NOT SO LONG AGO, Portland City Hall was just a sleepy place where nothing got done apart from the odd illicit alleged restroom kiss. Now, it’s a bloody chaotic madhouse. I swear city hall has gone totally bonkers.
First up, City Commissioner Randy Leonard has been goading the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco by having Portland celebrate “Tibet Awareness Day” on Wednesday, March 10. He turned down a meeting with the Chinese consul on Monday, March 8, to discuss the move—because the consul wanted to hold it at the University Club across the street and they don’t let you wear jeans in there. In the end, Mayor Sam Adams and Leonard held the meeting at city hall instead.
Tibet awareness is all very well, but meanwhile, Leonard is asking the city for a $1.5 million loan to cover a hole in the budget through June for his Bureau of Development Services (BDS)—which does permitting for, snort, snort, “Portland’s construction industry.” Leonard already fired half the bureau’s employees last year, but now BDS is well and truly buttocksed. [Editor’s Note: We have no idea what that means either.] Better still, Leonard wants an extra $5.2 million for BDS computer system upgrades.
City Commissioner Dan Saltzman has tried to inject a little sanity into the proceedings by drafting a council resolution to appeal an arbitrator’s ruling ordering the city to pay $104,000 to Tom Hurley—a former firefighter who used disability payments to go to culinary school and become a world-famous chef. Leonard, meanwhile, thinks we should just roll over and pay it. Umm… no!
Perhaps most absolutely nuts of all is Mayor Adams’ plan to divert $20 million from the Bureau of Environmental Services to kickstart his $600 million bike plan. Yes, I like bikes. I ride bikes. Yes, I like the bike plan. But we’re talking about taking $12.4 million of that $20 million that would otherwise fund sewer maintenance and reliability throughout the city, and spending it on bike lanes. That’s money that comes out of your sewer rates. And Portlanders may literally end up paying for this out of their bums.
Even worse, nobody in the bike community has raised a peep about this. And for that, shame on you, bike community. For all the good this city has done for you, it’s time for you stand up for the good of everyone.
I’m all for writing checks to support our priorities as a city. But these desperate fiscal conjuring tricks and distraction tactics are unsustainable. And they stink. Kind of like a backed-up sewer.
Matt, over in your “I’m Uncomfortable” post, Stu said:
“I think the point about adding bioswales is that while they’re doing it, they can convert the street into a bike boulevard at the same time, for close to no extra cost. If there’s any creative accounting being done here, it’s in claiming that this is $20 million for bike funding – really, it’s not. It’s just shifting money from one type of sewage expenditure (repairing pipes) to another (stopping water getting in the pipes in the first place).”
So according to him, the $20 million is going from one sewer-type project to another sewer-type project, and construction of the latter happens to allow for accommodating bike-plan goals (building bike boulevards) at the same time.
Also, it’s worth pointing out that a bike boulevard is simply a street where auto traffic is calmed, kept below a certain number, and encouraged to slow down. That’s a lot different than a bike lane, which is paint along side parked cars on (usually) very busy roads. There aren’t too many Portland residents who object to less and slower car traffic in front of their homes. Anyway, if Stu is correct, none of this money is going into “bike lanes.”
What do you think, is Stu’s assessment correct?
Matt,
“Dan Saltzman has tried to inject a little sanity into the proceedings by drafting a council resolution to appeal an arbitrator’s ruling…” This is actually INSANE. The Arbitration is final and binding, and actually makes a lot of sense if you take the time to read it:
http://media.wweek.com/attach/2010/01/12/Portland_Ptld_FF_Assn._Hurley_Termination_Reeves.pdf
One narrow loop hole to the “Final and Binding” nature of labor arbitration is the “Contrary to Public Policy” exception. In this case, the Public Policy has previously been ruled to be unlawful. So, on what grounds are they going to appeal this “Final and Binding” arbitration? The delay will only end up costing the City more money.
One thing is certain, Dan should not be taking legal advice from the same attorneys who got the City into this mess. I wonder what the City’s win/loss ratio is on the battles it picks with the Unions?
I’m becoming increasingly frustrated that the phrase ‘bike lanes’ is being used to describe any and all bike infrastructure projects or concepts. Inductee, I understand it the same way. The money will still be used for stormwater management, but the facilities will be installed on streets (to calm traffic and encourage cycling) instead of underground. What do you say Matt? Is that not the way you understand the proposal?
Inductee, bioswales are not really sewer projects. Have you heard the term “green washing”? It’s hanging some bogus environmental rationale on something that you want to do for other reasons.
silly, some of the $20 million was already dedicated to bioswales. But $12.4 million was earmarked for specific projects, such as fixing pipes, preventing basement flooding and a water treatment facility. Those projects are different from bioswales, and no, they aren’t interchangeable. You can’t take money from any old BES project, spend it on bioswales and claim you are accomplishing the same thing.
Besides, the whole point is that this scheme is explicitly to help the bike plan, not out of interest in bioswales. Intentions matter.
I’d like to raise a peep about the bike plan by reiterating my previous comment- WTF?!? 600 Million Dollars? Did Dr. Evil come up with that sum? Can we not make biking more accesible to Portlanders for LESS than $600 Million? Or is $300 Million earmarked for consultants, a la CRC budgeting genius?
It’s like a bad joke- I’m just waiting for someone to say “Gotcha! We really only need $20 Million, but we knew no one would go for it, so we started out with $600 Million.” But even then I’d say, WTF?!? $20 Million for a Bike Plan?
I’m a Jew (and a bike commuter) and I would gladly lend my services (free of charge) to trim the fat from this fat headed plan.
Blabby, I agree that the sewer and stormwater projects are not interchangeable and I understand people’s discomfort with this. But bike lanes and traffic calming are also two very different things. It’s inaccurate to state that the money is being used for bike lanes. That’s simply not true and it even further clouds the issue.
Blabby,
Yes, I’ve heard of the term greenwashing.
Have you heard of the Dunning–Kruger effect?
Bioswales are not sewers, but they reduce the need to build sewers:
http://www.portlandonline.com/bes/index.cf…
“Green Streets (i.e. streets that incorporate bioswales) reduce peak stormwater flows, free capacity in the pipes to carry more wastewater to the sewage treatment plant, and stop sewer backups in basements. They can eliminate the need to install or replace expensive underground collection, conveyance and treatment systems.”
Select any two:
A) Green Streets
B) Brown Basements
C) Recall Sam
D) Somebody get a rope
Do you think the city will need to upgrade their sewer system if more people biked? The money needs to go for a better biking infrastructure. A healthier population would mean better/smoother crap coming out of people’s asses – which would be a great assist for an aging sewer system.