GOOD PARKS FOR A BETTER LIFE

I didn’t move to the suburbs for good parks, but I would have if I knew how important they are for living a better life.

The first time I took my tiny kids they weren’t impressed.

I was.

It was Cook Park in Tigard, Oregon and it was beautiful with paths and forests alongside the slow current of the Tualatin River running through Washington County.

I’m even more impressed now when my tiny kids, now grown up, take their own tiny kids who are growing up so fast.

I don’t remember parks when I was a tiny kid because of where I lived.

Deep and dark woods were never far away, like across the street.

The open fields I first remember were in grade school, Bangor Grade School.

One big field opened up on the side of the school with fifth and sixth graders; another faced Broadway on the little kids’ side with the playground equipments we hear all about today as dangerous and inappropriate.

Was it dangerous and inappropriate? Only when bigger kids showed new kids all the tricks.

After you fall a few times, it gets safer.

 

 Call Of The Wild

Oregon is famous for all of the green in the state, the trees, the grass, more trees, more grass.

You’d think good parks would be a natural fit.

But in a state with high taxes, there are other issues.

Oregon’s income tax funds 81.6% of the state’s budget, the largest share of general fund revenue. That funds agencies that do not generate revenues, receive federal funds, or generate sufficient other funds to support their approved programs, according to the Oregon Secretary of State.

This includes education, health and human services, and public safety.

 

Since education is included, there’s this from Google AI.

 

Oregon’s public education system generally ranks in the bottom tier nationally, frequently placing between 40th and 47th overall depending on the study.

The state struggles with low standardized test scores, high dropout rates, and some of the lowest instructional classroom hours in the country. 

 

With so much tax money spent for such low results, proposing a new park or more money for existing public park upkeep and maintenance is a hard ask.

What about the kids?

 

About Those Pesky Kids

Portland kids grow up in a major city with tax laws that look strange in print:

 

When compared to other cities nationwide, Portland has the second-highest marginal income tax rate for top earners — only behind New York City.

Single-person households earning more than $250,000 see a state and local marginal tax rate of 13.9%. NYC’s top rate sits at 14.8%, although that applies to households earning more than $250 million.

 

Is $250 million more than $250,000?

As a product of Oregon pubic education I’ll venture a strong ‘yes.’ A thousand times more.

If there’s been households of Portland Oregon baby boomers earning more than $250 million a year living near me, ever, I didn’t know.

Does it seem right that New York City only pays one percent higher tax on one thousand times the income?

I’d need to ask a business major, or an economics major. (Boys?)

In terms of parks in each city, where is Portland’s Central Park? Is that what Tom McCall Water Front Park is?

If we want nice things, like public parks, what’s the secret?

Why not start with smarter kids coming out of schools with smarter teachers? (Hey Al)

 

PS:

I interviewed with schools like Portland State, University of Portland, Lewis and Clark, schools offering an MAT, masters in teaching.

I said I wanted to be a history teacher in a core class where kids would learn history and the history of their other subjects, the history of math, history of science, a little historiography.

 

Google AI: Historiography is the study of how history is written. Instead of analyzing past events directly, it examines the methods, biases, and evolving interpretations of past historians. It traces how our understanding of a topic changes over generations as new evidence, methodologies, and societal perspectives emerge. 

 

PSS:

One panel after another rejected my notion of education. I wanted to coach history, give pep talks, educate, elucidate, showing kids they’re smarter than they’ve been led to believe.

I believe every program was unprepared for my approach. They thought I was wrong. I think it’s wrong to be complacent about staying in the lower division of state education rankings.

One of us is right?