News May 31, 2012 at 4:00 am

Keeping Portland Out—to Let More Republicans In?

Illustration by Terrence Nowicki

Comments

1
I love it when people bring up the racial inequity problems and gentrification in Portland but then recant and claim it's not affecting politics. Crackamus County doesn't want Blacks/Latinos etc or poor White folks moving in and setting up home next door. When people like that say they like the "peace" and "safety", they mean the segregation. Call it like it is, don't sugar coat it with some bullshit about stopping crime or infrastructure. We already know you, don't gotta lie. Silly crackers.
2
Why would anyone WANT poor people to move to their neighborhood?
4
I've lived in portland and in clackamas county. I happen to live in Clackamas right now. Rail would be a HUGE boon to people who don't have cars. It would reduce pollution. It would make the whole region a more affordable, and cleaner place to live. The billboard represents a tiny aspect of what clackamas county thinks. Don't judge clackamas by a billboard. There are plenty of people who want rail.
5
Let's get ONE goddamned thing straight and clear, here.

There is no such thing as "Portland Creep". It's a phony phrase i've never heard of before yesterday, but i've seen it featured in main articles for both WW and the Merc this week.



Listen to me, now - when a bunch of middle-aged/old, over-weight, conservative, tea-bagging WHITE people in semi-rural areas make a fuss over things like "sprawl", "crime", and "density" potentially coming in from large cities, that is (((code))) for: "WE DON'T WON'T NO NIGGERS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!!!!!"

Many of you will get mad and accuse me of being a racist b/c of what i just said - i don't give a fuck. It is the truth and you all damn well know it! When old, fat, conservative, scared-ass White people in Clackamas County put up such a stinkin' fight against MAX expansion, citing the so-called "wave of crime" they claim would be imported in from Portland as a result, what they REALLY mean is: KEEP DIM DAR SPOOKS, GOOKS, SPICS, AND QUEERS OUTTA OUR TOWN! NOT IN (((OUR))) BACKYARD, DAG-NABBIT!"

And Lake Oswego (or Lake NoNegro, as racist high school jock-tards there like to call it) exemplifies this NIMBY mentality more so than any other city and 'burb in the region. I've been to and through LO, so i know what i'm talking about. Noone bikes, or walks there. Big wide side-walks that (so far as i could tell) are never used except by the rare jogger or dog-walker -always old people. Shitty, blocky, high-rise apts and shitty colorless houses with a security sign in every manicured lawn. Not a single indy shop - 100% corporate-sponsored, rich gilded shithole ghetto! So far as i know, only two Trimet buses will even take you there... and one of them runs for just 4 hours a day.

And it's no coincidence that many Portland cops live there, as well as many notible right-wingers, including Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. (founder/pastor of christiaNazi fascist Church of Christ based in LO, and founder of the Portland Tribune, among other business interests)

6
I love how these people move out there and then shut the door behind them. Imagine if the got the same courtesy when they decided to purchase their little suburban ranchette.

Oh and to say Clackamas has character is a joke. It's basically an amalgam of shoddy houses and flex warehouse space. They would be so lucky to get Portland creep.

Also, follow me on the twitterz @Squirrelchat for fun social commentary and randomness. Free hand jobs for anyone who follows me within the next 6 hours.
7
Squirrelbaby,
You nailed it right on the head. This sort of cycle has happened before though and it certainly won't be the last time. It's 100 times worse in the South East US.

Oh and I have been following you for a week now and have yet to be offered an old fashioned HJ. What gives? Your twitter is very funny though. Keep them coming!
8
I grew up in Clackamas County. And look how I turned out.
9
Hey Merc editors: Learn to fucking edit, you dipshits!

"This is a fascinating and unprecedented movement, and it isn't us. It's the people," Barton says. "They started before anyone knew who we even were, and they were halfway home before we even got involved. We truly are just helping a movement."

discontent and that most of the votes before the primary, on Sellwood and urban renewal, were lopsided affairs.

"This is a fascinating and unprecedented movement, and it isn't us. It's the people," Barton says.

What the fuck is that?



Anyways, I completely agree with everything TheOnlySanePersonInTheWorld typed.
10
@1, there are quite a few poor people in Clackamas county and the majority are quite likely white. I don't disagree with what you posted but I also think this supposed "Portland creep" is manufactured. And spouted by alternative publications. @4:you're making sense. Stop that. If this really involves the Tea Party, good fucking luck in Washington County. See, them there Latinos here have jobs, community and city representatives. Not to mention a lobby. Good luck, putas!
11
Hey, Chicostix. That was a web-only hiccup and we've fixed it. Thanks.
12
i feel like people from clackamas county think very highly of portland. that's how chilly feels yall
13
Let them isolate themselves from Portland, fence that shit off and leave jobs for people who pay taxes here. Also, check how well this type of mentality worked for Yamhill county.
14
Divide and conquer. Us against them. Just once I'd like to see, "us and more us."
15
Sounds like are people upset because a place where they would never want to live doesn't want them living there? Sounds like a win win for everyone.
16
Wow, reading the comments here, I wonder why they wouldn't like Portland? On the contrary, they should be inviting you all over to dinner to lecture them on what's wrong with them, and tell them that they're racist.

