#CovidIsNotOver #ClimateJustice #pdx #LeftPolitics #DisabilityJustice
#RandomOutrage #Cats
Header image: a wooden path curving away in the red hills of the John Day Fossil Beds Monument (Oregon, USA)
Profile image: a black cat looking at the camera
Submit public comment to the CDC: All people need access to updated COVID vaccines at least twice a year
The CDC is accepting public comment for their next vaccine committee meeting through February 22.
#CovidIsNotOver
#VaxPlus
@PeoplesCDC
https://peoplescdc.substack.com/p/submit-public-comment-to-the-cdc
“Canadians might want to ask who with power is paying attention to the plague of long #COVID in this country.” — That would be nobody
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/02/06/Why-So-Quiet-Long-COVID/
Nearly 1 in 4 American Adults Who Get COVID-19 Suffer From Long COVID
Analysis of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data (Nov 2023 Household pulse survey) finds 24% of U.S. adults affected by the disease have experienced COVID-19 symptoms for three months or longer.
24.4% of Americans ages 18 and over who have received a positive COVID-19 test or diagnosis have experienced symptoms of COVID-19 that persisted for three months or longer. (25.1% in Oregon)
31% of those affected by long COVID report that the symptoms have reduced their ability to carry out daily activities. (41.5% in Oregon)
(41% of 25% is 10% so average chance in Oregon that your covid case will impact your ability to carry out your daily tasks for months afterwards is 1 in 10).
#CovidIsNotOver
#LongCovidIsNotOver
#Oregon
https://www.helpadvisor.com/community-health/long-covid-report
Clean & Safe: A Dirty and Dangerous Contract for Portland
Every year, Downtown Clean & Safe receives over $5 million to provide “enhanced services” to 213 blocks of Portland’s Central City. Yet below the surface of this seemingly benign contract lie threats to public transparency, public services, and even progressive public policies. In this segment, Guest Mole Alyssa Vitale explores how Portland business interests subsidize their anti-tax lobbying via a murky contract for sanitation and safety.
#PDX #PortlandOregon #PortlandOr #EndESDs
audio, text, and links to more information at https://kboo.fm/media/119914-clean-safe-dirty-and-dangerous-contract-portland
Once upon a time in my lifetime, 50 was the new 30.
But now that we live in a forever pandemic, 30 is the new 50.
Plutocrats for Portland
Why do we hear so much about the supposed failures of recent progressive reforms in Portland? Why does there seem to be so much panic about downtown? Local organizer and activist Hyung Nam explains how Trump-era tax breaks have further incentivized the wealthiest developers and property owners to undermine the will of the real people of Portland.
(N.b., a plutocrat is someone who becomes powerful only because they are rich, and the dark-money group "People for Portland" might more accurately be named "Plutocrats for Portland.")
text and audio:
https://kboo.fm/media/119826-plutocrats-portland
Libraries are incredible and deserve lots more funding
#PDX
#StopZenith
#ClimateCrisis
#CleanTheAir
#PortlandOregon
Zenith poses a serious danger to public health, safety, and the environment.
The City of Portland’s approval of the Land Use Permit was not legally sufficient and excluded the public.
DEQ has a Duty to be a Leader and Use its Full Authority.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ly6KJDSkvtf2TKm2MLOe4cslaSlvzysuEcz6cbXtv0A/edit?usp=sharing
Portland does not have the highest taxes in the country!
by Mary King for Street Roots
The local press is again spreading a deceptive business lobbyist talking point, claiming that taxes in the Portland metro area are the highest in the country. It’s just not true.
Total state and local taxes in Oregon, reported by the U.S. Census Bureau are right in line with several other states, including Washington, Wyoming, New Mexico and Massachusetts. Taxes per person are just three-quarters of New York’s and four-fifths of California’s. Our small, local taxes are not big enough to meaningfully change that picture.
