u/JeNeSaisMerde

Well, the Street Tax Fee was passed by the city council - another regressive tax that adds $12 to every home and about $9 for every renter no matter how much or little money they make, what percentage of their income goes to mortgage or rent, whether or not they own zero or twenty cars, etc.

>The City Council passed the fee by a 9-3 vote. Councilors Eric Zimmerman, Dan Ryan and Loretta Smith voted against it, arguing that imposing yet another fee on Portlanders would cause even more economic stress in already expensive times.

>Councilor Olivia Clark championed both of the new fees.

I hope everyone will remember those names when it's time to vote again.

For anyone thinking of moving here without a stable job first or thinking they'll be fine if their remote job gets cut - and for those job hunting and having little success (it's not you!) -

This is an ADP Job Market report for recent grads but it generally applies to everyone job hunting who isn't well-connected and fairly specialized. Here's the metrics used:

>Ultimately, we were looking for the best combination of pay, affordability, and opportunity.

Tp find it, we turned to the anonymized ADP payroll data of more than 409,000 people aged 20 to 29 at more than 20,000 U.S. employers, spanning January 2025 through January 2026. We then ranked 53 U.S. metro areas with at least one million residents based on wages, hiring, and cost of living.

Portland OR / Vancouver WA area ranked fourth to last, with only San Diego, San Bernardino and Salt Lake City being worse for the metrics used. I believe Portland's been at that spot for at least four years running.

#1? Birmingham, Alabama. #2? Tampa. Better K-12 schools there as well.

I really, really wish our state and local gov't would look at reports like this and realize the job market here is not great and another recession, which will happen sooner or later, is going to sink a lot of folks.

Personally I'd rather stay here, have a good job and the same for everyone else.

How does that happen? I ain't no genius (obviously) but attracting and retaining businesses and lower taxes seems like it might help.