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Who polices the police that police the police? This distinctly Portland question has new relevance this month, after local elections officials rejected a ballot initiative petition that would have funded police officers with climate tax dollars. City officials disqualified a considerable number of signature sheets, and the petitioners cried foul. As first reported on wweek.com, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read waded into the mess July 28, warning the city elections office that its decisions lacked transparency and could fuel the Trumpist effort to impugn the integrity of mail voting. Here’s what readers had to say:
Jesso, via Bluesky: “L-L-L-L-LOSERS. These signature gatherers were awful. They lied about what the initiative would do and where the money would come from, and acted SO pissy if you turned them down. The ‘animal welfare’ ones were at least slightly more honest if you asked questions. I’m so glad both of these failed.”
StillboBaggins, via Reddit: “I think all of the following can be true:
- Signature gatherers are misleading the public. They always do.
- City employees are doing their best to verify the signatures objectively.
- The city elections office is a mess.
- Some city elections employees don’t do everything they can to keep the appearance of complete impartiality.”
AtticWisdom, via Reddit: “I’m not gonna say Portland City Elections is entirely above reproach, but this letter from Read surprises me with its credulity toward Safer Portland’s complaints. Instead of asking the elections officials any questions, he just takes the complaints as gospel and says ‘get your shit together’ to the Elections Division. Maybe they need to, but how does he know? Or, if you’re gonna weigh in, actually contribute something. Have someone from the state come in and advise, why not? That’s what Safer Portland asked for, after all. This finger wagging doesn’t seem like it serves anyone.”
DrToady, via Reddit: “I think what concerns me most as a voter is the lengths they are going to, to keep this off the ballot.”
TurtlesAreEvil, via Reddit: “Ahhh man, I really wanted to vote against this! This has no chance of passing; both the Portland Clean Energy Fund and the 2020 police accountability board measure passed with huge margins. The police accountability specifically is one of the highest-supported measures we’ve passed, winning by like 60 points.”
Aestro, via wweek.com: “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something going wrong with the city’s elections office and would have no problem if there seemed to be viable complaints. I don’t like the measure or how it’s been collecting signatures, but everything needs to be above board.
“Read is being annoyingly vague with his complaints, which doesn’t make anyone look good except the petitioners, and for all we know this is fully on the failure of the petitioners. If there are actual issues that need to be fixed, point them out. Don’t just wag your finger at the city because someone’s complaining after not getting their way.”
Pdx_pops, via Reddit: “How can they be sure they’re fake? These seem like things Darth Vedder and Vold E. Mort would support.”
FOOD CART POD CLOSURE DOESN’T PASS THE SNIFF TEST
Aaaaaand the “Are You Kidding Me With This Shit?!?” Award for tone deafness goes to...Matt Goodman!
I’m no fan of the constant missteps our city seems to be making as it stumbles to revitalize itself, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to listen to a land baron cry about city overreach [“Property Owner Says It Will Close Two Downtown Food Cart Pods,” wweek.com, July 29]. Especially if that alleged overreach had a six-year ramp-up to enforcement.
Equating the new sewer requirements to the aborted extended parking doesn’t even qualify as a tenuous thread connecting the two issues. On the one hand, extended parking was a tax on residents and visitors, nothing more. Could it negatively impact businesses in the area, sure...but they weren’t actively paying the cost like people who use street parking were.
Goodman’s use of that argument to support the decision to close two of the OG food cart pods is pure straw man argument. The Goodman family just doesn’t want to cover the cost of upgrading the sites’ facilities as the new ordinance(s) would require. Full stop.
Their workaround? Shut ’em down. Actively take away the livelihoods of the podsters that have rented from them for decades in some cases, while also actively eroding the quality of life in the downtown environment.
I’d like to counter with an argument contending that the Goodmans are nothing but double trouble for the city if this is indicative of the blackmail tactics they employ with the city while filling their overcapacity pockets with more of our money.
Chris Galbreath
Northwest 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