Unlike most states and many cities, we have no sales tax, which holds down our total tax bill and spreads it more fairly. Our property taxes are limited — and uneven — since the 1990s. Many property owners pay tax on assessments far below the market value of their real estate. Oregon’s gas taxes are relatively low, as are the taxes on beer and wine.
Only one tax rate, on one kind of tax, on people with the very highest incomes, is relatively high in the Portland area — though lower than in New York City and not much higher than San Francisco. That’s the income tax rate paid by very affluent families, combining state, Metro and Multnomah County income taxes. And that combined rate only applies to income that’s over $400,000. Half the families in Multnomah County have just one-fifth of that much income or less.
What’s more, the loudest griping about our local taxes comes from big downtown property owners who get lots of state and local tax breaks on top of coddling by the federal government. They need to recognize what the rest of us see: the tremendous value being added to our community and economy through the provision of affordable housing, support for people on the streets, universal preschool and investments in climate resilience.
Oregon is a leader in equitable taxation
State and local taxes generally make economic inequality worse, taking a much bigger chunk from families with the lowest incomes than the highest. We’re better than 41 other states but could be better still. Oregon still takes more from families with little than from people with a lot.
Most states are worse because they rely on sales taxes, rather than income taxes. Sales taxes hit people hardest who are just scraping by, spending their entire incomes on necessities. The less money you have, the more of it you’ll pay in sales tax.
Sales taxes are really high in the South, as well as in Washington, California and New York. In California, the state sales tax is 7.25%. With local sales taxes added, it’s up to 10.75% in some cities. Plus, California car buyers pay those sales taxes when buying a vehicle, even a used car sold by an individual. Compare that to Oregon’s vehicle tax of one-half of 1%, charged to car dealers. (Still, Oregon dealers can legally try to charge buyers for both the vehicle tax and their corporate activities tax.)
No sales tax means lower business taxes, too
Oregon is actually in the middle of the pack for combined state and local taxes on businesses. Businesses tax payments are also held down because we have no retail sales tax. We think of a sales tax as falling on consumers, but businesses also pay it on supplies.
To accurately compare business taxes in different states, you need the effective tax rate of all state and local taxes combined. The effective tax rate is how much of total profits companies are paying after working all the tax breaks and accounting tricks available.
Effective business tax rates for different states are calculated by business consultants Ernst and Young. We need to look at their two most recent annual reports together because the pandemic extension of the tax deadline in 2020 shifted some tax payments into the 2021 business fiscal year.
Ernst and Young find that Oregon’s effective business tax rate came to 4.1% of net income for fiscal year 2020 and 5.4% in fiscal year 2021, for an average of 4.75% over the past two years of data. Probably, the current percentage is a little higher since Oregon’s new Commercial Activities Tax wasn’t in effect for the first six months of those two years. That would still leave Oregon near the middle of other states, which ranged from 3.3 % to 8.7% in fiscal year 2020 and from 3.6% to 8.6% in 2021.
Oregon’s Commercial Activities Tax may not make up for the drop in corporate taxes since the 1970s
Since the property tax was restricted in the 1990s, Oregon hugely relies on income taxes to fund the state’s spending on education, public safety and health & human services. But, by 2018, the corporate share of income taxes had sunk to less than half what it was in the 1970s, leaving households to foot the bill.
In 2019, the state legislature passed the Corporate Activities Tax, or CAT, to create the appearance that businesses were again contributing as they used to. However, the tax design makes it relatively easy to pass the cost on to consumers in higher prices. As two tax advisors state, “while the cost of the tax will not be directly borne by the buyer the same as a sales tax, it is anticipated that some or all of the burden of the tax will be passed on by the seller to the buyer indirectly through higher prices as a result of higher input costs.”
Federal taxes are low — especially for real estate investors and developers
The top federal personal income tax rate fluctuated between 94% and 70% from the mid-1930s through 1980 — during many years of high economic growth. That rate applies only to income over a very high threshold.
