The residents of one of the "ritziest" Southwest Portland neighborhoods, on advice of their legal counsel, hired a lobbyist to protect their tax-free status within the City of Portland ["Where Goes the Neighborhood," Dec. 27, 2006]? Perhaps because no legal reason exists for their exclusion from paying the same taxes all residents of Portland pay. They whistle all the way to the bank while the city works on a "cost-benefit" analysis before considering annexation. Was the same cost-benefit analysis done when the city annexed pieces of east Multnomah County a decade ago?

In 2007, the City of Portland plans to repave the unimproved road running through the unincorporated, tax-free area (according to Portland Department of Transportation, Bureau of Maintenance) at no cost to the residents. Meanwhile residents living in and paying City of Portland taxes are left to pay for their own road paving and improvements—and apparently, for "Cayman Island" tax-free Southwest Portland's road improvements, too. Hello, is anyone on the Portland City Council paying attention??

Gabriela Downey
Southwest Highland Parkway

MEANWHILE, AT WWEEK.COM

Editor's Note: Readers weren't shy about weighing in on WW's website this past week.

In response to Ian Demsky's story "Double-Bunk Jeopardy," about efforts to prevent jail rape, "Steven" was unsympathetic to the victims. "Like rape? Go to jail. Don't like getting raped? Don't go to jail," he wrote. "The fear of being stuck in a cell with 'Bubba' might be what's detouring some crime from happening. If you get three squares a day, Cable TV, your own place, your laundry done for you, no cooking or cleaning required...wait, isn't that what Paris Hilton gets?"

Another poster, "Klaatu," objected to that view: "The tone of your article and the responses is sickening. The definition of rape excludes any and all consent, so for your sarcastic referral to 'going past third base' you should be required to interview victims of prison rape. Grow up and realize that the sentences people receive for crimes they commit don't have a clause that says, 'and people have the right to rape and torture you at will.'"

Elsewhere on the site, readers bared their sabers over Night Cabbie. "Cedric Martinetti" wrote that last week's column "comes off more like a Scooby-Doo movie where they have guest stars.... Dear Beknighted Cabbie: Wake up and realize how supremely boring it is to have you win EVERY week." Ouch.

A reader going by the screen name "Cedrics Mom" shot back: "Cedric—AOL is now charging us for that so-called free trial. Unless you get a job and move out of the basement, no more Internet for you!" Double ouch.