OK heres the deal.

I live in Portland Oregon as it says in my profile, and recently there was a ballot up for vote called Measure 28 to help the schools out.

Schools in this area have begun cutting back on the number of days a week they are open. My daughter in elementary school currently has a 4 day week because of funding shortages.

So Measure 28 was supposed to add a small tax to help them out but was voted against and lost.

Heres the kicker though....Portland Mayor Vera Katz is pushing for the purchase of the Montreal Expos which involves the building of a new multi million dollar stadium for them to play in.

Does this make sense to anyone?

The reason I ask is because recently (2 years ago) Portland area was taxed for the building of PGE Park which has consistently lost money and has been incorrectly run by none other than Enron (remember them?). We continually pay for the upkeep and bills of this park.......it doesn't seem fair for the people to pay for a miserably failing private venture....does it?

Just curious as to others views of a situation like this.

 

I work for the University of Wisconsin doing fundraising from alums.

Our budget is totally getting cut by the state legislature and tuition keeps getting hiked up. Now the tuition hikes are set at 8% a year (much higher than inflation) by the legislature so they can keep making cuts. At the same time the K-12 teachers have had their wages frozen for a loooooong time.

 

My views? It looks to me that placing professional sports above education pretty much sums up the state of American values. As a society, we are corrupt and selfish. We have abandoned the cooperative and self-improving values that helped build a great nation. If we keep this up, the USA will be one more fallen empire in the history books. We're already well on our way.

 

So pessimistic.

Professional sports do have the potential to pump a lot of money into the economy of the market in which they reside. Yes, generally sports teams take advantage of starry-eyed politicians looking for a quick revenue increase. I can however see the reasoning behind those politicians' actions.

Society going down the toilet? Meh.

 

I agree (*gasp* did I say that?)

It just seems odd that we would forgo our childrens education in favor of sports.......it makes no sense at all.

You would think that the general population would see this fault and say something besides just a general vote. Especially since if the lawmakers don't see it as something they want they will add in some little clause that forces it to fail.

Example: Arizona put on the ballot to pass the legalization of marijuana.......but they added cocaine and heroin to the same bill.....result, obvious failure.

That is just an example so don't think I am comparing the two in any way.

 

I don't think that it's fair to blame the lawmakers. It's our duty as citizens to oversee them, and 50% of us choose to do absolutely nothing. Stupid is as stupid does, and the majority chooses to be damn stupid.

 

No what am saying is they put it on a ballot but then put it on in such a way that there is no way it will pass popular vote.

Like with Measure 28 they made it so that an extra income tax would be levied for a period of 5 years without any benefits from it.

The problem is that Oregon already has one of the highest income taxes in the nation so of course no one wants to pay it, especially when the average house would pay almost $200 a more out because of it.

To add again to that we are the state with the highest unemployment rate in the nation....so who can actually pay the tax to begin with?

We have state lottery and what doesn't go into the win fund goes to our environmental concerns (which is good to a point) but why is it they refuse to split some of that money off to go to our schools?

Its a matter of priorities is what it is and I am noticing people in this state have a strange list of them.

 

A proffessional sports team is usually a good draw for a community. It not only creates jobs but also is a good source of tax revenue. If Portland has the oppurtunity to purchase the Expos it would be a benefit to the community. I am assuming of course that a private investor, or a group of private investors would purchase them and the city would halp fund the stadium. I agree that the current physcal situation does not necessarily warrant such and acquisition but the team would help out Portland in the long run. I guess it goes along the same lines of the old saying..."In order to spend money you need to make money."

 

Oh, you were talking referenda. I was thinking line items. My bad. Still, some elected official must have made up the referendum...

 

of course school funding usually is from property tax. one of the obvious reason why the better neighborhoods with more expensive houses have the best (teachers/funding,etc) public schools.