That top rate was brought down by Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump. It’s been below 40% since 1986. Democrats raise it a bit, and Republicans bring it back down, most recently in 2017. The Brookings Institution assessed Trump’s tax package, saying, “It will take resources from future generations and from today’s lower- and middle-income households to enrich today’s well-to-do.”
Trump’s tax cut, half-accurately called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), especially benefited real estate investors and developers. The American Bar Association’s analysis of its details concluded: “The intention was to uplift the real estate business, not the individual homeowner, something the TCJA delivers.”
Plenty of state and local breaks for real estate investors, too
Oregon’s tax code generally mirrors the federal one. That means the state also gives several big tax breaks to real estate investors and developers, including the members of multi-millionaire Jordan Schnitzer’s “Revitalize Portland Coalition.” Schnitzer’s group bills itself as the “voice of Portland commercial real estate focused on providing feedback and advising public officials.”
It's Schnitzer’s group leading the charge against the small, local income taxes strongly supported by the voters to create universal preschool and provide essential services to people living on the streets.
What we never hear mentioned by the real estate industry or the local press is how much of the recent increase in local income taxes was outweighed by federal, state and local tax cuts and tax breaks. Nor do we hear about the big, widely spread and proven benefits to the local economy of the services being funded by small, local income taxes.
#PortlandOregon
#PDX
#StreetRoots
#Taxation
#Taxes
https://www.streetroots.org/news/2024/01/17/opinion-portland-does-not-have-highest-taxes-country
If you live in Portland, OR, this issue concerns you.
Your tax dollars are being used to subsidize corporate lobbying against progressive, community-supported issues like charter reform, Portland Street Response, universal preschool, and the Portland Clean Energy Fund. You have the right to demand transparency and accountability from the City.
What you can do
Through January 15, 2024, the City is collecting public comment on the recommendations for Portland’s ESD program. To submit public comment:
1. Read the talking points below.
2. Email the City ESD coordinator, Devin Reynolds: devin.reynolds@portlandoregon.gov.
In February, the City Council will hear the report from the private consultant firm they have hired. See https://www.endcleanandsafe.org/ or https://www.sistersoftheroad.org/current-campaigns/end-esds for updates.
Keep reading to learn more about this problem and how you can help by submitting public comment and attending public meetings.
Context: Portland, ESDs, and Business Lobbyists
In August 2020, the Portland City Auditor conducted an audit (https://www.portlandoregon.gov/auditservices/article/764910) of the city’s enhanced services districts, or ESDs.
● ESDs (which some cities call “business improvement districts” or BIDs) are a public-private partnership: The city authorizes a private entity to, essentially, tax (https://www.mcda.us/wp-content/files_mf/Order_23-02.pdf ) every property within a specific zone to fund services beyond what the city offers, such as extra policing or cleaning.
● Portland currently has three ESDs: Downtown Clean & Safe ESD, Lloyd ESD, and Central Eastside Industrial District.
The largest of the three ESDs, Clean & Safe, operates on a $5 million annual budget and is run by Portland Business Alliance (PBA, AKA Portland Metro Chamber).
● PBA claims to be the voice of local business, but their board mostly represents multinational corporations, commercial real estate companies, banks, and corporate law firms.
● PBA is the city’s most prolific lobbyist (https://bigblinkpdx.org/ ) and has spent significant time and money fighting charter reform (https://www.opb.org/article/2022/07/15/portland-business-alliance-sues-to-block-city-charter-reform-package/) , universal preschool (https://kboo.fm/media/118950-how-portland-metro-chamber-and-business-lobbyists-undermine-education-funding), tenant protections (https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/03/28/the-portland-business-alliance-files-ballot-title-challenge-on-proposed-multnomah-county-capital-gains-tax/) , and Portland Clean Energy Fund (https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/03/01/as-difficult-city-budget-approaches-portland-clean-energy-fund-is-flush/) while pushing pro-business policies.
