Does anyone else think this spring election is a waste of money? (Portland: how much, asbestos)

[davemess10]

Seems like a major expense with all the mailings they have put out for what is a pretty minimal election and could have pretty easily be pigbacked on the fall election. My ballot in Portland is not even half a page (5 school board posts, and 2 school levies). Just seems like the governments are wasting a good chunk of change.
Thoughts?

[tigerlily]

Originally Posted by davemess10

Seems like a major expense with all the mailings they have put out for what is a pretty minimal election and could have pretty easily be pigbacked on the fall election. My ballot in Portland is not even half a page (5 school board posts, and 2 school levies). Just seems like the governments are wasting a good chunk of change.
Thoughts?

The same in Washington County. A waste of money.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by tigerlily

The same in Washington County. A waste of money.

Exactly. I didn't recognize anyone running, and certainly not enough to make anywhere near an informed vote.

[Minervah]

Probably. I am getting annoyed at the commercials that show those adorable little children showing how their schools are falling apart. I would rather see the bids by various contractors to fix the problems and the names of the companies making them and how the repairs will be made.

I have read one too many articles about how the cost of repairs do not have to cost as much as we are being told. Someone even referred to it as "playground pork."

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I thought last years MEASURES 66 & 67 were supposed to solve the school funding issues:

Vote YES for Oregon

What happened to all that money?

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

I thought last years MEASURES 66 & 67 were supposed to solve the school funding issues:

Vote YES for Oregon

What happened to all that money?

Excellent question!

[Yankeemama]

I am voting for the School Bond and Levy. Children need good schools and teachers... good education post high school... good careers... can pay for all of the social security for the aging baby boomers!

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Well, I'm not going to.

With all the tax dollar funded "Civic" projects wasting my hard earned money going on in this town, I wish somebody would realize that the greatest civic project of all is the education of our children.
That's just a to progressive and liberal idea to go over in this supposedly progressive and liberal town.
What do the adult residents here really want? A playground.

Why don't you vote to tell the Portland City government to end all the glitz and glamour BS projects and put that money to our children first.
They can worry about their streetcars, trains, future parks for 11 million bucks, downtown develpoment, soccer, and their legacies last.

Why is this so hard to understand?

I wonder how much just the money spent on preliminary studies for the OHSU tram could have improved our public schools?

But I guess I have pretty tram to look at instead of smart kids.
It looks pretty neat when I'm driving across the crumbling Ross Island bridge.

Yay Portland.

[Nell Plotts]

My husband is an architect and is pissed about the maintenance levy. The pipes labeled 'asbestos' are encapsulated and are no risk unless disturbed. He fears that the District has been stealing $ from maintenance to pay for other things because buildings should never be permitted to deteriorate as described over the years they had decent funding. The District fired all the school 'painters' who in fact did much more than paint, they spent a significant amount of time in maintenance... and then the District had to pay them big bucks in severance pay after replacing them with yahoos who couldn't tell which end of the paint brush to stick in a bucket.

I didn't have the nerve to ask him how he voted.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by Nell Potts

My husband is an architect and is pissed about the maintenance levy. The pipes labeled 'asbestos' are encapsulated and are no risk unless disturbed. He fears that the District has been stealing $ from maintenance to pay for other things because buildings should never be permitted to deteriorate as described over the years they had decent funding. The District fired all the school 'painters' who in fact did much more than paint, they spent a significant amount of time in maintenance... and then the District had to pay them big bucks in severance pay after replacing them with yahoos who couldn't tell which end of the paint brush to stick in a bucket.

I didn't have the nerve to ask him how he voted.

Along those lines. I worked for a year at the Multnomah County Courthouse in the Probate Department. We had an old newspaper article posted on out bulletin board as to how that building was the most unsafe building in the city regarding the prospect of a serious earthquake.

The basement was used as storage for old files. Our Court had occasion at least a few times a week to go down and fetch files. All the pipes had that same warning the one on the TV commercial for the maintenance proposition. These pipes were not far from the top of the file cabinets or the heads of adults in some cases. The idea was not to hit them if at all possible.

Chunks of marble regularly fell off walls in the hallways. Bathrooms were often not in working order.

So everyone who came through the building as well as those who worked there were in potential danger. Where was the campaign to fix these problems? This is a public building that should be safe.

Okay, so let's fix this. Let's fix whatever needs to be fixed. But don't show me emotionally charged commercials. Again, don't just tell me it's "For 'the children" to get my vote and my money. Show me concrete plans including costs as to how the problem will be taken care of.

How do I know the money from my taxes will be used in the most efficient way to correct the problems that need correcting? I don't. I want adults not children giving me this information so I can make a decision based on intelligent solutions and not emotion.