Local measures are usually about raising my property tax bill. Wheee!
Multnomah County measure 26-81 – funding libraries – Yes.
I’ll explain this one by quoting from the voter’s guide: “Shall Multnomah County continue library services with levy of 89.0 cents per $1,000 assessed value for five years beginning 2007? This measure may cause property taxes to increase more than three percent.” This is actually about renewing the previously-existing bond that has been paying for the libraries since we voted for it several years ago. The property tax for this one will be around $140 a year for most homeowners – but of course, we’ve already been paying an additional tax for the expiring library bond, so it won’t actually be that big a rise in taxes.
I love Portland’s public libraries – one of the best public library systems I’ve ever seen. Over half of funding for libraries comes from this tax. If this doesn’t pass, they’ll have to close some neighborhood libraries, scuttle plans to open a couple of new branches in underserved areas, and the ones that remain open will have fewer operating hours. So this is a big “yes” from me.
Metro Council Measure No. 26-80 – preserving undeveloped land – yes.
This bond bill allows Metro (a local government agency) to protect wild areas, mostly by buying up land for preservation. If this one passes, it would cost most homeowners about $35 a year.
Portland School District Measure 1JT – Yes.
About $155 per year per homeowner to help pay for schools. And this is another “renewal” measure, so taxes won’t really go up $150 – we’ll just continue paying what we’ve already been paying. Portland schools are underfunded, and if this doesn’t pass they’ll be even more underfunded, so this is another easy “yes.”
City of Portland Measure 26-86 – Reforms Firefighter & Police pensions and disability – yes.
Honestly, like PDXistenZ, I’m voting for this pretty much because no one seems strongly against it. On the surface, the goals of this measure – having disability decisions made by experts, and keeping the pension system from destroying the city’s budget during recessions – sound good. And the fact that neither the firefighter nor police unions published arguments against this in the voter’s pamphlet speaks volumes.
Frankly, this is the sort of highly technical measure that voters can’t be fairly expected to know enough about to decide on. In a better system this question wouldn’t be a ballot measure; this is why we elect legislators.
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That’s it! I’m going to put off actually filling out my ballot for another few days, so if there’s anything you’d like to change my mind on, feel free to use the comments.
[Crossposted at Creative Destruction. If your comments aren’t being approved here, try there.]
Well, I just about dropped my teeth the other day when mr_xeno/Aaron V. told me that a Counterpunch article was mentioned at no less a place than Blue Oregon. The fact that they and you cited CP in the span of year will have me humming highlights from Man of La Mancha for days, no doubt.
But I Kid.
Yep. Condoning sex w/minors is a-okay if you’re a Democrat covering for a Democrat.
Sorry, but unless a story breaks in the next few days saying that Keating routinely has sex with farm animals and/or space aliens, I’ll be voting for him.
“Frankly, this is the sort of highly technical measure that voters can’t be fairly expected to know enough about to decide on. In a better system this question wouldn’t be a ballot measure; this is why we elect legislators.”
This is why I vote ‘NO’ on intiative measures that aren’t a clear and unmitigated good. If something requires complex tradeoffs–we need our legislators to hammer out details. An up or down vote is a silly way to deal with it.
I’m going to put off actually filling out my ballot for another few days,
Don’t forget to get it in before the November 12 deadline.
We passed a bond measure for our libraries a few years ago (0.125% sales tax) that made all the difference– our libraries are now open reasonable hours and can actually buy books.
Our big one is Measure C, which is transportation projects. It’s also a renewal, but the focus has shifted from all-highways to many useful projects including mass transit and the like. It’s going to be a hard fight, because it’s a 2/3rds majority measure and it has the word tax in it… but everyone (but one local town) supports it. It’ll be interesting to see if we can get it through.
Yep. Condoning sex w/minors is a-okay if you’re a Democrat covering for a Democrat.
Yet another reason not to vote for Gov. Killer. Remember in his first year when the tax measure failed? Remember how he said he would cut medical benefits for the poor? Remember how he did that and how it killed people and cost the state more than continuing benefits would have? I didn’t vote for him the first time ’round and that made damn sure that I’d never vote for him for anything.
Oh, Jake, blah blah blah Huns at the gates blah blah perfect enemy of good lesser evil blah blah fucking blah you’re just a troll Karl Rove’s operative GOP mole in disguise blah fuckity fuck blah blah.
There. Did I boil the whole standard response into a small enough dram for you ? :p
He is not either Karl Rove’s mole. That’s my job. We have a strict one-mole-per-blog policy. Prevents bunching up and cross-message contamination.
So you hang out with Kulongoski’s staff, wearing one of those Groucho masks ? Slipping mescal into the coffee, doing a sort of reverse-Iago impression when Mrs. Goldschmidt stops by for a chat, or what ? Tell me, is Ted as utterly bereft of charisma in person, or is that just a nasty trick of your brother/sister moles in the media ?
I voted no on the FPDR measure because it’s barely a reform at all, yet lots of money was spent negotiating what is almost a standstill position.
If PERS is good enough for other government employees, why not for Portland fire and police? There are other fire and police bargaining units in PERS, and fire and police in PERS have the same kind of more-favorable rules (including a lower retirement age and lower years-in-service requirement, because they do have much harder jobs and burn out earlier) in PERS that they have in FPDR.
It’s still not fully funded, and this measure won’t change that. The same baby boom bulge of retirees is going to hit the FPDR as will hit Social Security, and the only way to keep the promises made will be to raise taxes on an ever-decreasing working population.
Like I’d tell YOU the inner secrets! Ha! I’m not even going to tell you about the video tape we have.
The Multnomah County Library is simply awesome. It’s that way because citizens understand that it is awesome (most PDX residents are not natives) and are willing to pay a couple of bucks a year to keep it that way. Sometime in the late ’90s they lost a chunk of their budget and started running restricted hours and preparing to close some branches. A tax measure to get back the lost funding and more passed in the following election.