Did you miss my ride about #Portland's five layers of govt and #STARvoting on the hottest Sunday of the summer? Come to the Hottest Sunday of the Fall Govt and Voting ride! #pdxBikes#bikeFun#ORpol#pdx An easy ride along the river and back through inner SE, starting from City Hall at 11:30am.
Most of our #transportation "funding crisis" is due to an overly-conservative read of Article IX of the #ORpol constitution, which says car taxes & fees must be spent only on the "construction, maintenance, and use of highways & rest areas..." assumed "for cars", or nonsense like that paying bus drivers from gas tax is not an option (hello "use of" highway, which legally also includes streets, and actually even car-free paths.) The rest is an inability to see cars except through a windshield...
2:30 at city hall, learn about the governments of #Portland on #pdxBikes, what to expect from our new districts and #RankChoice elections, and sign the #STARvoting Oregon petition + join the campaign for better state and federal elections. #pedalpalooza#ORpol
The Willy Week comments section is like every #orpol Nazi on Twitter.
The new fear? Infill affordable housing is "Soros-ing Portland".
Listen, if you want to be an anti-Semitic piece of shit at least have the fucking guts to say it. The Nerdletta and Friends set is never gonna can it, #Portland, so white folks need to start pushing the fuck back on this weird obsession with preventing any new housing whatsoever in a growing city.
But the worst part is that these people are professing hatred for Jews, and I think you should have a good long think on why maybe white people who hate Jews are gonna hate other people.
#STARVoting is canvassing at PSU Farmers Market Sat July 29. Volunteers and signatures needed to get https://www.starvoting.org/star4or2024 on the Oregon 2024 ballot. This is the #VotingReform we need to break out of two-party games like "throwing your vote away" with simplistic outdated vote-counting methods, better than #RankChoice because in STAR, your vote always counts and the 2-step results (add & count your favorite of top-2) are simple to distribute, track, & audit. #ORpol#Portland#pdx
Help #STARvoting get on the statewide ballot and let's get #ORpol unstuck from polarized deadlock! Volunteer to gather signatures before the Pride Parade on Sunday, and more #pdx events coming up later this month and next. State chapter zoom Wednesday night. #VotingReform
A victory for the RCV campaign in November 2024 would be a significant breakthrough for voting justice, as it would liberate voters in Oregon from being required to vote for just one candidate.
The #Oregon legislative session just ended. Linked is an OPB article summarizing some of the action. One bill that passed that I didn’t know about but am looking forward to is a ban on styrofoam takeout containers and foam coolers beginning in 2025.
"House Bill 2426 would require gas stations to staff at least half of their open pumps for people who want assistance. But it would allow other pumps to be open for self-service."
When Oregon state Rep. Charlie Conrad (R-Lane County), joined Democrats to pass a bill guaranteeing access to abortion and gender affirming care, he knew there was going to be backlash.
An anti-abortion activist just started a PAC specifically to get him out of office.
Julia Shumway from the Oregon Capital Chronicle has been all over the Conrad story for months. Her latest:
🚨 STOP ODOT’S BACKROOM HEIST, HELP US RIGHT-SIZE INTERSTATE BRIDGE INVESTMENT
The freeway lobbyists have included a $1 billion allocation of General Obligation Bond funds for the proposed Interstate Bridge Replacement in an amendment to House Bill 5005. This amendment dropped over the holiday weekend, a day before two work session votes on the legislation, the week before session ends. #ORleg#ORpol#NoMoreFreeways#ClimateAction#Portland#pdxBikes
None of Oregon's #drivers are qualified to drive, so it's no surprise that the DMV doesn't know what they're doing with your identity. 🙄 ODOT's oversite, the OTC, are appointed by the governor BTW. Maybe it would help to pay attention to who is running your government #ORpol#pdxTraffic#ODOTGTFOpdx
🚨 oh yay the R's will come back to #ORleg for bi-partisan fascism. 🙄 This is the one that makes protesting illegal. #ORpol
"Even though the Republican walk out has created uncertainty as to whether any new legislation will be passed this session, because HB 2772 has bipartisan support, we believe that its passage could unfortunately be a priority in any deal that brings Republican Senators back to the legislature."
If you're not here or don't hear about Oregon politics: It's wild. GOP lawmakers in Oregon's Senate have been on a walkout to prevent abortion protections and other Democratic priorities from passing. But Oregon voters passed a ballot measure last year making any legislator that does this ineligible to run again.
Local elections matter. Mayoral, city council, ballot measures. If you had an election today, I hope you voted (you maybe still can if you hurry on the west coast.) I did. Now I'll be following @taniel and @bolts as well as my local papers for results and analysis.
Oregon voters will soon get to decide whether to adopt ranked choice voting statewide (www.nwprogressive.org)
A victory for the RCV campaign in November 2024 would be a significant breakthrough for voting justice, as it would liberate voters in Oregon from being required to vote for just one candidate.