- Rep. Julie Parrish
In its pursuit of millions to fix and improve Portland roads, the city’s been called many names. Now a state legislator is tacking “beggar” onto the list.
Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn/Tualatin, introduced a bill to the legislature this morning that would prohibit the use of the state’s general fund or money earmarked for the Oregon Department of Transportation from being spent on local street projects.
It’s highly unlikely the bill will go anywhere, but its passage would torpedo the best hopes of Commissioner Steve Novick and Mayor Charlie Hales, who earlier this year paused a controversial effort to tax Portlanders more for roads in favor of asking the state legislature to kick millions our way.
Parrish says that’s not acceptable. Her new bill, House Bill 3153, says ” Legislative Assembly may not appropriate, allocate or otherwise authorize the expenditure of moneys from the General Fund, or moneys collected or received by the Department of Transportation, for highway maintenance or sidewalk development projects within the boundaries of an incorporated city.”
The bill prompted backlash from Rep. Shemia Fagan, the East Portland Democrat who in 2013 fought for, and won, state funding that paid for new sidewalks along a stretch of 136th Avenue where a 5-year-old girl had recenly been run down. Fagan’s latest mission is to find state funds to improve safety along Powell.
“So imagine how disappointed I was to see one of my legislative colleagues propose a new law to specifically outlaw my fight for safety investments on Powell Blvd (i.e. state Hwy 26),” Fagan wrote.
That led to a response from Parrish on Facebook, explaining she’s not against local road improvements. She just doesn’t want state funds paying for them.
“The fact is, the City of PDX needs to get it together on their crumbling infrastructure, and not come asking the legislature for a hand out for something they should be doing on their own.”
A spokesman from the Portland Bureau of Transportation, which for years has been asking for a new source of funding to pay for the city’s crumbling streets, hadn’t seen the bill and couldn’t comment. Bikeportland.org first noted the exchange between Fagan and Parrish on its Twitter feed.
Since last year, Hales and Novick have tried to convince Portlanders to approve a new funding source, but struggled to land on an option the public deemed acceptable. That led to an awkward bit of juggling, with new proposals being floated and scrapped in short order. Hales and Novick tabled the whole thing in mid-January, after hearing from Democratic leaders in the legislature that help might be on the way in the form of a state transportation funding package.
That’s a very, very bad sign for Parrish’s effort. Democrats hold healthy majorities in both the house and senate, and dictate which bills are taken up for consideration.
Parrish is a hypocrite.
The Republicans invented the practice of direct allocations to local projects in 2009 when they demanded and got funding for the “Dundee-Newberg Bypass” that they’d been lusting for.
I don’t recall Julie raising a peep about Republicans looking for “handouts” then.
Now that Shamia Fagan wants to do the same thing for East Portland, Julie Parrish is up in arms.
The sad reality is that her Clackamas County constituents love it when she sticks it to Portlanders. It distracts them from the fact that shrill Republican partisans like her have nothing of substance to offer them.
There is so much stupid in her proposal, not to mention all sorts of unintended consequences. All it is is a dog whistle to her base to let them know that she is taking on those evil Portlanders. Typical Clackistan response.
A toll for Clackamas County residents using the Sellwood Bridge might be just the thing to get the necessary funding.
Man, if that’s not Donkey Lips’ sister I’ll eat my hat.
That’s a great fucking idea, Pork Chop.
She’s just mad that her county is rockin’ the bronze in the 50% dash of all tax revenue for the entire state. It’s like Shirley Manson calling out Kanye for being a Alexandre Dumas at the Grammys. You don’t want to go there, unless you’d like your beautiful glass palace to be John McClane’s barefoot nightmare.
Honey, your entire career is based on being the political equivalent of a Honey Boo-Boo, e.g. right place, right time, no talent. Don’t fuck with the big kids toys when they are letting you sit at the big kids table.
I still think we should East Coast EZ-Pass technology for the Sellwood Bridge where everyone with car registration in Multnomah county gets and EZ-Pass for free (not really since we are paying more on our registration) and toll the crap out everyone else. Actually just a small 25 cent toll on everyone else (i.e. all the Clackamas County users) would be very appropriate.
That would also devastate local road projects in Oregon City, Milwaukie, Happy Valley, Canby, Wilsonville, Mollala, West Linn and Lake Oswego – all Clackamas County incorporated cities. Sounds like Rep. Parrish might be shooting herself in the foot, metaphorically speaking.
Also, Gladstone, Damascus and Sandy.