This Week in the Mercury
Monday, January 30, 2012
Politics City Transportation Workers Protest Cuts
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 5:20 PM
About a hundred union city transportation workers and supporters took to the streets of NE Portland today, marching to protest the $16 million budget cut that could cut 100 jobs and numerous basic projects, like street cleaning. "Sam! Sam! Where are you? You say you're mayor, but you cut your crew!" the crowd shouted, as it headed from North Stanton to Dishman Community Center.
A couple photos of the protest, attended by Democrat House Leader Tina Kotek and City Council candidate Mary Nolan, are below the cut. But the one that sums up the workers' sentiment best is a snapshot below of the two buttons worn by 20-year city veteran Garth Rand: Vote for change, but... aw, shit.
Rand is a "CSI"—no, not a flashy TV show crime scene dude, but a humble sewer investigator. "They have all these grandiose projects, but they don't budget for maintenance," says Rand. "It's coming back to haunt us."
"Do you think your job is on the chopping block?" I asked, but before Rand could answer, another worker shouted back, "Mayor Adams is on the chopping block!"
Union outrage over cuts is unlikely to actually stay the city's axe. The bureau is looking at a giant budget hole for several reasons and at least some cuts seem inevitable.
Jessica Peill-Meininghaus, a mother of four whose husband works as a city carpenter, is optimistic that turning out for the protest can at least make the impact of job cuts clear. She brought her kids to a city council meeting in December and had them occupy the front row, all holding signs saying, "Mr. Mayor, this is an emergency." "You may just see his name on a piece of paper, but there are five people who rely on him," says Peill-Meininghaus, who adds her family would likely have to move if her husband loses his job. "We need to find a long term solution, not a short term cut."
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It doesn't.
Sure it does, compared to like second rate, nationally unimportant cities that have none.
If you're downtown and need to get to the airport, like the average NYT writer, it's amazing! Oh the Max! So useful! Unbelievable!
But, if you're the average schlub who needs to get around, especially on the outer east side, fuck 'em! A trip that would take at most 15 minutes by car and takes 2 hours if you rely on the buses (that any city has!!), well, fuck you! Your time is unimportant. Don't you know--Portland has the most amazing public transit system in the country. No matter that you may wait 20-30 minutes for a bus on a busy Friday night, and that bus will not adequately hook up with its transfer. No worries here! We have time to kill! '
To complain woud be un-Portland---why do you need to be somewhere? Just chill man! Don't you know---Portland has the most amazing public transport in the country! (Mind you, I always take it---unlike the majority of the insanely deluded fuckos who spout such ridiculous bullshit and never have to rely on it). But it's just so great!
For fuck's sake, in Boston, I used to see Michael Dukasis on the bus almost every day taking the bus downtown to his job. Does Sam Adams, who lives in Kenton, and could easily take the Max to work take it downtown on a regular basis? Fuck no! He takes his car to work or has someone drive him.
But, whatever. Doesn't matter. It's so much easier for the dupes in this city to parrot the idiots who exclaim that Portland has "the most amazing public transportation on the planet" to feel smug when they never have to rely on it to get to work. And why would they? When you can get in your Prius and silently glide wherever you need to go, avoiding the hoi polloi who who need to ride the buses, it's an easy choice. And, really, who can blame them. An hour and a half ride on the bus vs. a 10 minute car trip with no parking issues, who would choose the bus? Only those who have no choice---and the smug bastards who want to feel good about themselves for taking the bus and riding with the "real people."
Fuck you, fuck Trimet, and fuck anyone who has the idiocy to think that the public transportation in this city is "amazing." Sure, it's good if compared to a podunk city that has nothing, which is what I imagine people who love it compare it to. But compared to any real city-- Boston, NYC, SF, Chicago---Tokyo, London, Paris----fuck, Amsterdam, which actually has a real bike culture, it's a joke.
And that's the point. Portland is a second-tier, nationally irrelevant city that has a bus system somewhat better than other burgs in its category and a feel-good light rail that is useful for tourists getting from the airport to the center of the city and for those who live in the suburbs and work for the gov't or for some other really important concern dontown and want to feel good about not driving and can make sure to tell their co-workers that they commute by public transport. Big fucking deal. So very, very useful to the majority here who need to get around the city,
It wouldn't bother me if people just owned up to it. I mean, why take Trimet when you can drive? This city is so easy to drive and park in, and only those who have no choice, or are trying to make a smug, personal statement take the bus. It's just when I hear people go on and on about the public transportation in this city, and how it's just so great it makes me crazy. I wonder if they just lap up whatever PR the city pumps out and just buy into it, or if they've just never lived in a city that really has great public transport. I guess if one's moved here from a small town in the midwest, it's fascinating. But the idiotic boosterism is hard to understand.
He's taking a page out of the state and county's playbook and taking a real look at the ratio of folks who do the real work on the street like those at the rally and folks in the offices. This is one of these issues that actually matters in our day to day lives - a financially stable city government that can deliver basic services - but sadly no one gives a shit about.
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Somehow City Hall has missed the fact that we're in a recession for the past four years. But they are building a bioswale by my house.
This city is run by children, for children. And not real children, because then our schools might be good. No, it's run for 30-year-old children.
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:-/
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but maybe I don't understand them correctly.
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