ALL-AGES ACTION
RE: "No Way to Kill It" by Morgan Troper [Feature, Oct 7], about Portland's undefeatable all-ages music scene.
This article was an amazingly important thing that needed to be said for a very long time. The people who were interviewed are fucking heroes, and are the idols of my generation for sticking it out and hosting all-ages shows. I will always be grateful for the hundreds of shows I was able to attend before turning 21, and before everyone I know became a jaded freak that wouldn't go to a show that didn't permit alcohol. (Also before the cyclical hate and in-fighting between bands, promoters, kids, adults, and venues.) Thank you Mo, this article is amazing.
posted by Zoe David Brittell
RANTS THAT WORK
RE: "Hold on to Your Seats and Watch Portland City Council Get the Whatfor During a Hearing to Declare a Housing State of Emergency" [Blogtown, Oct 8].
This month my partner and I were forced to leave Portland, where we've lived, paid taxes, and held down solid jobs for seven years. We lived in a 400-square-foot studio apartment in Sellwood. I worked 50-plus hours a week as a department manager at Zupan's. He worked two jobs, juggling positions at both Lewis & Clark and PCC.
Our rent was over 60 percent of our combined income. We've taken our education, work ethic, money, and social responsibility elsewhere.
When hard-working, honest, responsible people can't get by, they get out. To hell with Portland.
posted by Jack R
I didn't see the guy's rant at the city council as anything special at all. He sounds like he wants to curtail the power of property owners rather than have the city council address the reasons that rents are going up. They're not going up because landlords are being arbitrarily greedy, they're going up because there is a shortage of housing in Portland, which drives up the price. Portland refuses to expand the urban growth boundary. The city makes it as difficult as it can for builders to add housing. They give tax breaks when they gentrify poor areas of town and then everyone seems surprised when gentrification drives up rents. Portland has pretty solidly elected people whose actions have made the city less viable for the working poor, but nobody ever calls them out on it.
posted by CleatsUp
Rents are going up because there is nothing stopping landlords from raising them—period! The ban on rent control should be reversed, and public housing—not affordable housing as it is currently left to developers—should be constructed. If the city needs the funds to exercise eminent domain, one of the overarching problems needs to be resolved, which is raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Oregon is near the bottom in the country for corporate tax rates. We should leverage that while everyone is moving here like crazy.
posted by Christopher Trevett
IGNORANT IS AS IGNORANT DOES
RE: "Roseburg Rears Its Ignorant Head as Obama Arrives" [Blogtown, Oct 9], in which at least 150 ignorant gun-rights activists protested President Obama when he visited the grieving town of Roseburg.
The only thing ignorant is the knucklehead that wrote this article. We should all be embarrassed this [author] is an American willing to give up their rights to a race-baiting, country-dividing tyrant.
posted by KWA702
You [the author] are severely stupid. They didn't think he was coming for anything more than a photo op and to cash in on their grief, which is exactly what he was there for. They told him to stay away and this ignorant POS still showed up.
posted by libsarestupid
I think the person that wrote this article is not in touch with reality. It is our right to say and defend our rights, but to call us ignorant just shows how stupid and heartless you are. We have a constitution and it was made for the people. This leader we have is the ignorant one and has proven how he puts his agenda ahead of people's feelings.
posted by Ronald Doney [who, BTW, has a Confederate flag avatar]
Personally, I'm embarrassed for all this stupidity, as an Oregonian. Obama isn't running for re-election, and I didn't hear any great anti-gun arguments from the podium either. Also worth noting was the school shooting in Arizona just before this visit, which made these anti-gun legislation idiots/zealots look even more foolish. He came in sympathy and was met by these fools.
posted by frankieb
I'm so grateful that Multnomah County makes the political decisions for this state.
posted by Nff1987
Short and to the point, Nff1987! You win this week's Mercury letter of the week and two tix to the Laurelhurst Theater—which is always gun- and redneck-free.