On a serious note, the problem in many suburban communities is actually Metro. It requires buying into a top-down density and transportation framework. People in the suburbs perceive that this framework is Portland-centric, dreamed up and administered by Portland planners, who live and work everyday in Central Portland. The suburbanites are basically correct in this assessment.

Do you think that the idea to never expand the UGB and start packing rowhouses into towns like Oregon City came from Oregon City or Metro? Do you think the idea to run light rail down there originated in Milwaukie, or Portland?
17

It is so fucking hilarious to hear people snivel about alleged racism while using terms like
"white boy", "cracker", and "tea bagger."

Google "irony" fuckwads...





18
The thing that doesn't get mentioned in your article is how many of those Clackamites, especially the not poor ones, actually commute to Portland every day to work. Also I'd be pretty sad if I had to live in Lake Oswego. It's boring and you have to drive anytime you want to go anywhere. Lastly, a lot of people live in suburbs because they are scared of the city. But Portland is pretty damn safe. Sometimes I don't lock my doors. I never feel in any kind of danger. Only paranoid, ignorant people think Portland is not safe.
19
@17 You're the only one here who said "tea bagger," but what's "fucking hilarious" is seeing someone openly admit that "Tea Party" is a racial designation. It's true, the tea baggers tend to be white, angry that someone is in the White House who has "Hussein" in his name, angry about attention paid to problems facing black Americans, angry when people in this country speak languages other than English, etc. ad nauseam. A growing number of people can't stand your bigoted views, and your 15 minutes are over.
But yeah, "white boy," OMG, racism! You're so oppressed!
20
Oh, now I see DamosA said "tea-bagging," but so what? The Tea Party came up with that term in the first place, and it's all just so irrelevant.
21
A few cents:

* Much of the focus on density and sprawl-prevention doesn't come down from Metro, but from state law and the LCDC. Molalla, which is outside of Metro's jurisdiction, recently got slapped down by the state when it wanted to expand ITS UGB to build a bunch of new subdivisions and goose the local tax base; the state said no way. Damascus, which incorporated basically to take planning authority away from Clackamas County, STILL hasn't been able to get a comprehensive plan passed.

* A big problem is that sprawl, long-term, is not affordable. One reason city governments have had interest in upzoning and density is that they are finding it harder and harder to maintain the more extensive physical plant that lower density requires. Sprawl requires more roads, more sewer pipes, more water mains, more storm drains, and more of everything to serve the same population and tax base. It's not just lefty planners in downtown Portland pushing this, it's city governments in Oregon City and Milwaukie. And many people who LIKE sprawl and the auto-centric lifestyle are throwing a shit-fit (Bojack is an excellent example of this to be found in Multnomah County; and unlike his counterparts in Clackamas County he's way outvoted and he knows it) that governments are starting to no longer subsidize their preferred lifestyle.

* And yes, there's an older generation that believes density=crime (regardless of racial issues); and regard high-rise apartments as though they are housing projects.

PT covered the issue here.
22
EngineerScotty, can you provide some sort of citation to back this up: "It's not just lefty planners in downtown Portland pushing this, it's city governments in Oregon City and Milwaukie."

The focus on density and sprawl prevention in the Metro area does come from Metro. They're in charge of the whole UGB, whereas an outside city like Molalla has its own UGB. The statewide system does create restrictions on how and when a city or town can expand its UGB. If they over-reach they can be slapped down, but at least it is a local process.

The argument about cities not wanting to expand expensive infrastructure only applies to certain expansions. In an expansion like a subdivision, the developer pays for all of that, plus off-site infrastructure costs.

Nobody likes sprawl, but many people don't want to live in a city the size of Portland. I wonder why Portlanders take that so personally and get so spiteful about it.
23
Blabby,

A bit of math should alleviate your concerns. Unless the population of the metro area doubles or triples in size, a region-wide increase in density is simply not possible. And nobody, of course, is going to force you to sell or redevelop YOUR home if you choose not to. Milwaukie, Gladstone, Oregon City, Oak Grove, et al are not going to become "cities the size of Portland".

The city of Oregon City has long been eager to densify. There was the debate on the proposed "Beavercreek Road concept plan", which would turn the area around CCC and the high school into a fairly dense housing tract. More recently, there's been the brouhaha around the proposed mall development on Rossman's landfill, that got city officials recalled. And Milwaukie's role in reinvigorating MLR after the N/S line got killed by voters and TriMet/Metro were studying bus rapid transit instead, cannot be understated.

There are many costs associated with sprawl which are NOT recouped from developers, BTW--system impact fees, for instance, don't include maintenance costs; and that's what's killing may city budges; a huge backlog of deferred maintenance. Perhaps they should. But they don't.

