• Jon Sperry.

Since Publishing the piece, an anonymous Radio Cab driver has come forward to say the city’s “rosy” assessment of the working conditions at his company aren’t all that.

Among the complaints raised by the driver is the city’s estimation that the average Radio Cab kitty—a cabbie’s weekly payment to his company for services like dispatch—is actually much higher than the city’s estimate of $245. The drivers says the average Radio Cab kitty is about $550 a week, comparable to the $500 average the Revenue Bureau estimated was paid by drivers at the city’s other five cab companies.

But here’s the thing.

Another driver who spoke with the Mercury—who asked to remain anonymous—says the $100 a day lease is for drivers, like himself, who are not employee owners, which he estimates is about half of Radio Cab’s workforce. Employee-owners, he said, pay $200 a week. Of course, he said, unlike other companies, he doesn’t have to pay his kitty on the days we doesn’t work.

So the anonymous radio cab driver that wrote in is probably right: some Radio Cab drivers could in fact pay as large a kitty as the other companies in town.

Read the full letter after the break.

Note: In his letter the driver refers to Broadway Cab, which also owns Sassy’s Cab, as “Brand X,” saying the company’s control of 40 percent of the city’s permits is “scandalous” given the services they provide.

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Hundreds of people packed into Portland State University's Lincoln Hall last night to hear the top three mayoral candidates discuss Portland's favorite nerdy topic: transportation. I moderated the debate along with PSU Dean Lawrence Wallack and the candidates spelled out their approaches to transit planning, making the city safer for biking and walking, how to create jobs around active transit and, of course, how to pay for it all. It was an interesting debate—at one point, Jefferson Smith used a metaphor from Where the Red Fern Grows to explain the problems with the CRC.* Definitely go read Jonathan Maus's extensive write-up over at BikePortland.org!

While most of the night was the convivial politeness you'd expect in a mayoral race between three Portland Democrats, there was a little bit of backbiting between Eileen Brady and Jefferson Smith.

Asked about new revenue sources to fund transportation, Smith said that the gas tax revenue is decreasing and offered some new ideas like variable parking rates and a street maintenance fee. When it was her turn, Brady sniped, "Jefferson, you need to do your homework..." and said that gas tax revenues were increasing (she also didn't offer any new revenue ideas, suggesting—as I understood it—that the city should just downsize PBOT).

So is gas tax revenue increasing or decreasing? To the wonky graphs!

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The Portland city auditor released its quarterly lobbying report today. You can read through the report and find out out who lobbied city officials about what, and how much money they spent. Not surprisingly, Occupy Portland appears more than once in the record.

Columbia Biogas
Number one in dollars, number three in lobbying instances
Dollars Spent: $2,575.00
Lobbying instances reported: 15

Columbia Biogas has big plans to turn food waste from Portland's restaurants and grocery stores into clean electricity for 5,000 homes. The company, which had a public comment period in late November of last year, has been in the process of getting permits for its new $40 million plant, and the record shows this.

The company reports meeting with members of city council as well as members of Environmental Services and the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to discuss the facility.

The Portland Business Alliance
Number two in dollars spent, number one in lobbying instances
Dollars Spent:$1227.32
Lobbying instances reported: 34

It looks like Occupy Portland was on the minds of the the Portland Business Alliance.

Instances in the lobbying record include emails to Sam Adams about security and cleaning up the city’s parks. The group also met with the Mayor personally in October to talk about downtown street closures, and again in early November with the Mayor and Amanda Fritz to talk directly about Occupy Portland.

Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU)
Number three in dollars spent, number four in lobbying instances
Dollars Spent: 569.86
Lobbying instances reported: 8

Not surprising OHSU reported meetings with Adams staffers about the Mayor’s Campus Connection Initiative.

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With 54 percent of the vote (so far), say hello to your new Congresswoman, Oregon!

Suzanne Bonamici has long been projected to win this race against Rob Cornilles, taking over the Congressional seat stretching from West Portland to Astoria that David Wu vacated mid-term last year.

The hustle and bustle of the campaign party after the results were called at 8pm tonight was pretty insane—as media swarmed the new Congresswoman, each reporter got the chance for only one question. Bonamici is only the state's fourth sixth female Congressional representative and tomorrow is a big celebration of women winning the right to vote in Oregon, so I asked her about WOMANHOOD.

