Voters in nearly every part of Portland Public Schools said "yes" to a mammoth $790 million school construction bond Tuesday. In many neighborhoods, the vote was 3-to-1 in favor of the measure, which will add hundreds of dollars to most homeowners' yearly tax bill to upgrade the district's aging schools.
But among 60 precincts where at least 100 residents voted on the bond, six said no.
Which neighborhoods were they?
The largest group of no voters were clustered in the Lents and Brentwood-Darlington neighborhoods at the southernmost part of the city of Portland straddling Interstate 205. Residents of three contiguous precincts there cast nearly 2,400 votes for and against the bond, with 53 percent of them voting "no."
They had two big reasons for voting rejecting the bond, surmises Nick Christensen, a longtime Lents resident and former president of Lents' neighborhood association.
First, he noted, there are extreme inequities in property taxes in Multnomah County, with homes in gentrified neighborhoods, mostly in inner North, Northeast and Southeast Portland paying far, far less per $1,000 of market value than residents of east Portland. Given the value of their homes, residents of Lents typically pay $500 more in year property taxes than the typical Portland resident.
Understandably, Lents residents "have been reticent to approve anything that will raise property taxes until the systemic issue of property tax inequity is addressed," Christensen said.
Lents residents also have not forgotten that when Portland Public Schools decided it needed to close a high school or two in 2010, district leaders went to great lengths to preserve and revive Jefferson High but voted to close Marshall High, located in Lents.
"There is still a trust issue," Christensen said. "Folks are still skeptical that PPS is looking out for East Portland."
The next largest pocket of resistance was nearby, in the Rocky Butte area of Northeast Portland. That is somewhat ironic because one of the three high schools that will be upgraded by the bond is Madison High on Northeast 82nd Avenue. If one were to cross 82nd Avenue from the school, you'd be standing in that precinct where voters leaned toward "no" on the bond.
The two other "no" precincts lie at the very edge of the school district and are home to small numbers of voters.
While Lents was the heart of "no" territory, inner Northeast and Southeast Portland, from Piedmont and Irvington through Belmont and Hawthorne, went gaga over the bond. Those areas all approved it by a 3 to 1 margin or better, with Buckman, Sunnyside and Laurelhurst hitting 80 percent approval.
-- Betsy Hammond
betsyhammond@oregonian.com