I'm going to go in depth about Measure 26-213, and why we are voting NO on the Park Dept levy.

As many of you know, TeamRaccoonPDX started with the intention of helping clean up parks and areas affected by protests by organizing volunteer park cleans.

This seemed like an uncomplicated, bipartisan goal.

Protesting is covered under our 1A right, and our community deserves clean parks. What is there to argue against there?

Oh, how sweet and naive I was then.

Our first clean effort was small. A few people on July 5th gathering to clean up the remains of the 3rd Ave bonfire that was left from last night.

There were large, charred boards in the street, soot covering broken glass on sidewalks, and debris from fireworks.

Kennedy Restoration was across the street, cleaning up the fronts of the iJC and Hatfield.

When I asked them why they were leaving dangerous debris in the road for cars to drive over, I was told it was because the city didn't pay them to clean up the roads or the parks.

I foolishly don't have a picture of the debris before we cleaned it. Maybe some friendly journos got the bonfire itself or the debris after it died down.

It was a lot. I was worried of the safety hazard posed to cars driving on the road, humans + pets being in the park, etc.

While I'm talking to the Kennedy employees, some sheriffs walk out of the iJC, notably Sheriff Wannacott.

I bet he doesn't remember me, but I sure remember him. They approach me and ask me what I'm doing.

I told him I was concerned about the safety hazard in the parks and roads, asked him why Kennedy refused to work on the road or park, and he said he wasn't sure.

I asked him who to contact that would hire a crew for the iJC but not the parks. He didn't know.

I asked him how I could get Kennedy to haul this massive amount of debris away, because I could NOT do it myself.

He didn't have a lot of answers to offer.

He did have a lot of right-wing talking points about property damage to the person literally trying to clean it up.

His solution? Telling me to stack it all against the iJC. That way Kennedy would remove it for sure.

So we carried hundreds of pounds of debris across the street, bagged up the soot and broken glass, and threw it against the iJC.

WHAT DOES ANY OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MEASURE 26-213?!

We're getting there, but this context is pretty important.

Sorry this is such a long thread.

After talking to Sargeant Wannacott, it became abundantly clear that there is a strong narrative that antifa wants to destroy the city & doesn't care about improving it.

He even repeated it to my face as I was actively trying to find solutions for the mess and damage in question

I realized I wanted to throw myself in providing this volunteer park community care and service. The protests were downtown nightly, and I anticipated needing a small dumpster once a week.

I reached out to @PDXParksandRec. I expressed my intent and asked for a dumpster!

Instead of encouraging my citizens grassroots organizational effort, @PDXParksandRec told us to not organize ourselves & join on to volunteer with @SOLVEinOregon.

I looked them up. Their next clean was scheduled in the Pearl, nowhere near the protests.

I reached out anyway.

@SOLVEinOregon either left us on read, didn't open the email, or didn't listen to the voice-mail we left.

Regardless, we did not hear back from @SOLVEinOregon.

We started organizing on our own and decided to figure it out as we go.

Our first official park clean was July 11. Look at this old flyer!

We had our work cut out for us in the early days, especially when we were working on the bathroom. We collabed hard with Riot Ribs to get that bathroom clean.

I was going to take the EARLY morning shift on the bathroom clean so it could be hopefully usable by the evening protest on the morning of July 16th.

I sent this email to Mark Ross of the @PDXParksandRec detailing my treatment.

And yes, I do have this incident on video.

I received a phone call from Mark Ross within an hour.

As you can see, I did not leave them my phone number, and neither did the person who was organizing with me at the time.

K.

The following phone call and emails were damage control and performative.

@PDXParksandRec commends my efforts all of a sudden, but their message at its core did not change:

Stay out of Lownsdale and Chapman Square.

So fuck @PDXParksandRec, right?

I was never asking for permission. I was asking for a dumpster.

I kept organizing cleans.

After being selectively kicked out of the park on 8/3 by PPB citing a park closure, I reached back out to Mark. Mind you, we held a park clean the week prior with no issue under the same closure. I wanted answers.

This is what I got.

Okay, but seriously wtf does any of this have to do with Measure 26-213 or how @tedwheeler is using the city as his personal racket?

Well, friends, buckle up.

I always wondered why @PDXParksandRec pushed working with @SOLVEinOregon

Didn't find out until the @unitedforpdx scandal broke.

@SOLVEinOregon is a member of the @PDX_BizAlliance. All of these orgs have endorsed Ted.

https://twitter.com/JakeDockter/status/1314060828132339712?s=19

It was never in @SOLVEinOregon's intent to clean up after the protests because it is a more convenient propaganda point for @tedwheeler to blame it on antifa.

Here is a comment from a @SOLVEinOregon organizer telling one of my volunteers the protest areas are no big deal.

Okay yeah, they're all conspiring together and with non-profits to spin the property damage.

So why should we vote NO on Measure 26-213? Wouldn't a parks levy help upkeep after COVID budget cuts?

Unfortunately, that isn't how it will work.

That money doesn't go to @PDXParksandRec. It goes in the City's general fund. @tedwheeler can allocate the new funding to PPB immeditaely by some deceptive bookkeeping. https://twitter.com/alankesslr/status/1296951053800206336?s=20

Does Measure 26-213 propose nice city improvements? Yes.

But that money doesn't need to come from our pockets. It needs to come from PPB's budget.

Filling the budget gap will allow tens of millions to PPB immediately.

Defund PPB. Vote No on Measure 26-213.