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“There is no question that it has a disproportionate benefit for the citizens of Multnomah County,” Wheeler said prior to the final vote Thursday that created the new county vehicle registration fee.
Without a functioning Sellwood Bridge, traffic would spill onto the Ross Island and other Portland bridges, others have noted.
The Sellwood Bridge has become so degraded that Tri-Met buses and heavy trucks are banned from traversing it. Though fixing the bridge has been a top county priority for years, funding prospects were dismal — until the Legislature approved a major transportation package this spring.
Lawmakers, using a package of gas taxes and vehicle fees, approved $30 million to redo the intersection of Macadam Avenue with the western end of the Sellwood Bridge. More importantly, the Legislature granted special authority for Multnomah and Clackamas counties to enact county vehicle registration fees if the money is dedicated to the bridge project.
The Multnomah County vehicle fee will be levied on an estimated 577,000 vehicle owners, and be in place for 20 years.
There are exemptions for government-owned vehicles, school buses, motor homes and campers, farm vehicles, and vehicles belonging to disabled veterans.
The new Sellwood Bridge would have only two lanes of vehicle traffic, but would be fitted with streetcar tracks so the city of Portland can extend streetcar service over the bridge. There also would be ample space on both sides for bike paths and foot traffic, which is now highly restricted.
The bridge also would be strong enough to withstand Tri-Met buses and heavy trucks and meet modern earthquake-safety standards.
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FEE? Trying to make us feel good? "Oh it's just a teensy weensy little fee Herbert." "Well then jolly good, we're getting something for that fee unlike those nasty little taxes that is used willy nilly as they please."
If the government collects money from you without providing a direct service (like using a government owned parking garage, paying for copies you requested) then it's a bloody tax. Our feeble minded public unservants are trying to placate us. The truth of the fact is they messed up, didn't budget correctly and therefore requires a different approach. Fee covers up their tracks of stupidity and gross ineptness.
Remember for every government action by our Government there is a TAX.
I'd bet another fee that when these tax spending employees of the citizens pay off the bridge costs they don't stop collecting this little insignificant fee/TAX from us.
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:58 AM
How about fixing our own bridges here in North Urban Clackamas County. For starters is the Kellogg Creek mouth and estuary crossing along the US 99E corridor. This highway crossing dammed the entire Kellogg-Mt. Scott Creek watershed from its mouth to the wetlands of the Bowl of Happy Valley since the days of the depression (the “Super Highway”). Its never been the same since. Salmon are waiting to migrate up there. Hopefully, they haven’t lost their way since the 1850’s when Joseph Kellogg built the first mill on the creek in the little settlement of Milwaukie. Come on county/ODOT, pay your environmental impact dues, now in arrears amounting to about $10,000,000 to $15,000,000. Of course, that’s for a road builder bridge of concrete 100 feet wide (equivalent of six lanes).
It seems local agencies can find money to widen and improve other portions of the super highway and bring light rail to the southeast, why not atone for our past arrogant environmental transgressions. Salmon are our society’s life barometer here in the great northwest. We’re on our way down the slippery slope, and need to readjust our priorities quickly.
Crossing the Willamette for Clackameisters can be an inconvenience, but the two state highways (I-205 and US 26) provide adequate connectivity to most of the employment centers. Further, why would westsiders want Clackamites infiltrating their neighborhood shortcuts and backroads. Terwilliger, Taylors Ferry, Boones Ferry, Multnomah and BH Highway are already crowded and don't need encouragements from bridge widenings. We all know its one thing to create a slowpoke narrow two lane bridge to accommodate local neighborhood traffic. Its quite another when the road builders get a hold of the design reigns and funding and start talking about traffic capacity.
If I were the westsiders, I'd consider a toll on Clackamas commuters. Apply the same principle as the city of Portland applies to parking in northwest Portland by creating crossing passes for the locals who need the bridge and a toll for those who prefer the convenience.
Of course, the bigger question not being addressed by the funders is why do Clackamasonians feel a need to commute to work? Why not plan the region so that the jobs are within 3 to 5 miles of their home? Maybe the Westside Business Alliance could help.
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:13 PM
FEE? Trying to make us feel good? "Oh it's just a teensy weensy little fee Herbert." "Well then jolly good, we're getting something for that fee unlike those nasty little taxes that is used willy nilly as they please."
