street roots
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May 23, 2014
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City, county can do more with short-term rental tax
J
S treet fee ta x needs broad
community support
Portland needs better roads and transportation
services, and short of money, there’s no easy answer to
how to make it happen. But we need a better plan than
the proposed Street Fee racing through City Hall.
The flat, regressive fee on households and businesses |
is a poor tool for fiscal management and puts'yet another
bill on the books for families who, after paying, their
taxes, their mortgage or rent, and their bills, don’t have
much left to hand over to a government bureaucracy.
The proposal from Transportation Commissioner
Steve Novick would charge $12 a month for households,
and $8 a month for low-income households: $144 and
■■■■ $96 a year, respectfully.
The best outcome we can
Businesses will take an
hope fo r Is th a t a
even bigger hit, in some
cases much bigger;
proposal lik e this
We question not only
develops a broad
the fee structure but
co a litio n o f support fro m
also the need. No
the comxnnxtity th a t can
question, money is £ga
d e live r a message that
needed,
but from where
the p u b lic can
and for what?
understand and support,
In the first few days of
Mayor Charlie Hales
administration, the City Auditor released its audit of the
Portland Bureau of Transportation, calling it out for a
lack of a long-term strategy on transportation priorities
and budgeting. As a result, “new transportation projects
have displaced core services such as maintaining
streets.” Despite an increase in transportation revenue -
yes, it’s been rising since 2008 to beyond pre-recession
revenues — the bureau reduced its funding in contract
t’s no secret that Portland is
experiencing rapid growth.
Neighborhoods in downtown and in
Portland’s inner core are booming. Many
local businesses are thriving. All one has to
do to experience the prosperity is spend a
night in any number of Portland
neighborhoods to see
that the whiskey is
flowing and life is good.
3 The landlords and
¡11
developers have to be
i
happy. The machinery
behind tens of millions
By Israel Bayer
°f dollars have come
barreling out of th e |
recession through new
urban renewal districts. Those lucky enough
to have survived the. Great Recession are
now sitting oh a gold mine. The vacancy
rates are virtually nil and you’ve got to
believe that the increased rents around the
region are making for a great payday for the
handful of investors who have the resources
to pay to play. Good on them.
Next month the City of Portland will
consider legalizing more short-term rental
units for local homeowners and landlords. Is
this a good thing? Depends on your
perspective. Companies such as Airbnb and
VRBO help facilitate renting thousandsof
homes, or dwellings to visitors for 30 days
or less. Many of those rentals are for very
short periods of time, like an extended
weekend. The company takes a cut from
each of the transactions and homeowners
and landlords benefit from the rental. With
the arrival of Airbnb to Portland, the city
and county intend to apply its standard
lodging tax to those short-term rentals.
Currently, the county allocates $250,000
of the money collected in lodging fees
toward housing programs to support hard
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You ca n .
reach him at
israel@streetroots.org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?
Send letters to the
editor to the Street
Roots office? 211 .
NW.Oavis St.,
Portland, OR 97209,
or e-mail to joanhe®
streetroots.org'
working Portlanders. Now, Commissioner
pavin g w o rk and str e e t m ain ten an ce. In ste a d , m oney w as
increased for projects such as the east side Streetcar
and debt service on the Downtown Transit Mall and the
Portland Milwaukie Light Rail line.
It’s being sold as a safety issue, but the fee is largely to
backfill maintenance costs.
Are there valid safety concerns rolled into the
commissioner’s argument? Absolutely. There are too
many dark intersections and missing sidewalks •
throughout the city, particularly in lower-income
neighborhoods. But is this the “crisis” that the mayor is
purporting to compel or justify support for a new tax? |
There is no question that PBOT needs financial
support. But we cannot support a flat fee of this size
with no end in sight that will disproportionately hurt low-
income families and small businesses regardless of their
use on the roads.
There’s no question there’s work to do to bridge the
gap between transportation needs and people
experiencing poverty. The best outcome we can hope for
is that a proposal like this develops a broad coalition of
support from the community that can deliver a message
that the public can understand and support.
p a n Saltzman is proposing taking 25
percent of the revenue made from taxing
these short-term rentals arid putting it
toward a new affordable housing fund,
Awesome you say? Yes, but there’s more.
At least there should be more -< money, that
is — from these new rentals going, toward
the housing fund from both the city and
county. " -
Former Housing Commissioner Erik Sten
once told me the thing he appreciates most
about Street .Roots is that every time the
city allocates more resources toward
housing and homeless services, we always
thank the city kindly and then immediately
point out that we should be doing more and
that it’s'simply not enough.
