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The Mid-county Memo is your newspaper. We want to hear from you. Discuss an important issue or address a concern you want to call to the attention of the community. Letters to the editor will always be edited for space, style, grammar and issues of clarity. We prefer emailed letters to the editor sent to Darlene Vinson at editor@midcountymemo.com. Please put “Letter to the editor” in the subject line. You may also mail your letter to 3510 N.E. 134th Ave., Portland, OR 97230 or fax it to 503-249-7672. Deadline for the May issue is Tuesday, March 15.
Choices have far-reaching consequences
To the Editor:
You always notice that the people who decide to lay off employees to save money are not the ones who suffer the consequences.
Do they just turn their back and ignore the fact that these people pay for housing, food, clothing, taxes that help fund our schools and other things that help our economy?
What happens to their retirement?
Couldn't the $3,500 [spent to study bus outsourcing] have been better spent insourcing rather than outsourcing?
Irane Jones
Russell resident since 1955
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No more taxes please
To the Editor:
I am writing in regard to the “Parkrose explores local option levy” article that appeared in the March 2014 issue of the Memo.
At a recent Parkrose School Board meeting, Superintendent Karen Fis cher Gray was quoted as saying, “I would say to you hiring back ten more teachers is more important than almost anything else.” If this is true, the option levy should have been presented to voters before voters passed the 30-year $63 million general obligation construction and technology bond that met less critical needs, such as new computers, structural remodeling, a new middle school, etc. Lack of accurate budgetary forecasting does not seem like a good excuse for not anticipating a sudden potential for a dire need to hire 10 more teachers. On the contrary, it is perceived as a lack of knowledge and experience in budgetary leadership.
Board member Mary Lu Baetkey's question asking Vice Char Thuy Tran what value she placed on her children's education is disturbing because it insinuates that if parents do not express support for higher school taxes, they must not be placing a high value on their children's education. This is a hurtful insult to some Parkrose residents who would like to support the schools but are unemployed and/or financially limited in their ability to pay higher taxes. Using a guilt tactic and shaming parents into supporting a possible levy is a manipulative and distasteful way to gain support.
Board member Erick Flores said that as a taxpayer he will be “more than happy” to pay more taxes so that additional teachers can be hired. Great! I suggest that Mr. Flores and others in agreement with him make monetary pledges on a yearly basis in order to hire the teachers. They do not need the passage of a bond measure to donate, and such generosity would help out Parkrose residents who are less financially endowed and are struggling to keep pace with current tax bills.
Many residents are already paying high taxes proportionate to their property values. Increasing taxes to hire more teachers will not necessarily make Parkrose a more desirable place to live as Mr. Flores speculates. In my opinion, due to our already existing high taxes, it will drive families away from Parkrose to other neighborhoods, where the taxes are lower. Such a trend will depreciate our property values even further, which will again diminish the tax base for our Parkrose schools.
As a final concern, I question the value of the Board's decision to spend $15,000 (a $5,000-study and a $10,000-phone survey) as a preliminary to the possible levy, especially since the last levy, as Vice Chair Tran pointed out, only passed by six votes. Such a slim passage sends a clear message to any Board member who sincerely cares enough to listen to what the Parkrose community is telling them about higher property taxes.
Sue Miller
Parkrose resident
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