One question interview:
MERCURY: How do you feel like being a woman has affected your political perspective?
SUZANNE BONAMICI: "I'm excited about the opportunity to represent this district. Being a woman doesn't have much to do with it, I didn't have any say in the matter. I think there are certainly a lot of young women who have this night as quite an accomplishment, because they want women around the table in leadership. But I've always said, I don't want people to vote for me because I'm a woman, I want them to vote for me because I'm qualified and because of the priorities we share."

Interesting!

That's a bit different than Governor Barbara Roberts' perspective, when I talked to her earlier in the evening about her thoughts on having a female representative for Oregon.

One question interview:
MERCURY: Do you think there will be an impact to having a woman, specifically, in our delegation?
GOV BARBARA ROBERTS: "It's been embarrassing to me to have an entire congressional delegation, no matter how good they were, without a single woman representing the gender that I belong to. This is a really important step for Oregon, to give us a better sense of representation for more than half of our population."

That's all! Goodnight!

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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What follows is an excerpt from a study about how racism and conservatism are tied to stupidity:

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

As proof of this study, I offer this campaign ad for Florida Republican Mark Oxner, from Wonkette, which is really the Gone with the Wind of stupidity:

• Banyan Tree.
• Images from 2011 Egyptian Revolution.

In Portland today, protesters are gathering in Pioneer Courthouse Square from 4:30—8 pm to mark the anniversary. Coincidentally, members of the Portland’s Peace and Justice Works are protesting the US’s continuing involvement in Iraq starting at 4:00 pm also in Pioneer Square,

“We excepted all the troops to be out before Christmas, but that is not what we are seeing,” says Dan Handelman from Peace and Justice works. While the protests were not planned to happen together, Handleman thinks the anniversary of Tahrir has a clear message for Portland politics. “Occupy Portland is continuing to organize, but I think the media and the mayor sort of wrote them off and said they had to go into the next phase and fine lodging somewhere and not occupy public space. I don’t know if that is true.”

Newsflash, racists! Undocumented immigrants who earn paychecks in the state pay taxes on what they earn—a lot of taxes.

A new study (pdf) out from the Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP) this morning crunches the demographic data on undocumented workers in the state and determines the group pays between $154 to 309 million into public coffers every year.

While it's pretty impossible to get an accurate count of undocumented workers and how much money they make, according to the Pew Center, Oregon actually has the ninth highest undocumented immigrant population per capita in the country (right behind New Mexico). Here's OCPP's analysis of their tax rates:

From the Q&A with Barney Frank in yesterday's NYT Magazine:

You’ve long argued for the decriminalization of marijuana. Do you smoke weed?

No.

Why not?

Why do you ask a question, then act surprised when I give an answer? Do you think I lie to people?

I thought you might explain why you support decriminalizing it but don’t smoke it.

Do you think I’ve ever had an abortion?

Go read the whole thing.

Under Oregon law, that cash is supposed to go into the state's crime victim's fund. That pot of money helps fund crucial services in the state like sexual assault hotlines, domestic violence shelters, and victim counseling.

But domestic violence victims advocates are worried that the squeezed state government will take much of that $56 million and divide it up between other funds, leaving sexual assault resources in the cold. The millions pouring into the fund comes just when other state services—like schools and healthcare—are worried about drastic budget cuts. It's no surprise legislators would start eyeing the cash for other important uses.

This is a windfall for the fund, but it has to be viewed in the context that domestic violence services have been severely underfunded in the state for years.

Nearly 23,000 requests for emergency shelter from violence could not be met in Oregon in 2010 says local domestic violence shelter Raphael House, and domestic violence wound up killing 49 people. Back in 2009, the Portland Women's Crisis Line had to tell 65 percent of callers that there was no shelter space for them, suggesting people fleeing violence instead hunker down in 24-hour-coffee-shops, the airport lobby, or hospital waiting rooms.

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If you're just hearing about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) today because of the internet blackout, don't worry! I put together a quick primer on the issues.

