The Portland city council has decided more austerity is going to somehow bring this community out of the economic doldrums.
I received this message in my Kosmail.
There is budget hearing at Portland City Hall Thursday, May, 16 at 6:30 PM. There are $21 million in proposed cuts. Solidarity Against Austerity is holding a "It's Time to Bake A Bigger Pie!" rally and potluck before hand at 5:00 PM. Our mission is through testimony and pressure to get the city to drop its austerity plans. We are also trying to get various groups facing cuts to add "no cuts" lines to their testimony and sign our resolution. So far Jobs with Justice, Right 2 Survive and Laborer's 483 have signed our resolution. Show up @ 5:00 PM
We know that austerity is an attempt to appease the very same banksters that manipulated our laws and markets in order to extract every last iota of wealth from the people of this country. Austerity may look reasonable on paper if you only take the budget and debt to the bankers into account. But we are much more than spreadsheets but a functioning community interested in protecting our collective futures.
Austerity creates more financial harm if you look beyond ratings agency's opinions. For example our transit system has had it's share of the budget cut excessively already. The busses are no longer cleaned regularly and it shows. The important well used routes are SRO. And the maintenance has been cut so far that it is apparent that they are waiting for breakdowns before addressing normal wear and tear. This is not only more costly financially, we are tied for highest fares in the nation, broken down busses mean riders miss work and appointments causing financial harm.
We all need to stop catering to the banksters, they will never return more than crumbs all the while demanding we sacrifice more to feed their greed and coke habits. We need to take a stand and of all the cities of this nation Portland is the place to do so.
2013-2014 budget
If you can't make the potluck or the budget meeting please let the city council know that austerity has been proven to not alleviate financial distress.
Portland, Oregon online community budget comment form
Mayorcharliehales@portlandoregon.gov