The City of Portland is considering yet another round of deep budget cuts to community services. And again city officials are justifying the cuts by repeating the same, tired excuses: “tough decisions need to be made” to balance the budget.
This time the budget may be balanced off the backs of city workers: 70 positions face elimination along with the closing of community centers in Sellwood and Columbia Park, though other centers face possible closure or privatization, such as the Community Music Center, the Laurelhurst Dance Center, the Multnomah Arts Center and the Fulton and Hillside community centers.
The families depending on these services are told to beg city council at “community budget forums,” in the hopes that their programs can be saved at the expense of somebody else’s. It’s a depressing divide and conquer that happens year after year in Portland, in times of boom and bust, and it’s a complete farce.
The sham process is generated from a false premise: that a deficit means that there is no alternative to budget cuts.
The budget process started with the Mayor, who knew going into budget season that the city was facing increased costs, and instead of declaring that these costs would be offset by dipping into reserves or generating new revenue, he instead asked city departments to submit a ‘balanced budget’ based on current revenue, i.e., one that includes deep cuts.
The Mayor’s approach to the budget is meant to keep Portland on the path that wealthy bondholders and other elites want it, at the expense of the broader community. After the Mayor sets the process firmly on the austerity track — months ago behind closed doors — the public-facing part of the process begins, where the community is forced into reacting to the cuts-only approach dictated by the Mayor, with no alternatives offered.
Expanding services is never on the table, since Portland has long-practiced a neoliberal approach to government, where budgets are managed by cuts and privatization — the only exception being the ever-growing police force.
This budget cycle there are renewed calls for privatization schemes, where those who can afford to pay are eventually the only ones who get the services, and whatever “vouchers” that the poor may be offered are gradually reduced or phased out, victims of future budget deficits or withdrawn after the poor are successfully pushed out of the neighborhood via ongoing gentrification.
The budget is where the city decides its priorities, where resources are received and distributed, and where inequality can either be lessened or exacerbated. In a democratic city the process would be transparent instead of the black hole that has long been the practice in Portland.
Who is to ‘Blame’ for the Deficit?
The $6.3 million shortfall in the parks department has several factors, but a key one lies with a big victory by Laborers 483 — the union that represents parks and other city workers. The union won a grievance that accused the city of exploiting its seasonal and part-time workers, who did work similar to unionized workers but made non-living wages.
The result was that over a 100 workers joined the union and now receive living wages and benefits, which the city blames for adding $4.4 million to the annual budget. The union has succeeded in winning dignity for its members and now the city is punishing them for it.
The union’s victory implied that the city would actually fund the new wage increases, since that’s what an employer does when its core costs go up. Instead of funding its labor costs the city is pushing mass layoffs and slashing services, some to historically underserved neighborhoods (the 70 positions slated to be cut come from the bureau with the highest percentage of women and people of color).
Christina Harris, a staff organizer with the Laborers 483, has been organizing with community allies to push back against the cuts:
“Parks and Recreation deserves to be fully funded. The community deserves these services, and the employees that run it deserve to keep their living wage jobs. How the City of Portland spends our money is a choice, and we are urging the public to let their priorities be known and contact their Commissioners in regards to these potential losses.”
At root is a false logic arguing that Portland cannot treat its workers with dignity and have affordable community services. It’s a dangerous lie, meant to justify the trickle-down Reaganomics that most “liberal” lawmakers learned in college and have forced down the throats of Oregonians for years.
Yes paying living wages isn’t cheap, but it’s the kind of thing a progressive city does, since it’s the kind of city that people want to live in — and can afford to live in. It’s the kind of city that keeps inequality in check, and prioritizes the needs of the broader community instead of the profits of a tiny investor class.
Fund the City, Tax the Wealthy
The proposed cuts are entirely unnecessary, because Portland’s economy is doing great. Big money is visible everywhere, with new apartment complexes and upscale businesses sprouting like mushrooms.
But some economists are predicting that this is the end of the boom, and key indicators — such as the cooling off of the housing market — mean that a recession may be imminent, which means that Portland must began to immediately prepare a bold progressive taxation plan, lest the austerity approach is ramped up even more to destroy or privatize essential services.
Endless cuts are not what Portland voted for, when they voted for Chloe Eudaly and Jo Ann Hardesty. Portland voted for change, and the ultra-conservative budget approach lead by Mayor Ted Wheeler is out of step with the direction the city wants to go.
Ultimately, Portland can either pander to the rich and continue its sprint toward a San Francisco model, or it can become a more inclusive city where working families are able to live, without having to spend 50% of their income in rent while having access to parks and affordable community centers, and where living wage jobs are valued, protected, and expanded.
Community groups such as Jobs With Justice, the Democratic Socialists of America, and Laborers 483 have demanded “no cuts, tax the wealthy,” and hope that the broader community will join them as the budget battle unfolds.