Oregon Public Broadcasting

As usual the areas and neighborhoods with less financial means to fight off intrusion of government will take the fall for an idea that is sure to fail, (IMO). I grew up in the Lents area and still live there today. The income of the people in the area is mixed but is lower than that of other areas. The big business and those with clout have bullied the city away from Rose Quarter and the Coliseum idea, so the easy thing to do is put it where no one has the clout to stop it. This will ruin the area; all those who have called the area home will be forced out as the area economics increase out of their price range. The area is already congested and this will cause grid lock. Also the little league will be forced out from one more place. This has a very nice park for the area and is one of a few green areas left. The biggest slap in the face is the $40 million in urban renewal that is now ear marked for affordable housing in the area, during a time when it is needed more than ever, will be used to build the ridicules stadium. So now not only will the people who live there be forced out, but many others that are in a lower tax bracket, who could have enjoyed the area, will be forced somewhere else to live as no new affordable housing will be built. Just one more example of how our local government has no concern for the lower income voters and no care about the damage they do with these projects that only serve a small sector of people. I as well as most of the people in my area I've talked to, will never go to that stadium or are not really interested in sports as a recreation. And, we are loaning our tax dollars to a man whose father and family are stinking rich already. His father was handed $70 billion dollars by the U.S. congress to bail out his cronies on Wall Street how ever he saw fit, now we hand over millions to his son for his special interests, appalling, Sad, and without thought to the good-of-the-whole for the area.

— Posted by oldmev