Metro is not immune to political pressures to increase sprawl, and it too gets slapped down by LCDC--Metro's initial proposals for the current round of UGB expansion were pared back.
24
I read comments on the Merc all the time espousing the "If you don't like Portland, get the fuck out" approach to disagreement. That's all fine and dandy, but you can't expect people who you've recently told to GTFO to hop on board for every project, well intentioned or otherwise.
25
REDS-Bullshit-Wireless fraud masqueraded as spirit-hypocrisy-no artistic culture-good ol boy mentality-raging alchoholics-psychological programming from the 60's-educational poisioning-nativitism-brutality-incompetence-fake aliens,piss poor tact-Just a few phrases that ring bells,super churches illegally shepparding everyone,extorion,molestation-Didn't Parks have to pay the family of a autistic minor girl(Have to make that clear) 250,000 hush-money for poking her,20,000,000 barrels of oil stolen from first nation lands(My Nation)-(Parks and his relatives are fairly well dispersed through out the nation)Connect the dots and you'll see Parks is just a clown for a bigger family of industrial tyrants-If you really wanna cheese em off,use frequency meters,spectrometers,guassmeters and you'll see what I mean..............These people are evil and are probably playing both sides whilst everyone else is acting out chicken little(The sky is falling,the sky is falling)Get the technology,get connected,they are hagalists to the extreme and simple protests will not work,sooner or later they will program someone to take a shot at you...........TROLLS!
26
guess what, Clackamas? Portland HATES YOU TOO. there's a reason we call it, "Crack O' My Ass." you don't us? fine, we don't want you either. we'll keep our light rail money and you can continue living in the past.
27
Not everyone in Portland agrees with you, "logic"
28
Sorry, everyone, I can do better than that:
What's this "we," logic? Do you have a live gerbil up your ass?
29
We folks in Clackamas County do like Portland, and all it's various interesting aspects:

The roving gangs, the assaults on TriMet, the constant driveby shootings, winos shitting in the streets, vagrants and bums sleeping the parks, the fact you can't walk 5 feet without getting accosted for money, the asshole bicyclists, the tweekers, the shithead hipsters, the pretentious West side and Pearl douchenozzles, the dysfunctional/lying politicians that can't pave a fucking street (but have billions for their scumbag developer friends,) the fact that 26% of every tax dollar goes to an ever-increasing debt service, the revovling door on your jail, the Section 8 housing, ghetto music blasting out of low riders, the pawnshops, the heroin addicts, the drunken 20 somethings puking in the gutter every weekend in Old Town, the lousy schools, the naked bike rides, the gay "pride" parades, the crumbling infrastructure, the car haters...

What's not to like? In fact, it's really envy on our part.

We want to be *just* like you. But, unfortunately, I fear we'll never catch up. We just need a couple hundred thousand fucked up, self-absorbed, crazy, drug addicted criminals to catch up.
30
That does it, I'm moving to Clackamas County, where there's no crime, poverty, people who fit my personal definition of "hipster"/"beatnik," tweakers, other illegal drugs, political corruption or ineffectiveness, ghetto music, people who listen to ghetto music and wear hoodies and scare me, gay people who are "out" or "proud" or whatever, people on the roads who get in the way of my car, crumbling infrastructure such as bridges that I won't help pay for even though I sometimes use them, drugs, gay mayors, poor people, rich people in the Pearl district, drunk twentysomethings, ... I look forward to an easy life of great schools, people like @29, and... whatever else it is you all have down there.
31
F**** PDX has said it all! Wish you had time to run for office. Go Big Daddy!
32

I say make it Bi-Met. Let 'em go; they don't want to be urban. Fine. Here in Vancouver the same sorts of folks run things, so we have our own bus system--grant it would be harder to have a bi-state transit authority, but even if possible, it would be voted down handily.

And after making it Bi-Met add a $5 commuter fee per driving trip across the Multnomah or Washington County line from any direction except each other. Yes, for us in Vancouver, too. Portland and the Tech Corridor are where the economic life resides. Let Clackamaniacs pay a toll to drive on Multnomah and Washington streets.
33
Fine Anan, then you PDXer's can pay a Toll every time you drive your Beemers and SUV's up US 26 to Timberline (with studded tires) tearing the hell out of the County roads you have to traverse (to/from the highway) to get there.

You can also pay a surcharge to CCSO to defray the cost of enforcement for all the drunk Portland assholes that kill and maim people in Clackamas County every year after leaving the ski areas shitfaced.

Funny how much time Portland liberals spend shooting their sewerholes off about respecting diversity and being accepting of anything. Yet, when someone wants to have different beliefs, a different way of life, or simply wants to be be *LEFT THE FUCK ALONE* - you turn into the Waffen SS. Some of you here are simply fascists.

I don't need to be told to ride a bike, I don't give a fuck about recycling, and I can figure out for myself what type lightbulb to use in my house. I don't need public transportation to get where I'm going, I own an automobile. If you need to have the government tell you how to live, fine - stay in Portland. Just leave other people the fuck alone.

