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Safe to say this has been a surreal year in Portland, a city where inflatable unicorns regularly dance in clouds of tear gas. Similarly, Walton’s Law says that any disaster that can befall the Trail Blazers eventually will. Yet the news that broke at dawn Oct. 23 feels bizarre even by those standards: Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested (what?) by the FBI (what?!) for conspiring to rig celebrity poker games (WHAT!!) run by four Mafia families (passes out). That’s not even mentioning the federal indictment that mentions a coach whose résumé matches Billups’ feeding inside information to gamblers about the Blazers sitting Damian Lillard to tank the season (wakes up, curses, passes out again). Here’s what our readers had to say:
Hank Stern, via Facebook: “Never would’ve imagined until today that for a team that drafted LaRue Martin, Sam Bowie and Greg Oden, and that endured the injuries to Bill Walton and Brandon Roy, there’d be a new leader in the clubhouse for ‘OMG news.’”
Seems2Me, via wweek.com: “Innocent until proven guilty, and yet it’s hard to believe they would have indicted a known public figure, and made him surrender his passport, if they weren’t pretty darn confident.
“I was kind of enjoying the fading of the Jail Blazers moniker.
“It’s tempting to see this as more spiteful behavior from the Epstein ballroom, but the investigation started under Biden and has been going on for a long time.”
Bob Koski, via wweek.com: “What a huge, shitty mess. The more I hear the worse this whole thing becomes. There is no telling where else this is going to lead, but it will be nothing but more bad news for the entire NBA. Chauncey Billups is now to the NBA like Prince Andrew is to the Royal Family. He has to go.
“The real victims here are all of you loyal Blazers fans who have stuck by their team for years and continued to attend the games through thick and thin, only to face the ultimate betrayal. You have my sympathy. You have every right to be really, really angry over this.
“I hope Chauncey reads the room, and quickly resigns from the team to remove himself as a major distraction. If not, the Blazers should outright fire him instead.”
Bobo Marzineck, via Faceook: “Billups is a political prisoner. Free Chauncey!”
Mid County, via wweek.com: “All due apologies to Casablanca, but it fits…
“NBA: ‘I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!’ (Alternately, ‘that organized crime is involved in sports gambling.’)
“Draft Kings, et al.: ‘Your winnings, sir.’
“NBA: ‘Oh, thank you very much.’”
PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW PROPERTY TAXES WORK
I see so many comments from people going, “I don’t want my property taxes going up 75%!” [WW’s November 2025 Endorsement,” Oct. 15].
Can someone please explain to them that the Parks Levy is NOT the ENTIRETY of their property tax?
Yes, raising the levy from $0.80 per $1,000 of assessed value to $1.40 is a 75% increase.
On my house, the old value was $135.38 per year. Under the new value, if it passes, it will be $236.92. An increase of $101.54 ($169,230/1000* either 0.8 or 1.4).
But my property tax bill as a whole is $3,911.72.
The price to keep our parks system is going up 75%, the added cost to my property taxes? 2.6%. I’d say that’s worth it.
Five times more money out of my property tax is spent on the police and fire pension: $506.71.
Jordan Lund
Southeast Portland
PLAN BEFORE YOU TAX
I am besieged with emails and flyers begging me to vote for more taxes in Portland, this time for parks.
Do I like parks? Yes, I do. As a native Portlander, I love our parks, which are a crown jewel of the city.
However.
Our taxes in Portland and Multnomah County are second highest in the nation. Only New York City has higher taxes. People are moving out of Portland to areas where property taxes are lower.
Those who don’t pay property taxes seem to think that “soak the rich” is an idea whose time has come, apparently failing to understand that most people in Portland who own houses are not among the top 1%. If we keep increasing taxes indefinitely, eventually people who can’t afford their property taxes will try to sell, and more houses will stand empty and unable to be sold. Eventually, homeowners stop wanting to pay for more and more things everyone else wants “for free.”
Additionally, Portlanders have a fondness for voting “yes” on every good idea, even if there is no well-developed plan for how to spend the money wisely. Preschool for All comes to mind, for example.
Even our liberal, Democratic governor thinks Portland’s taxes are too high, and is concerned about how that affects our city.
So until our taxes come down, and we learn to plan before we spend, I’m voting NO and urge others to do likewise.
Barb Gazeley
Southwest Portland
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P.O. Box 10770
Portland, OR 97296
Email: amesh@wweek.com