● The Clean & Safe contract subsidizes PBA lobbying by paying for significant portions of 7 PBA staff salaries (https://www.portland.gov/omf/documents/2021-clean-and-safe-contract-1/download), including:
○ 45% of salary for President & CEO Andrew Hoan
○ 50% of salary for VP of Government Affairs Jon Isaacs
○ 30% of salary for Senior Director of Strategic Communications
○ 45% of salary for Senior Director of Finance and Operations Ariana Alejandres
● Furthermore, Clean & Safe pays $26,000 per year to sit on the PBA board.
But what about the audit?
The 2020 audit found that Portland had limited oversight of its ESDs and zero guidelines for ESD formation or governance, which results in overpolicing and prevents community members from monitoring or having a say in ESD activities. Essentially, the lack of City oversight enables PBA to shield its budget and activities from public scrutiny.
To address these problems, the auditor made three recommendations.
1. Review the status of ESDs, their purposes, and the City’s responsibility for them, then potentially propose City Code to manage ESD formation, allowed scope of activities in public spaces, governance, and reporting
2. Revise agreements with each ESD to align with code changes
3. Develop a process for City oversight of ESD contracts, including a dedicated liaison and public reporting of ESD activities, including law enforcement and security activities to City Council and the public.
The City followed all the audit recommendations, right?
The City did hire an ESD coordinator in 2021. Shawn Campbell hosted several public listening sessions where many voiced opposition to ESDs. However, after one year Campbell was abruptly let go from his position (https://wraphome.org/2023/02/17/portland-or-the-curious-case-of-the-missing-audit-response/) and many of his documents removed from the City website.
A year later, in summer 2023, Portland hired Seattle firm BDS Planning to complete the first audit recommendation. With very little public notice, in December 2023 BDS Planning released a draft program assessment and recommendations (https://www.portland.gov/omf/documents/enhanced-service-district-audit-response-initial-assessment-and-recommendations/download) and held a public listening session (https://www.portland.gov/omf/events/2023/12/12/enhanced-service-district-audit-response-information-session). The City opened public comment on the draft recommendations — but only accepted public comment for one month over the winter holiday season.
After public comment closes, BDS Planning will present its final recommendations to City Council in February 2024. It is unclear if the City intends to follow through with auditor recommendations 2 and 3.
Through January 15, 2024, the City is collecting public comment on the recommendations for Portland’s ESD program.
To submit public comment:
Email the City ESD coordinator, Devin Reynolds: devin.reynolds@portlandoregon.gov.
The City has ignored significant public testimony against ESDs. During the Downtown Clean & Safe ESD contract renewal process in 2021, hundreds of community members wrote letters to City Council and dozens more spoke in public meetings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7Yeda7ULI8) asking the city not to renew its contract with Portland Metro Chamber. The voices of these community members do not appear in the draft report or recommendations. Further, the public comment process for this report occurred over the holiday season, had little publicity, and was very rushed—all factors that will minimize public engagement.
The BDS Planning draft report is biased in favor of ESDs. BDS Planning makes money from consulting on “establishing, managing, and renewing Place Management Districts,” (https://www.bdsplanning.com/key-practice-areas) another term for ESDs. In other words, the firm has a clear interest in recommending that Portland “sustain and expand its ESD program.” Further, BDS Planning founder Brian Douglas Scott was involved in 1985 Oregon legislation that enabled ESDs like Clean & Safe to form, and several members of the BDS Planning team have worked at ESDs across the country. This bias in favor of ESDs shows in their report, which cites “concerns from the ESDs themselves about the accuracy and balance of the audit’s findings” without mentioning the significant public pushback against ESDs in Portland.