And pay for your own fucking bridges.
34
Yeah, right, buddy... I expect that you will not travel on any Multnomah County Roads or bridges after that little rant. The future is calling, and it includes a rail line to Mt. Hood - dare to dream!
35
It should also be noted that Crack-O-My-Ass county is also home to the Followers Of Christ - a particularly depraved church and "faith-healing" cult that's notorious for murdering its own children.

http://whatwouldjackdo.net/2011/11/religio…

No decent PDX'er would want to have anything to do with a nasty-ass county that protects cultist child-killers. It's awful enough that the Mars Hill church has taken up property in inner SE Portland. So SCREW YOU Clackamas! Keep your filthy death-cults on YOUR side of the line!
36
Every time I've been to Clackamas the people seemed pretty nice.
37
Right on Damos!!!

Not to mention any of the crime that Crack-of-my-ass County has brought to PDX. Like the Court House Chief Deputy who came to Gresham to kill his wife and two other people...and the mother who lost custody and through her little kids off the Selwood Bridge... and don't forget Ward Weaver and how Sheriff Roberts (and the FBI thugs) sent his "boys" to Weaver's house before he murdered the second little girl...and there's a 'hole' gang of other sickos (who wear robes to work) and work for the county down there on Main Street in Oregon City-

What's gonna happen when Creepy Kremer and his fellow RepubliCon bigots figure out that Light Rail already runs into Crack-of-my-ass County (The Green Line stupid!)-
38
I haven't seen a lowrider in years. Now its all about donk bro.
39
Chuck,

Go to Gresham, there are plenty out there...

And, are you saying my (level altered) lime green '72 Roadrunner with the bitchin cast aluminum Cragar's and the Cherry bombs aint cool no more?

Damn. I was about to get a new 8-track for it...
40
Portland's problem is all these hoodlums with their zip guns, switch blade knives, and brass knuckles, having rumbles with the other gangs, and hanging around the school yards getting our children hooked on drugs. They pressure them to try it once, for free, and then they make them pay for their "fix" after that! Kids go around looking like thugs, wearing baggy clothing that makes it easy to conceal weapons. Our city has become a battle zone where it's not even safe for decent people to go into a movie theater. Aside from all the thugs, you have all the young people getting tattoos now, acting immoral and "shacking up" because they think they can have sex before marriage without consequences. The is the legacy the permissive Dr. Spock generation has left for Portland.
41
Again, I'll just point out the disdain dripping from every Portlander commenting here and ask again, why should they like you?

And again, I'll just ask, why shouldn't someone want to live in a suburban city and expect it to be different from the larger city next door? Some 85% of Oregonians don't live in Portland. If they liked Portland more, they'd live in Portland. They prefer a different environment. Why don't you use your famous Portland tolerance and live-and-let-live attitude to get off their backs?
42
You don't get humor, do you?
It's a two-way street, and if they're going to dish it out, they need to be prepared to take something in return that's at least supposed to be funny. I'm just having fun with the laughable ways that hateful cranks insultingly generalize, judge, and blame an entire city when they obviously don't have a clue. A lot of people are talking about Portland like it's a spreading cancer of vice, and yet you're asking only one side to be tolerant. In general, I have no problem whatsoever with people who choose to live wherever they like.
43
Cool. Then let's let them vote on whether or not they want light rail or urban renewal. Their decision. In return, they should stop using terms like "Portland creep" and making it oppositional.
44
Fuck, you PDX'ers and Clackamites sure are funny. Portland is pretty damn sane compared to other "large-ish" cities I have lived in. Clackamas county is just as rich and trashy as any other county in the country. What you people consider roving gangs and drug use is hilarious. If you want to bike, bike. If you want to drive, drive. All I want are better schools and sidewalks in East Portland. Is that so hard?
45
fascinating. i wasn't aware that milwaukie light rail was being built with an outbound only track! while it is true that portland may not have the volume of perceived open space that clackamas county still has, we understand the desire to properly manage what we do have. and that is precisely what public transportation aims to do. as your quarter acre promise of suburban living attracts more and more families to clackamas county, the volume of commuter traffic flowing back into portland also increases. that is what we aim to quell. we can choose to bulldoze the idyllic 99w eastmoreland parkway into an 8 lane freeway to accommodate a legion of commuters unwilling to leave their cars, or we can quietly expand the low impact light rail system. a well planned tri-met park and ride would create a positive infusion of clackamas county commuter dollars into a revitalized downtown milwaukie that has languished in limbo for decades. the answer is not contiguous, but connected.
46
You dumb ass emos rant so fucking much, you fucking misspell tons of your words and just blow,blow,blow hate!!I'm back bitches.I'm going to stir things up.[like misspell a word so you can go into ATTACK mode]
47
Fascinating goat fantasy.
Public transportation is all well and good. Clackamas County has much of it. TriMet and others bus systems serve the county and there is eventual need for more of it throughout and within the county. But not everywhere and certainly not more costly Portland fixed rail transit lines that barely enters the county, eats up the bus system and requires buses and driving to use. While these fixed rail lines serve commuters vast areas of insufficient connectivity are ignored. OPAL has repeatedly complained about that along with their objections to bus service cuts. There has been and is a lot to complain about and oppose regarding TriMet and their fixation on rail and it isn't just some stereotyped group who doesn't get the wonder of Portland magic.

