So Hales' message is that if you don't like it, TUF luck.

Dirk, is there a copy of the ordinance anywhere? I can't find it.

WWeek is reporting that parking lots (and railroads) are exempt from the "utility" fee. That seems absurd, which I guess is in line with the rest of this plan.

Ah, caught me, didn't read your full report. Good pickup on the exemptions.

Hales and Novick's sound bites are about four minutes to bullshit.

Fuck both these guys, and Fritz too I guess.

so let's see, I live in the city but hardly drive at all, so I'm gonna be subsidizing all those suburban commuters from Clark, Clackamas and Washington Counties that clog our streets on a daily basis?

Fuck that BS!

How unbelievably stupid. Seriously, fuck these guys. Who the fuck ever thought this was a good idea in the first place?

I wish I could go back and edit some of my comments on this issue. Its not a street fee or a tax, its a sailboat!

Parking lots "do not generate traffic themselves."

Whatever you say, fellas.

I have a small business thing in town and being fairly new to this type of ownership have had to choke down all the myriad fees and taxes the city (alone) has levied as opportunity costs. They are burdensome, and some seem quite arbitary. But "fair" enough, I suppose.

After looking at the fee calculator for this, I can't imagine any small business anywhere in town not being burdened, seriously burdened. I support any and all lobbies to exploit their place in the much-decried (even by me) political "process" as they smash this proposal into dust.

I truly hoped one or both Novick and Hales chuckled at their "you can vote us out" line. Please say they did. Like clueless career politicians who even if victimized by their own prophesy in two years will certainly find a way to weasel back into the civic sphere. Fuck these guys. About what I expect from Hales. Novick I once liked. Now he can suck a b-hole, too.

Novick lost what little hope I had when he signed off on PBOT's lie regarding bike share funding on a grant application.

http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto….

I guess this is how Republicans are made. I'm still processing this, but, I think I might be one now?

Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.

@Stank: To be a true Republican at the moment, you have to assume that because they're doing one idiotic thing, everything else they do must be idiotic as well (hence opposing Obama even when he proposes a Republican policy like health insurance mandates).

I don't think Novick has lost all my support yet. But I do think he's being boneheaded on this.

Hales, though, didn't have a whole lot of support from me to start with, so he's well into negative territory.

Since this is supposed to make up for the lack of taxes due to more fuel-efficient cars, I would have suggested a Prius Road Tax instead.

I just looked up my fee estimate for owning a small coffee shop in town. $200 a month. About 10% of my take home pay.

Never mind the fact that the vast majority of our customers live or work in the neighborhood and WALK to our shop. Most people who drive to us are driving to somewhere else and we happen to be the convenient place to stop en route. The percentage of customers who purposely drive to our place, without having any other reasons for heading our way, is maybe 5%.

Wut?

But hey, I can take a $12/month credit for also having the distinction of being a Portland homeowner/sucker.

Kill it. Kill it with fire.

Hales and Novick are pitching the tax that unseated Margaret Thatcher - a regressive poll tax that taxes Schnitzers and working stiffs the same, and pushes out small businesses like the passenger's coffee shop and businesses that are trying to get themselves established.

Can't wait to see the city blow this money on helicopter rides to Lake Oswego