Very informative. It’s virtually impossible for me to look at this in any way but as confirmation that Portlandia has entered into a Doom Loop of declining property tax revenue leading to declining services leading to a decrease in in livability and public safety. All of this with a backdrop of governmental incompetence, recently underscored by JVP and her mismanagement of Preschool for All, the so-called “Deflection Center”, and our supposedly nonpartisan City Council being co-opted by a radical fringe junkeetering to Vienna and hell-bent on underfunding both police and the most rudimentary efforts to clean up the street squatters that we built all of these facilities to supposedly shelter. When you throw in the Mayor’s new City Administrator candidate who recently departed Greeley, Colorado with a non-disclosure agreement, (who hires someone like that?) it all adds up to looking like Detroit 30 years ago.
"It’s virtually impossible for me to look at this in any way but as confirmation that Portlandia has entered into a Doom Loop of declining property tax revenue leading to declining services leading to a decrease in in livability and public safety."
The term is new to me, I had to look it up when Allan introduced it as editor. But, yes, unspoken by media and likely ignored by citizens, our local governments are going to come up very short of cash for the foreseeable future. And we should expect a giant outpouring of bureaucratic panhandling - already stupefyingly begun with the CoP parks department.
Unfortunately, our local news organizations are so scaled back that none can or do effectively investigate and report reality at this level. And if they did, average citizens generally haven't time or interest to become informed and then vote accordingly. What never seems to be addressed here, but seems pretty obvious, is the direct correlation between a breakdown in City management and services and the destruction of investigative journalism and bi-partisan citizen demand for corrective action. Ignorance of the citizenry leads to more municipal mismanagement. How, for example, did the Esco property speculators secretly get the industrial sanctuary lifted after years of the City insisting it was essential to their economics?
Excised from my article was a minor discussion regarding the true horrors of CRMV in the downtown core area and how very large firms are seeing to it that their property valuations are as cost saving as possible. My favorite of the few I looked at for comparable value analysis was the US Bank Lobby building that sits on a half block along SW Harvey Milk, between SW Broadway and 6th. That 74,360 s.f. bank lobby vault and multi-level offices building last sold in 2018 for $54mil. The CRMV and the tax assessed value is now $3.241mil of which $3.240mil is land value. So rather than the aggregate land value of the University block, which totals $16mil. With this valuation (and resulting tax payment) this block has a total value of barely $7mil. And for those not calculating this absurdity, this insane assessed value claims this multi-story building has a value of just $970. (under $1k.) Not a typo.
So before everyone goes around blaming politicians, who are an easy target, I know, and failing to blame bureaucrats who practice severe nonfeasance, which in this City is blatant, I am confident that a good investigation would reveal that the tenancy flight in downtown Portland has permitted savvy property owners to have the county adjust taxable values downward. Regardless of localized sales adjacent each city block. There is no conceivable way that a block at SW Jefferson and Broadway has a land value of $16mil and a block at SW Ankeny and Broadway has a legitimate land value of $7mil. Oh, no, no. Someone is manipulating values in perverse ways here.
"All of this with a backdrop of governmental incompetence,"
Alas, I am not quite as quick to point fingers in that direction, though it is obvious that long employed bureaucrats are practicing an outrageous amount of nonfeasance. I have repeatedly said a good place to start is the Parking Bureau, who simply does not uphold, cite and enforce, with collection of penalties, most of the parking ordinances they are meant to uphold. Their leaders have focused solely on overtime parking for years, while ignoring many other violations - some quite dangerous (like vehicles over 6 feet in height parked, blocking views, at an intersection.)
"JVP and her mismanagement of Preschool for All, the so-called “Deflation Center”"
Yes, that is absurdly abusive. My instinct tells me to expect a not dissimilar mismanagement with the latest tax gift to the Portland Park Bureau. It will be spent, but completely mismanaged in how it's done. That department has learned to operate without providing basic services required of them, for a decade or more. Thorough laziness like that is hard to breakup without a complete restaffing.
However, I am one of those voters that don't attack the politicians unless I can cite their gross mismanagement and also propose real solutions. I can't say I see or know of some solutions needed to clean the house that may yet be needed. However, I do suspect that some recent appointees gained power through an agreement to provide quid-pro-quo with a few well-intentioned investors (Ah, yes, the industrial sanctuary magic act again. I have a dim recollection a same sanctuary once existed along SE Water Avenue too. So some of these former Eastside investors may be old-hands at such secret magic tricks.)
"hell-bent on underfunding both police"
In the last series of lucid articles I saw and wrote about on this topic, funding was not the primary issue. Are you sure it is now? Last I saw, the city budgets allowed for over 200 more officers than the policy academy and subsequent placement tests could deliver. The articles I saw made damn clear that our shortage of qualified peace officers was not a financing problem, but a recruiting one. Too few qualified candidates made it through academy training and testing to meet the employment needs of the city. And there are a variety of reasons why this occurred, including a desire for some completion candidates to simply go to work in municipalities where they are more appreciated - a euphemism for allowed to operate with more military armament and less oversight.
