BOND, HOUSING BOND
RE: “In the Midst of a Crisis, Metro Takes on Affordable Housing” [News, June 13], News Editor Alex Zielinski’s story about a $652.8 million affordable housing bond that will be on the November ballot. “For homeowners, that means agreeing to an average fee of $60 that would help house up to 12,000 people currently on the edge of homelessness, many of them families and people of color,” wrote Zielinski. Portland voters approved a $258.4 million affordable housing bond in 2016.
I’m genuinely confused—did we not just do one of these? That passed? I remember voting for it, so I’m pretty sure that happened.
Also, is there any dispensation built into these taxes for the elderly or poor who happen to own their homes because they used to be affordable? I personally could swing this, but I have more than one neighbor in my now-completely-unaffordable neighborhood that owns their home because they bought it decades ago, but genuinely questions whether they’ll be able to stay in the neighborhood if property taxes keep going up and their income does not.
EverydayPeople
HOLD THE UNION
RE: “After a String of Firings, Montavilla Burgerville Employees Protest” [Blogtown, June 15], Zielinski’s post about firings at the regional fast-food chain following tensions over the formation of a workers union. Workers allege that multiple employees at Burgerville #4 at Northeast 82nd and Glisan were fired “for inexplicably mundane reasons…. The last firing came the same day a group of store employees announced they’d be joining the Burgerville Workers Union.”
Wow, Burgerville HR! Get your head out of your ass and embrace this trend toward unions! Your brand is “not the usual crap,” so get out of the 20th century here. Your employees ARE you, as far as the public is concerned. Don’t abuse them.
cassie mae
PRIDE > HATE
RE: “LGBTQ Community Prepares for Rumored Alt-Right Threats to Pride Festivities” [Blogtown, June 14]. “In the lead-up to Portland’s Pride weekend, the LGBTQ community has raised concerns about the possibility of hate groups inflicting violence against people joining in Pride celebrations,” wrote News Reporter Kelly Kenoyer, adding that the anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ group “Hell Shaking Street Preachers”—who, along with Vancouver’s alt-right group Patriot Prayer and “Proud Boy” Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, engaged in violent behavior at 2017’s Pride Parade—had announced their intention to attend 2018 Portland Pride.
I don’t know much about Patriot Prayer, but I’m starting to get the feeling that the “Tiny” name isn’t referring to this guy’s stature.
Doug Fer
Patriot Prayer is a collection of bigots, racists, white nationalists, fascists, and their enablers. The people of Portland need to stand up to these violent thugs.
The Beans
WELL SAID, everybody—but ESPECIALLY well said, cassie mae! You win the Mercury’s letter of the week, along with two passes to the Laurelhurst Theater!