[Got an anonymous confession or rant you just have to share with the world? Submit it to I, Anonymous HERE!—eds]
About a year ago, The Guardian celebrated Portland’s new “progressive” mayor and left-leaning council. A year later, that promise feels hollow.
Mayor Keith Wilson has governed like a manager of optics, not a progressive. He opened temporary shelters, claimed progress on unsheltered homelessness, then shut down facilities and ended contracts with organizations doing the actual work. That is not a housing strategy. It is political theater.
We are told there is never enough money for basic infrastructure, city services, or union jobs. Portlanders see the results every day in crumbling systems and hollowed-out services. Yet there always seems to be money when private interests are involved ($120 million to help a billionaire gentrify the Moda Center)
And now we can all see the budget maneuvering for what it is: amendments after the fact so Wilson can play tie-breaker. The real question is which amendment gets his support, the one that protects city workers and social services, or the one that sends even more money to an already bloated police budget? Stop acting like every social problem requires more money for policing while workers and services are put on the chopping block.
Portland does not have a revenue problem because ordinary residents are not paying enough. It has a political problem because too many leaders refuse to tax concentrated wealth. PCEF showed Portlanders will support taxing the rich for public good. So why are we reaching for regressive fees and budget gimmicks instead of another targeted tax on capital gains or other forms of wealth to stabilize the general fund?
A progressive city should fund housing, services, infrastructure, and workers, not protect wealth, expand policing, and call it pragmatism. Portlanders are paying attention. Your actions (and inaction) speaks volumes.—Anonymous