Opportunity knocks

President Barack Obama has recently passed a $787 billion stimulus package in an attempt to jump-start the economy. The money will be given to state governments for them to dole out appropriately. The money has certain stipulations built in, but I’m sure with some fancy paperwork that we could find a way to work around them.

The stimulus is ultimately designed to improve our economy by giving money to spend in hopes that those spending will create more demand and therefore more jobs. I have some proposals that our city, county and state officials should enact for the improvement of our state.

Fix our bridges. We have a lot of them. Most are in pretty bad shape. The Sellwood Bridge is a disaster. Have you ever tried to walk across it? You practically have to turn sideways and slide your feet to get across. Maybe make it a little wider and add a lane or two.

Add financial counselors to school budgets. People that know how to spend their money intelligently will do our society a world of good. We are engaged in a society that doesn’t live within our means and we use credit to pay for it. Credit is not necessarily bad. Debt you can’t pay is bad. Not only for you but also for the rest of society (AIG anyone?). Also, it will add permanent jobs that will help our economy in the long run.

Bring another major sports team to Portland. An MLB team might not be the best idea but it should be within the list of options. An NFL team with a new stadium will help our economy in lots of ways, or possibly a stop on the NASCAR circuit. Building a stadium (not cheap, Qwest Field in Seattle was a $460 million construction project) is something that will require a lot of people, and therefore jobs. And it could probably be more cost efficient if they simply revamped PGE Park.

Also, with a legitimate outdoor sporting venue Portland could host real sporting events. The Super Bowl, the 2015 T&F World Championships (something the city is already kicking around the idea of hosting), All-Star games, etc.
Buy a couple of snowplows for the city.

I don’t know about you, but I am getting tired of the city shutting down every time we get a little dusting. In reality, it will only create a couple of temporary jobs. As an essential service (public utilities that make the functioning of a city possible), it should already be in place.

Add a MAX line that goes all the way to Tualatin. Clackamas is going to be great, but Tualatin is the next step. It will add permanent jobs to keep the MAX operational. And Portland is already spending money ($557 million) to redo the downtown transit mall and Green Line, so it should be an ongoing project. Also the temporary jobs that are included with the building of the new MAX line will be extended and people will be able to hold on to their jobs for a little longer.

Subsidize the growing of exotic fruit. I’m talking palm trees with robust coconuts, avocado trees, acai berry bushes and banana leaves. To be clear, I am not for that this would really work long term given our environmental and climatic conditions, but I really like coconuts and I know avocado trees can grow in Oregon. If we subsidize these fruits it will be cost efficient for farmers to grow them.

Getting President Obama to agree with any of these ideas might be the most difficult part. To get any of these to work his stimulus plan calls for people who are already working to simply make more money to bring home. According to Reuters, it’s about $13 a week or so. Anyways, any one of these ideas would likely be able to meet the president‘s goals and should be open for discussion. Even the palm trees.