying like a mad man to get this tram built, paid for, and out of the way in the best way it can.

Previous Tram Post - 1.2.06
Previous Adams Post - 8.2.06
Previous Potter Post - 20.1.06

Bus mall, price climbs, new plans

On the lesser note of interest, the price of the new bus mall has climbed with the increased price of steel (surprised? I think not). The price for the bus mall is now $557 million, but the Feds are paying for $334 million of that, so we’re only paying $223 million. Yes that’s still a lot of money, but it’s not just the bus mall, it’s also includes the I-205 max plan. The good news is however, that due to the recommendations by a peer-review panel of the American Public Transportation Association Tri-met will be drawing up new plans for the bus mall. It is good to know that I wasn’t the only one who noticed the major issue with weaving buses and trains in and amongst one another. Portland State University professor and planning guru Ethan Seltzer, noted that adding cars and Max to the bus mall would add to the capacity to the transportation but at the cost of the pedestrians. I agree with this notion, because if there’s an overwhelming amount of traffic on 5th and 6th avenues then who will want to walk by, across, or near them? New plans for the bus mall are scheduled to be released around march.

Previous Post - 1.2.06

Schools make error in W-2 forms, costs run high...

What ever happened to proofreading? Portland public schools made a $5,874 error in their latest W-2 forms sent out because they hadn’t double checked every detail. These are taxes we’re referring to here people! While filing taxes you’re supposed to be extremely detail oriented and review every aspect of the form multiple times. Not to mention that these are our schools, the system that’s supposed to teach our children by example how to act intelligently.

Tribune Article

Elections for 2008 underway?

It looks as though Sam Adams is already planning on running for mayor in 2008, having been proclaimed as running a permeate campaign from his entering office as commissioner for public utilities. The reasoning behind this proclamation however, are the actions he’s taking on topics outside his own. I feel that this does not show any miss-doings like the attitude of the tribune’s article. I think it’s been lost on people that these people aren’t just there because we voted for them based on six-months in action; we expect that they continue to work for the betterment of the community for the duration of their employment as government officials. I think it’s great that Sam Adams is working to bring more jobs to Portland and that he’s willing to step in where the Mayor himself won’t. In his recent firing of Vic Rhodes, I stated that what he had done was wrong. Since then I’ve thought about it and have changed my opinion. What Adams did was for the betterment of the community and the tram project. Officials who intentionally withhold information from others that they know could be important need to be ousted. To give an example of why this is absolute, imagine there’s a company; let’s say they make candy canes. The manager there has been working the job almost all his life, and it looks like he’s always done a good job. Then one day some information is uncovered, and it turns out he’s been shipping broken candy canes for years, and hiding all the complaints from customers. It is the owners right, and in the owner’s best interest, to fire this manager, regardless of the fact that he’s worked there all his life.

One thing that did hurt Admas next Campiagn, was that Vic Rhodes was supported by Homer Williams, who was also Adams main Financier for his previous campaign. However I would argue that with a better reputation Adams won't need Homer Williams anyways. I for one will support Sam Adams come the day he runs for election, and will continue to report on my findings in these and other matters.

Tapping a phone near you....

Credited to Tom Tomorrow and The Salon

Portland Police prowl the streets...

Recent extension of the South Park Blocks nine o'clock curfew to other parks downtown (North Park Blocks, O'Bryant Square, Ira Keller Fountain Park and an unnamed park at Southwest 14th Avenue and Hall Street) has made some waves. People are skeptical as to whether this is really helping or not, and as well they should be. I have personally seen how easily "street kids" can avoid the police. They know what times their shifts change, when and where they'll be at all times, and are certain to avoid them, no matter where they are. So the fact that the police are prowling South Park Blocks and keeping them safe doesn't mean the city is safer, it means the trouble has gone elsewhere.

“It’s a solution to fix something that's not a problem," says Richard Harris of nonprofit Central City Concern. Though safety complaints have trickled down to almost nothing, as John Doussard reports, this is the season in which “street kids” are less active anyways. No one will really no for sure until things start warming up again.
It's also noted that there's really no mentioning in the law of this "aggressive panhandling" the police speak of, and I personally have never witnessed it.

-Cartoon by Chad Crowe, let's not give someone else credit for the miss-spelled word...

Children say learning isn't working

"There’s got to be something better I can be learning." says Devan Whitaker, a forth-grader. The idea behind the entire Tribune article summed up into one sentence. Their problem is I have the answer. There isn’t! Children these days (and many adults too) seem to believe there’s something better than what’s currently available. They appear to think elementary schools should be preparing students for jobs in the real world. I say now just how does that work? These kids are in forth grade and inquiring whether what they’re learning will help them succeed in life. I want to know if they even plan on graduating high school. Most people I’ve seen, who think they have better ideas than the ones we’ve used for generations, end up dropping out or schooling for 6 years to acquire a GED. So just what are we teaching our children? To question the current system so that it’s changed, then blame that new system when you fail and expect everyone to just let you move on with your life?


Tribune Quote:
“The teacher’s like, ‘Well, in August of 1805 blah, blah, blah, blah’ and I’m like, OK, I lost you at ‘Well,’ ” said Quincy Cerabino-Hess, a fourth-grader at Winterhaven School in Southeast Portland.
End Tribune Quote:

I tell you, some children must to learn respect. What kind of forth-grader says something rude like that? I’m interested. I want to know what happened in 1805. I’ll admit I don’t remember much of anything specific from my years in grade school, but then that’s not really why you’re there. You’re there to learn about how to learn, and about getting alone with others, being respectful, and securing your basic understanding of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

New bus mall plans... *quivers*

Upon watching the video of how the new bus mall will operate, and reading the vague description of its “flow” like “a ballet”, I have only one real question? Who thought this up? I can see how ingenious it is, I really can, but it leaves out the factor for human error. People don’t always wait for traffic signals, bus drivers don’t always get out of the way on time, and there are a lot more buses than that video was showing. First I’d like to point out that while downtown can get congested, there’s not that much two extra lanes are going to do to help with that. Second of all any time you have two forms of public transportation and two lanes to put them in, I mean come on… why are we acting like we are making art? Put one form in one lane and the other form in the other lane. If they have to switch back and forth all you’re doing is slowing them down and adding the ingredient for extra disaster.

Kudos to Tribune for erasing their link to the bus mall video from their online article… (sarcasm)

Vic Rhodes forced to resign Tram Board

When Sam Adams forced Vic Rhodes to resign, many said that Vic Rhodes got just what he deserved. But was forcing him off of the Tram Board what was best for the project? While he did make judgments based on the cost of the tram that ended up costing the project more rather than less, he is one of the managers of the project. His dismissal caused Nancy Stueber (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry President), Dike Dame (developer on the board), and Pat Lacrosse (former executive director of the Portland Development Commission) to resign from the project board as well. While it's predicted that the public will view this act as an improvement, the truth is its wrong. Adams should have held a trail, or taken a poll. He should have made some kind of effort to ensure that he was making the proper choice.


Interesting enough though, Rhodes investor happens to be Homer Williams, who also invested much of Adams 2004 council campaign. This would hurt Adams greatly in terms of 2008 Campaigning, so it's certain that he truly felt Rhodes needed to be removed from the board.

Info from Tribune
Previous Tram Post - 18.1.06