The facial tic? It must be because I need to up my medication …
... because it can't be because I read about Tri-Met selling some absolutely prime real estate (at 18th and Salmon) to some scumsucking condo developers for the grand total of US$1.00. And, to add insult to injury, not only were they given that land, but they're now trying to stretch the city zoning laws so they can build a taller and more profitable building on that lot.
Aargh. And I'll bet that the city is going to give them a nice toasty property tax break, so the upper-class "pioneers" who move into this condo won't have to pay more than US$500/year for their US$600,000 2br2ba flats.
I keep hearing "blah blah blah Portland is going to grow 100% in the next blah blah blah" and "blah blah blah we have to find room for blah blah blah" (thus the band of bland and depressing apartment blocks that ring the city and which are just inconvenient enough so that people won't ride mass transit), but if there's money to be made in those developments (which, obviously, there is, otherwise you wouldn't be seeing warehouse district condos being flipped for US$600,000 and up), there's no damn excuse for any city or county agency to grease the skids by giving the developers multi-million dollar gifts that are paid for out of the property taxes that everyone outside of these development areas pay.
In case you're asking, why, yes, I am angry about this. I pay US$3500/year in property tax for my 1909 craftsman house that backs up against a commercial block, so I don't feel that it's excessive that people who live in structures that cost an order of magnitude more per square foot should pay similar amounts. If you can afford to pay US$600,000 for a 2br2ba condo in the Pearl District or Homer's folly, then you can certainly pay the same rate of property tax that I (on my non-developable, unless I want to provoke a reassessment) pay on my property.