Skip to main content
TAX THE MAN BEHIND THE TREE
In your endorsement of Measure 26-260 [WW, Oct. 15], a tax increase in support of Portland Parks & Rec, you conclude your supportive endorsement with, “You would be right to have a beef with the leaders who placed Portland in this mess. Don’t take it out on the trees.”
Spare me.
I’m a disabled and live on a fixed income and SNAP. I’m frugal, responsible and pay my bills on time. To be asked to cough up an additional 75% in property taxes—money I don’t have—because our elected officials can’t balance a budget, is the height of arrogance on the part of city leadership.
If they care so much about our parks, they can dip into their much higher salaries to help keep PP&R afloat. I’m beyond tapped out, and will vote no.
Beth Hamon
Northeast Portland
LEVY’S FAILURE WOULD BE CATASTROPHIC
Portland Parks & Recreation facilities and programming play a critical role in bringing people together and supporting our community at a time when connection is needed more than ever. Our community is nurtured when we all enjoy access to the wonders of a world-class Washington Park, play a game of Goldenball (basketball), learn to swim, are able to participate in after-school programs and summer kid’s lunches, see our neighborhood parks upgraded and new parks built and so much more.
Polling shows how much Portland residents value our parks and park programming. A July 2024 poll of city residents found that 79% of residents believe that Portland parks and park programming were very or extremely important to their quality of life.
Failure to approve the proposed Portland Parks Levy would have a catastrophic impact on the ability of Portlanders to access clean and safe parks and participate in the diverse programming that serves every demographic; Portland Parks’ operating budget would be slashed by 50%.
Like all organizations, Portland Parks has experienced a dramatic increase in the cost of materials and services. It has also experienced a decline in financial support from the city’s general fund. A measured and careful increase in Parks’ operating levy is required in order to continue to provide Portlanders with the same level of service they have enjoyed for many years.
Please join me in supporting our Portland Parks and vote yes for Measure 26-260 and for our quality of life this November.
Matt Shipkey
Northwest Portland
THIS VOTER IS TEED OFF
So the answer to the city’s gross mismanagement of parks money is to give them 75% more? In what universe? This only enables bad behavior.
The parks bureau continues to build new infrastructure that won’t be maintained, even though there’s a $615 million maintenance backlog. One example being the proposed $4 million trails on the Rose City Golf Course. There is no budget for maintenance, and the golf course doesn’t have the resources to maintain the trails, which would be in golf play areas. Walkers, bikes and dogs do not belong on a golf course, and there would be a huge amount of problems, including conflicts with golfers, people getting hit with flying golf balls, homeless camping, and illicit activities spilling over from nearby crime-ridden 82nd Avenue. Golfers have said they would take their business elsewhere since the course would be too dangerous and difficult to play on. City golf courses are supported entirely by golf fees. When golfers leave, there goes the golf course. There is NO need to place trails on a golf course. These trails are a total waste of taxpayer money.
The city doesn’t think anything through. All they care about is getting and spending money. Vote NO on this outrageous tax increase. The city needs to live within its means like the rest of us, and make better fiscal decisions. There should be an immediate moratorium placed on new parks projects, just for starters. If the levy goes down, the City Council will have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a more reasonable budget. As they should.
Isabel4575 via wweek.com
SOMETHING TO SEE HERE
It would be nice if one of the local newscasts actually stood up and shared the truth about what is really going on outside the Portland ICE facility (and beyond). However, based on your recent feature, interviews with the chicken and blow-up dolls, it’s evident you will continue the narrative that there’s nothing to see here [“An Interview With the Portland Chicken,” wweek.com, Oct. 9]. Forget about the residents who live across the street, scared to leave their homes. Never mind the ongoing fentanyl and homeless crisis in Portland. That Portland Antifa is fake and welcomes all (unless you aren’t on “their team”). Just keep protecting the city mayor and governor’s false rhetoric and perhaps when the Trump team comes and turns everything upside down, your funding will also be cut. Your newsweekly is trash,
Christopher Cook
Southwest Portland
Letters to the editor must include the author’s street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to:
P.O. Box 10770
Portland, OR 97296
Email: amesh@wweek.com