We are certainly behind Housing
Commissioner Dan Saltzman and County
Chair Marissa Madrigal for supporting a
vast array of housing services, including
allocating money from this specific program.
But hey, let’s be honest. We should be doing
more.
Here’s what we know. -
Portland is down about 20,000 affordable
housing units. Thousands of people go
without any kind. of. shelter at all. Rental
prices are not going down anytime soon, in
fact,they are skyrocketing. The city is
experiencing unmitigated gentrification,
pushing hardworking people of color and
low-income folks out of the city’s urban core.
The resources we currently allocate toward
the problem doesn’t come close to solving
H v
The majority of the money from the
lodging taxes in Portland and Multnomah
County go to the general fund. Considering
the fiscal priorities given to tourism in this
town, We should be investing more than a
small percentage of that revenue to offset
the displacement of residents.
County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury
recently said in debate at the City Club of
Portland, “If somebody doesn’t have an
address to put on a job application, it really
doesn’t matter what the job is that they’re
applying for. ” And if we don’t find a solution
to the current housing crisis, people of color
and low-income people won’t be accessing
our schools, parks, and the other treasures
Portland has to offer dither.
We have work to do. We’re looking for our
leaders to lead and to go big. It’s what a *
thriving Portland deserves.
LETTER
Mothers’ Day made special by the success of a son
ust a Mothers’ Day thanks for all you do
driving for a local driving company in Portland
and for your mission, which reads: “Street-
since and has been living in Southwest Garden
Roots creates income opportunities for
Home. He has been able to buy a car again and
pie experiencing homelessness and poverty
has not forgotten those life lessons then. You
by publishing a newspaper that is a catalyst for gave him hope when doors were closing on him
individual and social change.”
and a job opportunity to start again.
A mother’s answer: Jt works!
Scott took me out for Mothers’ Day to eat,
You gave my son, Scott, an opportunity to -
and we humbly thanked God for your mission
get back on his feet in 2009 when he became
and what opportunities came his way to get
homeless on the Portland streets due to job
him back on his feet again.
layoffs and was losing, what dignity he had left.
Thank you again so much!
You gave him a job as a Street Roots vendor.
JEANETTE
He made some life changes and he has been
Scott Walden's Mother
J
Our mission
S taff
Board o f D irectors
Street Roolscreates income opportunities for
people experiencing homelessness and poverty by
producing a newspaper and other media that, are
catalysts for individual and social change.
Yemtors
Executive Director Israel Bayer
Bruce Anderson (Chairman), Michael Anderson (Vice-
chairman}, Heather Stadick (TfeasJ, Eddy Barbosa (Sec,),
■ Rich R od ger Brad.Tayfor, Leo t e le s , Nora C o o n ,'
Darren Alexander, Amber Bielman
Street Roots vendors buy the newspapers for 25 cents
each and sell them for SI, keeping the 75 cents in '
profit for themselves. In order to keep foe costlow to
Our vendors, we receive additional support from
d o n a ta a n d in W co n trib u tio n s .
Street Roots publishes every tw o weeks, launching
on Fridays# and is available exclusively through our
street vendors or by subscription. We are proud
members o f the International Network o f Street
Papers.
Street Roots
211 NW Davis St
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax: 503-227-3117
streetroots.org
news.streetroots.org
israel@sireefroots.org
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl
joanne@streetroots.org
Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel
' cole@streehoots.org
Operations Director Sarah Beecroft
Program Assistant Grace M k , Jesuit Volunteer,
gface@streetroots.org
Development Director Sarah Cloud
Office Assistant Amber Bielman
Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan
Gilles, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Gaillot
Photographers Kristina W rig h t Christopher
Onstott, Adrienne Burkett
Volunteers
Jan- Bayer,. Elizabeth Tierney, Rob Sbryock, Ann-
Derrick G aillot Stacey Heath, Vinnie Kinselia, Michelle
Breslau, Patfe Craeas, John Barker, Mary Locke, Lucas
Manfield, Jessie Carver, Cherie Veda!, Sam Bauman,
Isaac Hastings Hauss, Emily Green, Tom Ray, Sarah
Hansell, Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento, Kyle Craven,
Audrey Benison
Street Roots Rose City Resource
Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a
comprehensive booklet o f services for people
experiencing homelessness and poverty.
To inquire about getting guides, call 503-228-5657.
Resources are online at www.rosecityresource.org.
goes directly.to foe vendor
who sold you the paper
goes toward
printing costs
Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office*