Policy
We live in one of the most amazing cities in the country, and it has become almost impossible to afford.
Do to rising rents, employee wages not keeping pace and the high cost of child care, many people who grow up in Mac, work in Mac, or who want to call Mac home simply can’t afford to set down roots here. We can not expect younger generations to start their families in our city if they can not afford basic rent.
In order to make our community affordable to those who see its value, we must be innovative in our policy and cutting edge in our approach, and we must do this, without putting additional tax burdens on the working class.
New Ideas for Mac
Our city needs to make our money work smarter. The working class has paid our taxes and standards of service and quality need to be met. Below are a summary of ideas for how to achieve this.
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Let’s establish a Community Land Trust to operate within the city to create truly affordable housing that stays that way. We will establish an independent enterprise to administer city lands put on to the housing and commercial properties market. This will apply negative pressure to local rents, increase the supply of housing and commercial spaces and create a self sustaining entity that can fund its own further expansion and development
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Just as all have a right to an attorney in criminal proceedings, we must establish that all in McMinnville have a right to an attorney when facing eviction. Such legal defense can buy people necessary time to find new housing options and can severely curtail the stress put onto institutions providing relief for those experiencing sudden homelessness.
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McMinnville currently spends 40% of our budget on the police department. The national average for a city of our size should be around 29%. In large part this is because we force our police to do work outside the scope of their job description by making them deal with the homeless, the mentally unwell and more. Let’s use our tax dollars better, a penny of prevention could save us a dollar of response.
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As America becomes a playground for the rich, we need representatives who will give a firm “No” when the question of data centers and flock cameras come up.