"We built all of these facilities to supposedly shelter."
Yes, there are a few well-read, well-considered citizens that understand that free housing means nothing to assisting substance abusing and mentally-ill people off the streets and in safe, health-assisted living. We understand they resist being housed and losing their freedom to do as they please - even when unable to understand the harm such a lifestyle has to them and society. For some completely inexplicable reason, recent leadership seemed to ignore this obvious issue. So, yes, I am as perplexed as you.
"When you throw in the Mayor’s new City Administrator candidate who recently departed Greeley, Colorado with a non-disclosure agreement, (who hires someone like that?) it all adds up to looking like Detroit 30 years ago."
Well, I hope not. But, I cannot assume you are wrong. And that triggers a great deal of anger in me because if you are right, we are fulfilling the prophecy (as I heard second hand) of the top FBI officer in Portland (who lives in Lake Oswego.) Near the end of the COVID period of city riots in downtown, he told a friend of mine that it was his (and perhaps the local bureau's) opinion that the result of all the demonstration and rioting was going to be a decade of economic trauma to the downtown core area. My reaction was characteristic dismissal of such an absurd assumption. I could not see that well-meaning political discord could lead to something so calamitous. And I clearly had no idea what could make this FBI man so prescient. Still despite, my knee-jerk reaction to such a divisive claim, here we are seeing exactly that.
And what is most clear is that neither our political leaders nor our leading wealthy citizens (investors and developers) seem to understand just how devastating the condition really is. Again, a sheer lack of investigative journalism and mainstream reporting to get a sluggish citizenry to respond and demand action, doesn't help either. And naturally, as should be expected, our wealthy citizenry is simply buying up these penny on the dollar deals so they can, over a decade or so, make a profit on this current economic devastation.
For all these reasons, I said in my first draft of this article, you too could own an entire City of Portland block for a mere $1.8mil (includes 7 story office building.) I think the US Bank property mentioned early, is a steal at $3.2mil too.
But, the problem is what to do with it once you get it. Downtown likely has a 40% vacancy rate right now. If you add the government buildings that sit empty several days a week, you have to wonder: should the City require all employees return to the office fulltime and bring some much needed tenancy and daily consumer spending back to the core area or should they simply sell off their under or non performing assets, save money not operating or maintaining empty buildings and let their employees work from home permanently? I know which one I'd choose. But, that would create a bloody battle between me and union leaders. This is why I cannot simply blame politicians. Who in their right mind wants to be one? Not me.
Very informative. It’s virtually impossible for me to look at this in any way but as confirmation that Portlandia has entered into a Doom Loop of declining property tax revenue leading to declining services leading to a decrease in in livability and public safety. All of this with a backdrop of governmental incompetence, recently underscored by JVP and her mismanagement of Preschool for All, the so-called “Deflection Center”, and our supposedly nonpartisan City Council being co-opted by a radical fringe junkeetering to Vienna and hell-bent on underfunding both police and the most rudimentary efforts to clean up the street squatters that we built all of these facilities to supposedly shelter. When you throw in the Mayor’s new City Administrator candidate who recently departed Greeley, Colorado with a non-disclosure agreement, (who hires someone like that?) it all adds up to looking like Detroit 30 years ago.
Thank you, Paul, for the comments.
"It’s virtually impossible for me to look at this in any way but as confirmation that Portlandia has entered into a Doom Loop of declining property tax revenue leading to declining services leading to a decrease in in livability and public safety."
The term is new to me, I had to look it up when Allan introduced it as editor. But, yes, unspoken by media and likely ignored by citizens, our local governments are going to come up very short of cash for the foreseeable future. And we should expect a giant outpouring of bureaucratic panhandling - already stupefyingly begun with the CoP parks department.
Unfortunately, our local news organizations are so scaled back that none can or do effectively investigate and report reality at this level. And if they did, average citizens generally haven't time or interest to become informed and then vote accordingly. What never seems to be addressed here, but seems pretty obvious, is the direct correlation between a breakdown in City management and services and the destruction of investigative journalism and bi-partisan citizen demand for corrective action. Ignorance of the citizenry leads to more municipal mismanagement. How, for example, did the Esco property speculators secretly get the industrial sanctuary lifted after years of the City insisting it was essential to their economics?
Excised from my article was a minor discussion regarding the true horrors of CRMV in the downtown core area and how very large firms are seeing to it that their property valuations are as cost saving as possible. My favorite of the few I looked at for comparable value analysis was the US Bank Lobby building that sits on a half block along SW Harvey Milk, between SW Broadway and 6th. That 74,360 s.f. bank lobby vault and multi-level offices building last sold in 2018 for $54mil. The CRMV and the tax assessed value is now $3.241mil of which $3.240mil is land value. So rather than the aggregate land value of the University block, which totals $16mil. With this valuation (and resulting tax payment) this block has a total value of barely $7mil. And for those not calculating this absurdity, this insane assessed value claims this multi-story building has a value of just $970. (under $1k.) Not a typo.