If the government collects money from you without providing a direct service (like using a government owned parking garage, paying for copies you requested) then it's a bloody tax. Our feeble minded public unservants are trying to placate us. The truth of the fact is they messed up, didn't budget correctly and therefore requires a different approach. Fee covers up their tracks of stupidity and gross ineptness.
Remember for every government action by our Government there is a TAX.
I'd bet another fee that when these tax spending employees of the citizens pay off the bridge costs they don't stop collecting this little insignificant fee/TAX from us.
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Got wood? Use Wood to build a bridge. We have lots of trees in Oregon. I'm tired of seeing estimates of $30 million for projects. According to this article, me and four other guys could build a bridge with wood. Anybody know where we can get wood for a bridge here in Oregon? The problem with our economy is people not grabbing onto good ideas. If they grabbed onto them, they would collectively force bureaucracies and corporations to respect our right to have new efficiencies at economical prices. Cell phones don't have to cost $20 a month. They should cost $2 a month. We need to force a respect for consumer pricing based not on corporate "what the market can bear" ideas, but on what a product should reasonably cost. Grab this idea, or suffer the rest of your life to pay for hugely expensive, inefficient public projects:
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/15/nyregion/a-return-to-the-wooden-bridge.html
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Time to vote these jerks out of office. The brige is not used by most of the people that will have to pay for it.
It's time to sell the house and move out of this county.
Enough of these fee's to keep the county rolling in cash. Try working for it like the rest of us.
Your wages are to high and your service is very poor.
You lost the trust I had In this county a long time ago, you only get worse.
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:37 PM
Oregon vehicle registration fees are currently so low it's almost criminal and the fee increase still keeps the fee lower than many states. For those who are now criticizing Clackamas County for not paying enough, consider this: if they had more of a financial stake during the bridge selection process, it would have been a 4-6 lane highway through the heart of Sellwood.
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 06:27 PM
What would be the fee for bicyclists who do not have other vehicles?
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 07:20 PM
I think the Sellwood bridge is too large for wood, as suggested in the link above. But the story indicates wood can not only be much cheaper, but much more durable than steel and concrete. Whether that is true in Oregon's weather is a question, but it certainly is worth considering. Its possible something like the Sauvie Island bridge could have been replaced for half the price.
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 08:52 PM
A wooden bridge? You bunch of tools....it'll rot from the beating it takes from the heat and constant rain over the winter.....then again it can be burned down just as easy.
Plan the region so that the jobs are 3-5 miles from home? What if someone worked at the airport, do you want an airport near your home? No I don't think so, we could not tolerate the noise and traffic. What if someone worked in a manufacturing plant, do you want to live near an industrial park? No I don't think so, the quality of life would be diminished with all the commercial trucks, air pollution, etc....That's why we live in residential neighborhoods away from work...how about agricultural workers? should farmers bring the farm closer to their employees???? I listed 3 reasons why 'work' is not a good reason to be near our homes....You say what about all those office workers downtown, Kruse Way? The office buildings cant just move near where i live, duh!
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:29 PM
$19 a year is cheap. get over it and stop complaining. get educated and get a better paying job. move away and stop crying...you cant escape taxation no matter where you go....live in the mountains/farm, away from civilization....maybe you wont be tax as much....now you'll just drive more and spend more on gas/tax to get to where you normally go....Plan work areas near where we live....you must think this is Utopia and a made up place that can be changed overnight....lol!
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:34 PM
JUST DO NOT CHARGE BIKES.
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 07:56 AM
Mark your objections to this new tax whenever the ballot presents the opportunity to vote this bunch out of office. That is the most effective way to make one's displeasure with the bureaucrats count.
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 08:11 AM
If it were just a matter of paying for a new bridge, many long time Portlanders would toe the line and many would attend the ribbon cutting ceremony and be glad that one of the cradles of recycling and bottle bills still knows how to get together and make a positive difference. A lot has changed since the era of the pull-tab. It has been difficult for many Portlanders to have watched an unhealthy codependent relationship develop between indifferent, uninformed gullible voters and totalitarianistic, boiler room deal making, election minded, PERS motivated bureaucrats.
Perhaps once Mr. Wurster is through showing Mr. Adams the door, he might be so kind as to turn his attention to the stooges that are running Multnomah County (in to the ground)? Perhaps when Mr. Wurster is through helping the citizens of Multnomah County understand the value of transparency in government, he could help us understand what it is that METRO does that can’t be done by a city, county or state bureaucracy? How much money that used to go to Multnomah County (maybe for a new bridge), now goes to METRO?
