✨Our own Leslie, parent and former preschool teacher, did not mince her words 👀

Do you also have an opinion you think the Commissioners should hear? Read on!

Ok, great. You don’t have to agree with every representative on council. Like I don’t agree with Dan Ryan. But Sameer represents a popular view in the city, which was my initial point. Anyway, I’m done with this nonlinear argument! I hope you have a nice day.

I would not say I trust government or am enthusiastic about electeds in general. I am pragmatic and hopeful because I know some councilors personally through organizing. I know they are strong on values and accountable to their base. I have experienced how they work in collaboration with community.

Mitch Green has done lots of education in public social media accounts re: social housing and how to pay for it, and Sameer Kanal has shared a lot on what community safety is and means, inclusive of parks and housing and transit. I encourage you to research what they’ve already shared!

Respectfully, you don’t know anything about me or what I like! And you ignore my point: that the previous City Council represented one view—the Business Alliance. Now City Council actually has discussion and debate that includes, yes, leftists as a key constituency in Portland (which we are!).

Also I’m not one of those people who think Portland is a hellhole. I like it here!!! I like my neighborhood. There are challenges but they aren’t overnight fixes… like social housing, expanding our view of public safety, growing public transit. All things several councilors are actively working on.

Yes, City Hall now represents diverse views in PDX (including mine!). Councilors will actually listen to constituents and public testimony. Positives for me: budget changes (diverting $ from police to parks and community centers), study of social housing, expanding PSR, holding Zenith accountable

The districts are way better than the previous citywide setup... It seems as though your politics align quite well with Dan Ryan’s, which suggests to me that the district representation is pretty fair!

Agree, Sameer is my rep and doing a lot to connect with those of us in North Portland, including meeting up with local Portland NET teams and doing lots of accessible town halls. Sameer is the one city council rep in D2 I’m proud of!

In fact between this and Preschool For All attacks, I would loooooooove to see what numbers Portland Metro Chamber is posting in re: lobbying Multnomah County officials. Where is @bigblinkpdx.bsky.social 👀

Some earlier reporting already named Portland Metro Chamber as a group lobbying for more security—how much do you want to bet they weaponize this to get more funding for security (AKA more pass-through income for PBA) via Clean & Safe?

Ugh I just saw it again and it made me mad all over again! I thought it was the owners of Big Pink but I’ve been seeing it on the sidewalk across 5th… this is basically the Portland Business Alliance/Clean & Safe dream (and my nightmare)

😂😂😂

The complaint isn’t really about whether council has the authority to raise a tax, indeed the chamber lobbied for the tax increase that council authorized last year for Clean and Safe. It’s about control and income and wealth distribution, and the worry we may tax the rich to fund the many.

All that to say, I think it’s the RESPONSIBLE thing for City Council to support the budget amendment by Councilors Green and Dunphy to reclaim $13M in general funds from Prosper Portland. Directly invest that in our city, not in shady private businesses that offer no promise for our community

What wasn’t mentioned in this article, but WAS in this earlier article, is how Prosper Portland engaged in some SUS “community engagement” to justify the $7M loan: primarily reaching out to Old Town Community Association members with financial stakes in the project www.wweek.com/news/2025/02...