The "aim to quell" volumes of traffic with light rail to Milwaukie is a farce. The idea that it's the the only way to prevent the ginned up horrible of "bulldozing the idyllic 99w eastmoreland parkway into an 8 lane freeway" is an even bigger farce.
The fact is relatively few additional people will be leaving their cars to high impact, $15 billion Milwaukie Light Rail.

It;s not low impact. The light rail infrastructure will be an eye sore obstruction that small downtown of Milwaukie cannot accommodate.

What's "well planned" about a "park and ride"? There won't be any "creation of a positive infusion of clackamas county commuter dollars into a revitalized downtown Milwaukie" than there has anywhere else.
Where has this magic happened?

The languishing in limbo for decades is due to the same wholesale misappropriation and neglect that leaves sidewalks lacking in Portland and the Sellwood bridge replacement deferred for decades.
Like many other neighborhoods throughout the region downtown Milwaukie could have been modernized and made immaculate years ago. That would have attracted more than the insanely expensive light rail that has failed to attract anything but massive government spending.
48
My friends and I have always called it 'Clack-a-trash'. I have no desire to visit again and I've never met a Portlander that wanted to go there. The feeling seems mutual and I'm OK with this. I've been fortunate enough to turn down jobs located there because they were in that part of the city. Somehow, the Clackatrash don't seem to dislike Portland enough to turn down jobs here. Unfortunate...
49
Clackamas don't like us? Imma go cry now.
50
People in this discussion who are using using slurs against suburban conservatives should go back to their mental health clinic. Personally I'm sick of the whining of a lot of Portlanders that "we have to be more fair." Hellooo, aren't we all living in the modern age of high tech communication? Make your own life... and stop the hate language.
51
Shut up, Ron! Go back to Happy Valley!
52
To use a tired old saying, "Can't we just get along?"

Look - where people live isn't a "black or white" proposition. Some people like the city, good for them. Some people like living on a farm or a ranch, and that's OK too. And some people like living in smaller communities.

Some people like mansions, some like manufactured homes, some like apartments, some like condos, some like to live in an RV. Some like to live in a cabin or a ranch home or a two-story home.

The point is that it isn't an either-or decision. There's nothing wrong with living in Portland. Or Lake Oswego. Or Oregon City. Or Boring. Or Wilsonville. We all choose to live where we live based not on simplistic assessments but very complex assessments of our needs and desires.

Yes, transportation is one part of it. But hardly the only - utility service comes into play. Schools and other social services. Businesses. Employment. Access to customers. Neighbors. Even family connections. Some of these issues matter more to others. Some people have more "freedom" to live where they want; others may have certain obligations that restrict where they live.

There's nothing wrong with living in Clackamas County and it isn't "backwards" at all. Light rail does not equate to living in the future by any means - most of Europe doesn't have light rail; New York City doesn't have light rail; Tokyo doesn't have light rail. Heck, I would probably argue that universities are what breed the future by educating the youngest members of our adult community - and which universities within a 500 mile radius has a light rail system? Time's up, the Jeopardy! music is over, and many people would argue that PSU is not the shining University when compared with Universities of Oregon or Washington or Oregon or Washington State Universities. Or the large number of private schools in the area.

If you want to live in Portland - be my guest. I work in Portland. I'm "safe" there. I'm not opposed to MAX - when it's used as a proper transportation tool. I have no problems with condos. I DO, however, have problems when some members of the public play the political process to the detriment of others intentionally. Portland is not even home to the majority of metro-area residents - Portland residents only make up one in three metropolitan area residents, and it drops to one in four when you use the Census Bureau's definition (which includes Yamhill, Columbia, Clark and Skamania Counties). But if you want to live in Kelso (and I'm not talking Kelso, Washington, although that's OK too), that's your right and decision. Or Beavercreek. Or Government Camp.

And there's no point in coming up with stupid nicknames or slurs. What good is there to get mad because someone doesn't want to live where you live?
53
Yeah well... i'm pretty sure Japan has a bullet train, right?
54
Divide & Conquer

It's possibly the oldest political strategy there is. Nice job on both sides of playing right into it. I can just imagine the out of state, big money, fat cats reading this juvenile string of banter and and licking their lips.
55
Has anyone complaining of Portland Creep and crime ever been to a city with real problems? Crime in Portland is laughable @ best, sorry its not as safe as Canada.
56
I'm not sure I understand the billboard and Clackamas County residents' concerns about "Portland Creep."

The billboard shows an auto-centric, big box cluster of stores juxtaposed against Mt. Hood, but you can look at any suburban town in America, and they look like the streetscape picture shown in the billboard...in other words the picture they're against is actually what Clackamas planning dictates and what Portland tries not to do (e.g., lots of parking, big box stores, no sidewalks, no street trees, etc.).

Then I hear about preservation of farmland in this article, but the UGB, for all its bad aspects, has saved more farmland than if it were not around. Plenty of rural folks enjoy the UGB because it keeps development out of their area.

And yes, there's plenty of problems with Portland infill housing and Metro's density requirements.

I think this anti-Portland group of Clackamas people need to make a cogent argument about this topic, maybe somewhere along the lines that a new light rail line is expensive and will cause debt service for the agency for some time and that it will erode bus service. I think these are realistic arguments.

But my visceral reaction is these people don't know what they're talking about and are fixated on the "crime rail" in order to scare people rather than address the salient issues regarding this issue.
57
They might as well tear out the green line that funnels all of the east side of Portland to spend money at the town center.
58
I'd be happy to have my taxes raised 25% to tear the God damned thing out. This is the second worst thing Goldshit ever did to this state - right behind being a pedo.
59
I agree with Blabby. I think the Tea Party "conservatives" are having another irrational frenzy about light rail, but I can see how Clackamas Co. could chafe under Metro. We should be sensitive. All the hateful comments are -- you retards -- playing into their hands.

Of course, we leftists don't care about winning, we care about PURITY and MORAL SUPERIORITY. Who cares if the state slides into the Pacific, as long as we get to talk shit about the "white trash," amiright? GOD being part of the Good Tribe feels GOOD! Don't you hate those n-- white trashes in the Bad Tribe!?!?!?!?!

That being said, I'm sure there's some Clackaman somewhere who actually is worried that the light rail will bring brown people to downtown Milwaukie...

But for the love of God, realize that so many people have had their heads fried with this dittohead Anti-Government nonsense that they really do care about the train!

Plus that's the argument they're making, so we at least have to answer it! Just calling them racist and ignoring all the other shit LOSES THE ARGUMENT! And if we don't win the argument, we don't win the elections!

lt;dr: STFU retards
60
" This is the second worst thing Goldshit ever did to this state - right behind being a pedo."



Wow, let it go dude! Goldschmidt was last governor of OR in 1991. Nobody cares, anymore!
61
Tell that to the family of his dead victim. I'm pretty sure they care.
62
Clackamas County is a shithole. The only nice part are the richie-rich areas on the other side of the Willamette like Lake No-Negro. The rest is the toilet of Oregon. Multnomah County should've annexed Mt. Hood back in the day, so it wouldn't fall under the jurisdiction of Clackamas County Commissioner Boss Hogg and his cabal of redneck sherrif's deputys. Oregon City has the most sex offenders per capita of any place on Earth. No one in Portland wants a fucking light-rail train into that pit of meth-addled, trailer park dwelling, cousin-fucking hillbiilly despair. Burn the hole east side of the county to the ground and salt the fucking Earth. It's a fucking horrible place to grow up or live in.
63
Anyone that wondering why Working/Middle/Upper class people are reluctant to live around the poor and certain minorities ought to go to the theatlantic.com and search "American Murder Mystery." It explains what happened in Memphis, TN, when it dispersed it's Section 8 Housing throughout the City. If skyrocketing crime stats and filled body bags are what you and your friends bring, don't expect a warm welcome.

In addition, take a look at Newsone website in Detroit. It has a story about about a shooting on June 1 in the Brightmoor Neighborhood of Detroit. Two people were wounded in a shootout stemming from an argument over who made the best Kool Aid.

According to the U.S. Census, the composition of Brightmoor Neighborhood is as follows:

African American....80.8%
White...................13.6%
Other.....................5.6%

It's not the stupid shit that Douchemosha, Theonlystupidpersonintheworld, and Geyser spew.

Who the fuck wants to live around people that shoot each other over Kool Aid?
64
"Tell that to the family of his dead victim. I'm pretty sure they care."

Why don't YOU tell 'em, since you're still soo passionate about it?
65
" FPDX" must be our new resident skinhead/White separatist/Ron Paul boot-licker. Guess we can look forward to him posting in every thread statistics proving just how awful Black people are, huh?
66
ws,

All of the extensive valid arguments against light rail and Metro's planning have been made over and over again.
It's come down to trading public safety for light rial.
See Here:
http://www.debunkingportland.com/clackamas_public_safety.html
67
No Douche - it's not blacks or latinos, it's poor people. And the simple fact is that there is a greater precentage of poor in the minority populations than whites. It's got nothing to do with race, it has everything to do with socio-economic status. There is a greater degree of criminality in poor people. People can argue till the cows come as to why.

To observe these facts (documented in the U.S. Census & U.S. DOJ crime statistics) isn't racial profiling, or engaging in racial discimination. It's called being observant to a minimal
degree.

However, there *are* cultural things in specific populations that are problematic. One of the most disturbing things is the "Don't Snitch" movement. All that does is enable criminals, allow them to go victimize someone else.

Believe it or not, there are places in this country where cooperating with the police, or at least having the common decency to be a witness when you observe a crime is thought to be one's "civic duty" (a phrase not often heard these days.)

For the most part, Clackamas County is such a place. Can you blame the residents for wanting to keep it that way? Look at what happened to far SE PDX and West Gresham after gentrification, and the population that traditionally lived in N PDX moved east. Crime rates skyrocketed. Gang activity increased on an order of magnitutde of 10X. Prior to this population shift, driveby shootings in these areas were exceedingly rare. Now they are commonplace.

Being worried about crime rates and quality of life isn't racist. If people wanted to put up with that in their daily lives they'd live in Portland or Gresham. It is a major reason why people move to Clackamas Co.




68
DebunkingPortland.com... oh yeah, totally credible. There's a saying that fits here: "figures don't die" but liars figure.

And FPDX is a perfect example of a mealy-mouthed twenty-first-century classist and racist "conservative": He wants to be able to talk about "the poor and certain minorities" and how decent whites need to be protected from all the problems they bring, but then turn around and say "it's not blacks or latinos, it's poor people" WHO, ME? RACIST? You were the one who correlated your fears to "certain races" in the first place. And if you were "observant to a minimal degree" you'd be interested in looking at the underlying causes of crime and poverty and getting off your ass to do something about them, instead of trying to keep them locked safely in a ghetto remote from your suburban dream world.
69
Rather, "figures don't LIE" but liars figure.
70
I don't want to lock anyone anywhere. I simply want to be left the alone, and not have to wear Threat Level III body armor when I walk my mutt.

My "crusading days" are over. I've walked in my last demonstrration and yelled at my last lying politician.

Please explain what mass acts of urban renewal, or how many souls you have saved Geyser. (And eating slugs out of the community garden doesn't count...)
71
"There is a greater degree of criminality in poor people."

Oh, so you're not a racist per`say, you're just a classist fuckwit eh? Most poor people are criminals? 100 poor people who steal $100 each is worse than several bankers who steal $100 million each, eh? And i suppose it just so happens that many poor people also happen to be people of color - maybe THAT'S why crime is soo gosh darn high amongst the poor (according to YOU, right)?

Well here's some stats for you, bitch:

MOST pedophiles are White dudes
MOST serial murderers are White dudes
MOST sex crimes in general are committed by White dudes
MOST mass shootings are committed by White dudes
MOST domestic "home-grown" terrorists happen to be White dudes.

Are most White men ANY of these things? No, ofcourse not. Most White men are fairly decent people, for the most part. Just like the REST of us humans try to be. But still, whenever i hear a story in the news about some gym coach who was just busted for raping his 15 yr old students, or having 1000's of images of child porn on his hard-drive, or was found to be keeping a stash of body parts in his freezer - some how i just know it's a White guy.

Plus, wasn't it a White guy who nearly destroyed all of Europe and tried to take over the world in the 1930's-40's?
72
Right Douche - Pick any stupid little thing out the air...like the dipshit DC Sniper and his juvenile butt-buddy friend (currently serving a life sentance.) The U.S. Census and DOJ crime stats don't lie.

Now go change your panty sheild, I'm sure you messed it after you last little bit of squealing.

Whatever Cuz...
73
I would like to add to the proceedings that in Detroit recently, two black men got into an argument over Kool-Aid recipes that devolved into a gun battle where innocent bystanders were hit by stray bullets. Of course, neither of these geniuses had good enough aim to hit each other. My question is, am I wrong for thinking this is hilarious? Seriously, I am laughing while typing this.
74
Now DamosA, before you get mad at me, try to realize that you just classified white men as a bunch of brain-eating kiddie-rapists.
75
No Ice, not getting made at you. These two knuckle-heads are very laughable and easy to mock.

MY only issue is when RACIST NAZI FUCKWIT SHITBAGS like FPDX take such isolated examples of human idiocy and try and claim (poorly) that such exemplifies an entire race or ethnic group.
76
"No Ice, not getting made at you"

Yeah, don't get made at anyone. What a stupid fuck.
77
The guy who thinks a dispute in Detroit over Kool-Aid that escalated into a gunfight* involving people in a predominantly black neighborhood is somehow directly relevant to a discussion about Portland and Clackamas County THEN moans when someone else "picks any stupid little thing out of the air." Too funny. But yeah, who wants to live near, ahem, PEOPLE LIKE THAT? wink wink.

*"An armed society is a polite society," so the saying goes. Right, because people are so rational.
78
Well folks, I'd love to stay here and listen to Douche cry some more, but I'm headed out on vacation. As we speak, my Ju-52 is warming up at the Portland Airport.
79
"MY only issue is when RACIST NAZI FUCKWIT SHITBAGS"

Um, you have HUGE issues with other minorities. You are also a BIGOTED fuckwad. Do you honestly believe YOU are any different than a NAZI skinhead Damosa?
Your HATRED of whites alone has been MADE CLEAR plenty.

80
And by the way Douche, the place I'm going on vacation (according to the U.S. Census) is 96.5% African American. This is my 4th vacation there. The folks there are friendly, hard-working, and very welcoming to visitors. Every elected official, and almost all of the civil servants are all black. The streets are clean, safe, and the churches are full on Sundays.

Above all else, they treat everyone (regardless of race) with respect and dignity. And, unlike your silly ass, they don't go through life with a chip on their shoulder.

You'll have to excuse me now, I have to go polish my SS runes before I make my plane.
81
I commuted by bus and bike from SE Portland to a temp job in Oregon City for a while. I have seen what people who live in Clackamas without cars go through to accomplish basic stuff like shop for groceries. If you want to witness this, just ride the #33 during rush hour. So many families saddled with bags of groceries and whining kids and strollers, bickering amongst themselves, waiting for a bus that is sometimes too full to allow them on. All the while, cars are rushing by at 50 MPH. It's a brutalizing environment. I personally decided I would rather take the 205 bike path and pedal for an hour in the rain than ride the 33 or wait 30 minutes for some other Clackamas bus. But a lot of people simply can't do that.