If you're too lazy to read, here's a cute video put together by an internet freedom group that actually does a good job explaining the complicated issue:

Who's behind it? Big entertainment companies and groups that are losing millions to piracy. The Motion Picture Association of America is a big backer and has a whole page about rogue websites. The Chamber of Commerce says piracy "threatens 19 million jobs" and has been a strong supporter.

Who's against it? Pretty much every major website you use on a regular basis. Google, Facebook, Twitter, AOL, eBay, Yahoo and others signed on to a letter in the fall saying that SOPA would allow corporations to crush innovation, take out sites subjectively, and hurt overall internet security without actually stopping the big piracy users.

How likely is it to become law? Not likely, in its current form. Obama recently came out against SOPA, writing a lengthy response to anti-SOPA initiatives filed with his office. Congressional discussion of SOPA has been tabled till February, when supporters are expected to regroup and try to pass a more focused version of the bill.

PIPA!
What is it? Like SOPA, this bill aims to eradicate internet piracy of US media. But unlike SOPA, it says sites can only be shut down is their primary purpose is copyright infringement.

Why are people still mad about that? Internet freedom advocates think PIPA could be used to censor sites that big companies (or governments) don't like. Companies could, for example, argue to shut down early versions of YouTube, since users uploaded so many copyrighted materials.

How likely is it to become law? More likely than SOPA, that's for sure. It has support from major US companies ranging from Nike to Nintendo. The Senate has a vote on the bill scheduled today and it has sponsorhip from 40 senators across party lines—though both of Oregon's senators are against it. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden says the bill "establishes a censorship regime that threatens speech, innovation, and the future of the American economy." Yikes.

This morning's Think Out Loud on OPB gave a rundown on a depressing report with a timely MLK Jr. Day release date: A coalition of equity group in Oregon gave our legislature a racial equity report card... and the grade isn't good.

The groups gave the Oregon Senate a C for advancing racial equity and gave the Oregon House a D. To determined the grades, the groups noted that the state signed into law 10 bills that they believe will promote greater racial equity in the state, but that 11 other proactive measures died somewhere within the political machine.

For example, one of the equity promoting laws that passed is HB 2880, which makes it part of the mission of Oregon's Department of Motor Vehicles to provide voter registration materials. People of color are significantly less likely to register to vote, so handing out voter registration cards at public agencies like the DMV will (hopefully) encourage more people across the racial spectrum to vote.

One law that passed the Senate but died in a House committee is SB 612-A, a wage theft construction bill. Latino and black workers report way higher rates of wage theft than white workers and the bill would have broadened the definition of people who are punishable for wage theft to include people who "recruit, solicit, supply or employ workers."

Portland is still the whitest major city in America (and getting whiter at its core) but the non-white population of Oregon has grown from 16.5 percent of state residents in 2000 to 21.5 percent in 2010. Despite increased diversity, reports like this one and 2009's State of Black Oregon report show a damning slow rate of progress on improving racial equity in the state.

Thanks in large part to the White House's opposition, SOPA has been shelved. However, the similar Protect IP Act is still going before the Senate:

A vote on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has been delayed indefinitely, but the fight against Internet censorship continues: Reddit.com will go forward with its site-wide blackout on Wednesday, January 18, to protest the Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA), Digital Trends has confirmed. PIPA, a similar bill to SOPA, is scheduled to go up for a vote before the Senate on January 24...While SOPA has received the brunt of the backlash, PIPA contains similar provisions, which critics say could usher in an unprecedented level of government-enforced censorship online, harm the underlying infrastructure of the Internet, and hamper online innovation by stifling investment in Internet startups due to a more risky investment environment.

My favorite blog ever, Sociological Images, has a post up about the voter suppression laws that are creeping across the nation.

Numerous states have passed or are considering bills that would place hurdles to voting. They seem like simple hurdles, like requiring government-sponsored IDs at polling places or eliminating same day registration. But these small laws actually have a big impact on who votes, specifically reducing turnout among racial minority groups, young people, and people with disabilities.

Researchers pegged Oregon as one of the few states where voter restriction laws weren't considered...

The laws are pitched as preventing voter fraud, but the Democrats, who are campaigning against the laws for obvious reasons, put together this little graphic about the likelihood of someone trying to pull off an impersonation at the polls: