TriMet is a Bully

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A bully intimidates those weaker and less powerful.

Here's why TriMet is a bully:

TriMet pushes projects ahead with bulldozers in spite of voters. TriMet won’t listen to voters in Clackamas County who have consistently expressed their unwillingness to pay for light rail expansion into the County.

TriMet ignored a letter from elected Clackamas County Commissioners asking to sit down and negotiate. TriMet won’t negotiate with the County about the length or costs of Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail project currently under construction.

Unelected and unaccountable to the taxpayers who fund them, TriMet nevertheless wields outsized power and authority due to the federal, state, and local dollars that flow through their grandiose projects.

The TriMet board is comprised of political appointees who answer only to their appointers.

TriMet holds districts hostage; escape from their district grip is complex and politically daunting.

TriMet overtaxes and under-serves many of their jurisdictions.

TriMet payroll tax rates continue to rise, while service continues to drop and fares increase. According to an Oregonian report, at his recent State of TriMet presentation, General Manager Neil McFarlane stated, “…without more changes to union health-care benefits, TriMet will have to cut service by 70 percent in 12 years.”

TriMet forces the Portland Creep agenda on Clackamas County and Washington County residents.

TriMet ignores the diversity of lifestyles, family and work patterns, and business/employment needs in different areas, coercing taxpayer funding of Portland’s single-minded vision on the entire region.

TriMet is now taking its own customers to court to get their way! TriMet filed a lawsuit against Clackamas County over the very first use of Measure 3-401, which allows county residents to vote on any future light rail spending. (They know voters will say no to TriMet once again.)

Tell TriMet to stop being a Bully!