My view is that there are wealthy people living in affluent places like Happy Valley because they harbor delusions that Portland is unsafe (which it isn't). Other people live in shitty apartments in Clackamas because they're cheaper than shitty apartments in Portland. And those people NEED LIGHT RAIL. We need a transit system so people can get out and get jobs so they can stop being broke. The bus system is simply not enough. Accounting for wait times and transfers, it's way too long.

Give these people some options.
82
"Um, you have HUGE issues with other minorities. You are also a BIGOTED fuckwad. Do you honestly believe YOU are any different than a NAZI skinhead Damosa?
Your HATRED of whites alone has been MADE CLEAR plenty."



First off, that you're somehow convinced that i hate Whites is soo goddamned laughable. Second, that you claim i hate other "minorities" is equally as laughable. I CHALLENGE, i DARE you to go back and find a quote i said that proves beyond any doubt that i actually and expressively hate anyone other than:

1. christians
2. zionists
3. police

Go on now, find the quote.
83
"... the place I'm going on vacation (according to the U.S. Census) is 96.5% African American."


As if the U.S. Census were actually a trustworthy govt. body. Next, you're going to try and tell us how some of your best friends are Black, right?
84
I swear this is true:

About a month ago I took my son out to Clackamas, and we had some time to kill so I took him to a public park near our destination. There were pre-teens there, goofing off. Three girls (I'd guess about 11-13) held down a smaller boy (11-12) and forced him to open his pants and blew him right there. I couldn't believe it, and my son was apparently oblivious to this as the boy struggled, I guess he thought it was fun/games.

I bailed, too weirded out to really be able to do anything (at his age I probably would have just stood there and taken it,) but damn that changed my perception of kids today.
85
domasa. Quick. Is your hat on? Otherwise the microbrainwaves will get in
86

Damosa, you forgot #4 : Breeders, pretty sure you hate them too.

Also, just for the record, it's "per se", not "per say". It's Latin.
87
"About a month ago I took my son out to Clackamas, and we had some time to kill so I took him to a public park near our destination. There were pre-teens there, goofing off. Three girls (I'd guess about 11-13) held down a smaller boy (11-12) and forced him to open his pants and blew him right there. I couldn't believe it, and my son was apparently oblivious to this as the boy struggled, I guess he thought it was fun/games."


Pics or it NEVER HAPPENED!
88
This thread delivers the kind of high-quality lols I was looking for. Thanks guys. I needed this.
89
As his resources dried up, Damosa finally cums(!) clean and seeks his kiddie porn here.

Dude, YOU are the one who is NASTY!!!
90
You guys are saps for helping DamosA make himself the topic of every thread. You're really making his day with all this attention. Suckers.

@89: "Damosa finally cums(!) clean" Thanks for the exclamation point, I see what you did there. Your humor would've been too subtle otherwise.
91
(!)He wouldn't have got it. His dumbass would have tried to correct it.

Also, you kinda did the same by posting a comment about him too. See ?!

Tis a shame that DAMOSA is asking for KIDDIE PORN to be sent to him via this thread......
92
I didn't post a comment about him. I have elsewhere, but it's not like you dopes with nothing else to say (and you're the worst of the lot, and you know it) surrounding him and fellating his flaccid ego with your weak sparring and bickering until the topic becomes DamosA, over and over, just the way he wants. Oh well, I know that stupidity reigns in these comment threads, but I just felt like telling you guys that you're pawns feeding his ego.
93
@ #84 - So, you observed a minor being sexually assaulted by force, did nothing to stop it, and couldn't even be bothered to call the police?

Let's hope your kid is never in that situation. You are seriously screwed up.
94
Soooo, when I tell him to suck a dog dick and point out he has pedophile tendencies, that feeds his ego?

Golly mister geyser, I prob shouldn't then.

95
Btw, thanks for feeding my ego.
96
Geo, step back a moment and take notice that YOU'RE the only person online here who repeatedly tells another person to "suck a dog dick". And YOU'RE the ONLY person on this nearly 100-comment thread talking about pedophiles and "kiddie porn".

Not sure how any of that stuff fits into an article about local politics and perceived hostilities b/t Clackamas County and Portland. But HEY - you're smarter than everyone else here, maybe you see something the rest of us aren't.
97
"Also, just for the record, it's "per se", not "per say". It's Latin."


Well i'm not Latin, so i'm STILL right. Besides, i decided to lay off breeders in this thread.
98
Ok. I stepped back. Still, I read what YOU wrote. YOU wrote "pics or it never happened" in regards to children having sex.

You are sick man. Get help.

99
And YOU'RE still the ONLY one here who seems to be really focused on it.
100
YOU expressed a DESIRE to see SEX photos of CHILDREN!! Not cool.

Am I am supposed to not notice?

I'm done with you.
101
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