So before everyone goes around blaming politicians, who are an easy target, I know, and failing to blame bureaucrats who practice severe nonfeasance, which in this City is blatant, I am confident that a good investigation would reveal that the tenancy flight in downtown Portland has permitted savvy property owners to have the county adjust taxable values downward. Regardless of localized sales adjacent each city block. There is no conceivable way that a block at SW Jefferson and Broadway has a land value of $16mil and a block at SW Ankeny and Broadway has a legitimate land value of $7mil. Oh, no, no. Someone is manipulating values in perverse ways here.
"All of this with a backdrop of governmental incompetence,"
Alas, I am not quite as quick to point fingers in that direction, though it is obvious that long employed bureaucrats are practicing an outrageous amount of nonfeasance. I have repeatedly said a good place to start is the Parking Bureau, who simply does not uphold, cite and enforce, with collection of penalties, most of the parking ordinances they are meant to uphold. Their leaders have focused solely on overtime parking for years, while ignoring many other violations - some quite dangerous (like vehicles over 6 feet in height parked, blocking views, at an intersection.)
"JVP and her mismanagement of Preschool for All, the so-called “Deflation Center”"
Yes, that is absurdly abusive. My instinct tells me to expect a not dissimilar mismanagement with the latest tax gift to the Portland Park Bureau. It will be spent, but completely mismanaged in how it's done. That department has learned to operate without providing basic services required of them, for a decade or more. Thorough laziness like that is hard to breakup without a complete restaffing.
However, I am one of those voters that don't attack the politicians unless I can cite their gross mismanagement and also propose real solutions. I can't say I see or know of some solutions needed to clean the house that may yet be needed. However, I do suspect that some recent appointees gained power through an agreement to provide quid-pro-quo with a few well-intentioned investors (Ah, yes, the industrial sanctuary magic act again. I have a dim recollection a same sanctuary once existed along SE Water Avenue too. So some of these former Eastside investors may be old-hands at such secret magic tricks.)
"hell-bent on underfunding both police"
In the last series of lucid articles I saw and wrote about on this topic, funding was not the primary issue. Are you sure it is now? Last I saw, the city budgets allowed for over 200 more officers than the policy academy and subsequent placement tests could deliver. The articles I saw made damn clear that our shortage of qualified peace officers was not a financing problem, but a recruiting one. Too few qualified candidates made it through academy training and testing to meet the employment needs of the city. And there are a variety of reasons why this occurred, including a desire for some completion candidates to simply go to work in municipalities where they are more appreciated - a euphemism for allowed to operate with more military armament and less oversight.
"We built all of these facilities to supposedly shelter."
Yes, there are a few well-read, well-considered citizens that understand that free housing means nothing to assisting substance abusing and mentally-ill people off the streets and in safe, health-assisted living. We understand they resist being housed and losing their freedom to do as they please - even when unable to understand the harm such a lifestyle has to them and society. For some completely inexplicable reason, recent leadership seemed to ignore this obvious issue. So, yes, I am as perplexed as you.
"When you throw in the Mayor’s new City Administrator candidate who recently departed Greeley, Colorado with a non-disclosure agreement, (who hires someone like that?) it all adds up to looking like Detroit 30 years ago."
Well, I hope not. But, I cannot assume you are wrong. And that triggers a great deal of anger in me because if you are right, we are fulfilling the prophecy (as I heard second hand) of the top FBI officer in Portland (who lives in Lake Oswego.) Near the end of the COVID period of city riots in downtown, he told a friend of mine that it was his (and perhaps the local bureau's) opinion that the result of all the demonstration and rioting was going to be a decade of economic trauma to the downtown core area. My reaction was characteristic dismissal of such an absurd assumption. I could not see that well-meaning political discord could lead to something so calamitous. And I clearly had no idea what could make this FBI man so prescient. Still despite, my knee-jerk reaction to such a divisive claim, here we are seeing exactly that.
And what is most clear is that neither our political leaders nor our leading wealthy citizens (investors and developers) seem to understand just how devastating the condition really is. Again, a sheer lack of investigative journalism and mainstream reporting to get a sluggish citizenry to respond and demand action, doesn't help either. And naturally, as should be expected, our wealthy citizenry is simply buying up these penny on the dollar deals so they can, over a decade or so, make a profit on this current economic devastation.
For all these reasons, I said in my first draft of this article, you too could own an entire City of Portland block for a mere $1.8mil (includes 7 story office building.) I think the US Bank property mentioned early, is a steal at $3.2mil too.
But, the problem is what to do with it once you get it. Downtown likely has a 40% vacancy rate right now. If you add the government buildings that sit empty several days a week, you have to wonder: should the City require all employees return to the office fulltime and bring some much needed tenancy and daily consumer spending back to the core area or should they simply sell off their under or non performing assets, save money not operating or maintaining empty buildings and let their employees work from home permanently? I know which one I'd choose. But, that would create a bloody battle between me and union leaders. This is why I cannot simply blame politicians. Who in their right mind wants to be one? Not me.