The draft recommendations do not meaningfully address concerns about transparency and accountability. While the report mentions the need for transparency with ratepayers, it ignores the need for transparency or accountability to the public. This is problematic for multiple reasons. One, ESD services directly impact the public as many services occur on public streets and sidewalks. Two, many ESD zones include publicly owned buildings, meaning public institutions are ESD ratepayers, and taxpayer money subsidizes some ESD services.
Under PBA, Clean & Safe has consistently failed to deliver results in line with its established mission and commensurate with the level of funding they request. Complaints about the dirtiness of Clean & Safe’s service area abound in the official record as well as in online and in-person chatter. Clean & Safe has not delivered on the promise of “enhanced” sanitation services via privatization. It’s against common sense for City Council to continue to throw money at a bad program.
If ESDs should exist at all, they should deliver effective public services — not subsidize corporate lobbying.
Another vision
1. All ratepayers, including the public as taxpayers, have a right to transparent information about ESDs, particularly their budgets and governance. Public resources are used to collect ESD fees, and public institutions are ratepayers in ESDs. The public should have clear insight into how ESDs operate, who governs them, and what services they offer in addition to detailed budget information.
2. The people of Portland deserve fair, transparent, and public processes when the City contracts with external organizations.
3. Portland needs leaders who do not bend to the will of corporate lobbyists. Portland Metro Chamber lobbies City Council over 7 times more often than the next most prolific lobbyist (https://bigblinkpdx.org/), even though they have also been fined for failing to disclose lobbying meetings (https://www.opb.org/article/2021/04/27/portland-business-alliance-lobbying-rules-violations/) with City officials.
4. The City must invest in public institutions — not private organizations — to carry out essential public services, including sanitation and behavioral and mental health services. PBA has failed to deliver a clean or safe downtown, despite receiving millions of dollars each year to do just that. Time and again, the public has demanded the City invest in functional programs like Portland Street Response.
Some of the problems with BDS Planning’s Recommendations
● BDSP claims that districts like Portland’s ESD’s add proven value to urban environments. They have not demonstrated that this is the case.
● BDSP argues that Portland should sustain and expand its ESD program, even though there has been ample public testimony against them.
● BDSP proposes that the City should modify its guidelines on ESD subcontracting practices to give the ESDs more flexibility to work with small local firms. That is, they propose the City undermine its support for the the rights of subcontracted workers.
"Targeting a climate resilient, sustainable world involves fundamental changes to how society functions, including changes to underlying values, worldviews, ideologies, social structures, political and economic systems, and power relationships."
#ClimateCrisis
#EndFossilFuels
#EndCapitalism
#Degrowth
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/about/frequently-asked-questions/keyfaq6/
Having seen some early versions of parts of this, am looking forward to it, coming in 2024:
"The Gender Binary and the Invention of Race explores... connection between modern European classifications of sex/gender and those of race. Starting in the eighteenth century, these classifications have been co-constructed through a White, sex/gender-binary ideal for the male-female couple"
https://www.routledge.com/The-Gender-Binary-and-the-Invention-of-Race/Markowitz/p/book/9780367367541
Some better news, for a change:
Multnomah County Calls on Governor Kotek and the Department of Environmental Quality to Deny Zenith Energy Air Permit
County government joins 37 labor, environmental, and community organizations in calling for strong action from state regulators.
#StopFossilFuels #StopZenith #ClimateCrisis #PDX
(no thanks to Julia-I-love-corporations-Brim-Edwards)
Thinking again about this, from 2019, still relevant
#MakeDepressionGreatAgain
#Depression
#DisabilityJustice
#Inequality
#Neoliberalism
#SocialDeterminants
Heads up Portland: rose city nationalists began putting up posters again. This go around they’re all very anti-Semitic. Most of them were around Lloyd center and the convention center area.
Most of them have been taken down already but keep your eyes peeled and those slaps on hand.
How Portland Metro Chamber and Business Lobbyists Undermine Education Funding
CRIP CALL TO ACTION: Why disabled people living in the US need to be calling for a long lasting ceasefire in Israel-Palestine