Evidently the powers that preside over Multnomah County haven’t been paying attention to the signature collecting that will put a proposed state tax increase on the ballot, early next year. Between those professional signature gatherers and the ones that will be working with Mr. Wursters' worthy effort, perhaps the bureaucrats at Multnomah County would consider a voluntary approach towards transparency, as that is a core issue with respect to why county finances are in the shape they are.
The progressive movement has long sought to complicate matters enough so that citizens would rather just throw money at an alleged problem than to get involved. It is a blessing and a curse that the progressives seem to be running out of other peoples' money. It is insulting to the citizens to suggest that they would not be able to comprehend the disparity in transportation expenditures by bureaucrats over the last 30 or so years. At least we may see fewer Washington state vehicles being registered in Multnomah county but for those of us with friends residing outside of Multnomah county, the cost of an address change won’t be that burdensome.
Multnomah county commissioners are providing one more reason for businesses and individuals not to move to Portland and that reason has more to do with poor management practices then the unnecessary taxes and fees that are the result of that poor management. A mayor whom found himself in foreclosure due to his own inability to manage his personal finances is misleading Portland and METRO has always been a spendthrift. Oregons governor has spent 25% of 3.9 billion in ‘stimulus’ dollars that he has yet to see a dime of yet. Now Multnomah County bureaucrats are betting that an already dissatisfied and financially stressed citizenry will accept another ruse from a group of people who are going to retire on the backs of the tax/rate/fee payer, long before the bridge is paid off. No doubt this added fee will become permanent as a future generation will pay it, having never known anything different. Portland and Multnomah County citizens can’t afford any more mismanagement.
The state of affairs surrounding the Sellwood Bridge are the results of progressive policy in Portland, Multnomah County and Oregon. The problem with the non-progressive is that they don’t martyr themselves to fools or foolishness at all well. Non-progressives are unwilling to cover themselves in the excriments of poor decisions, their own or others, and show the world that even though they have allowed themselves to be duped, they can still smile.
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 03:41 PM
Let's see. We are two people who are just hanging on and now are being forced by Portland County Commissioners to pay an additional $57.00 every year for a new bridge we will never drive over. Fifty-seven bucks a year because as a couple we own two cars and one motorcycle. We live in North Portland and will probably never use the damned bridge. With a three percent increase annually on property tax and paying for everyone elses kids to attend school, we are now being screwed for more. We aren't even allowed to marry so we can't catch any tax breaks there. Toll the bridge and let the users pay. Our commissioners shouldn't go unchecked like this. Some of the stuff they pass is crazy and I get the feeling that sometimes they don't even know what they are passing.
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 05:12 PM
TOLL IT OR CLOSE IT!
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 05:35 PM
Just one more reason to move out of Multnomah County.
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 06:04 PM
Don't fool yourself. The $19 fee isn't going to pay for the bridge! It will go to some other Multnomah county pet project - like Solar powered toilet construction, or perhaps a monument to Randy Leonard.
When it comes time to pay for the bridge - the commissioners will pass some other fee + a toll on the bridge. There'll be a few people who complain, but for the most part, it's business as usual in Mult. county.
(email verified)
Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 10:12 PM
This is just the kind of issue for which we see ballot measures to prohibit new taxes without a vote of the people. It is also an example where our representatives do not represent me. Why aren't there any economic stimulus monies for this project? Does it not qualify? Or is everyone too busy designing some esoteric dream span to remember that it's a bridge for a neighborhood arterial street with one end on a active landslide. So when you're ready to build it, I suggest we pay for the bridge with tolls by the motorists who use it.
(email verified)
Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Diane McKeel could have saved face for herself amongst east county voters by voting no on this, knowing fully well it would have passed anyway. What arrogance! East county voters should be smarter than to let someone buy their election, but it appears cranial-rectal disorder still runs rampant.
With my two worn out, old cars I will be paying an extra $76 each renewal, but I will never cross that bridge. Meanwhile, those in Clackamas county that use it 10 times a week MAY have to pay a mere 9 cents a week to use it. Then again, maybe it'll remain free for them.
(email verified)
Sun, Oct 25, 2009 at 05:41 PM
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Re: County adopts $19-a-year fee to replace Sellwood Bridge
Ever find it funny that they don't let the tax payer vote on a new tax, oh excuse me I ment fee. This is BS. They have had the money they just spent on other things.
"PO'ed in Oregon"
(email verified)
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:51 AM