Coffee with Cascade Cascade Policy Institute

Worries about the Cascadia Subduction Zone have persisted for the last 50 years. Oregon school districts have considered the possibility of a major earthquake as they build and renovate existing structures.

In line with this approach, the Portland Public School district has embarked on a decades-long modernization project, most recently the proposed $491 million modernization of Jefferson High School. The extensive renovation plans raise concerns about the necessity and benefits of the large-scale project, especially given the uncertainty of a potential Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.

Oregon code requires schools to meet seismic Category III standards, prioritizing life safety. The district has chosen to construct the new Jefferson to Category IV standards. This level, typically reserved for emergency facilities, adds an extra $5.00 per square foot to building cost.

Jefferson isn’t the only school with an excessive budget. Cleveland and Ida B. Wells high schools have surpassed $400 million in the last month. In contrast, the ongoing Bend Senior High rebuild has a budget of $187 million and is compliant with the required seismic code.

While safety is important, overbuilding schools to an unnecessary standard is a misallocation of resources. School districts should focus on meeting the required safety codes while directing additional funds towards enhancing students’ learning and development.


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeewithcascade/message

On May 30, Louisiana’s legislature passed SB 313, establishing the LA GATOR Scholarship Program. The nation’s eighth universal Education Savings Account program will be phased in beginning in 2025, with priority given to low-income students, current LA Scholarship Program students, and students enrolled in public schools. Twelve states now have laws that will offer educational choice to all, or nearly all, K-12 students who choose to participate in these programs.

There are many approaches by which states can empower more students to find the right fit for them to achieve their personal best. Oregon can increase educational opportunities for students here by lifting the enrollment cap on charter schools, expanding public school district transfer options, and “letting the money follow the child” to the schools of their choice through an ESA program.

Different school environments help children learn in the ways that are most beneficial for them. State education policies should value all options that empower students to achieve academic proficiency. Oregon students would be served well by increasing the opportunities available to meet their learning needs, goals, and personal circumstances.


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeewithcascade/message

For the past 40 years, the scientific community has been aware that a major earthquake caused by the Cascadia subduction zone could strike the Pacific Northwest. Enter Multnomah County’s $895 million “Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge,” set to open in 2031. County Commissioners decided that replacing the current bridge is necessary to safeguard Portland’s lifeline routes. But how necessary or helpful will a new bridge really be?



Even though the new bridge will be the same width as the old bridge, pedestrian and bus lanes will be widened in exchange for one fewer Eastbound car lane. City planners think this will discourage car ridership, and therefore auto emissions. Plans assume that peak-hour bike traffic will increase by more than 450% and that a third of car drivers will become bicyclists. These expectations are unrealistic.



There were other less expensive options besides building a new Burnside Bridge. For example, Tilikum Crossing might be used under emergency circumstances because it is wide, seismically resilient, and could be cleared quickly for cars.



Ultimately, the rationale for the new Burnside Bridge is the assumption that it would withstand a major earthquake in the near future. In reality, there is no way to know when the next earthquake will occur, how strong it would be, or how many of Portland’s bridges would remain functioning. The Burnside Bridge plan seems more like a coercive tactic to reduce automobile travel by constraining road capacity on a major Portland bridge.


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeewithcascade/message

Electric Vehicles are bad business. To boost sales in a market lacking a competitive edge, the government has stepped in with subsidies, tax breaks, and rebates as well as a mandate requiring 35% of all new sales be zero-emission vehicles. The government is replacing competitive prices and market performance with an ideology. 

In an attempt to maintain sales and meet the mandate, Ford has been price slashing causing them to lose $1.32B on their EV business just in the first quarter of 2024. Ford lost $65,272 per EV sold, the cost equivalent of a Mercedes Benz E-class sedan. 

Losing billions year over year has caused EV shareholders and investors to bolt. EV charging companies ChargePoint Holdings, Blink Charging, and EVgo had share price drops in December 2023 of 74%, 67%, and 21% respectively. To assuage shareholders, GM’s Mary Barra explained their profits were coming from the sale of gas vehicles, undermining the purpose of the mandate and proving EVs not to be a profitable business. 

The American people cannot be forced to switch to EVs, and automakers should not be punished for something outside of their control. The government is fighting a losing economic battle with a doomed product. 


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeewithcascade/message

This month, Missouri increased educational opportunity for families by expanding its Education Savings Account program. SB 727 widens eligibility for Missouri’s ESA program to include more students, increases teachers’ salaries, and makes it easier to open charter schools.

Different school environments help students learn in the ways that are most beneficial for them. Approximately 20 million American children are eligible to participate in a school choice program that includes private options. Millions more attend charter schools or benefit from other kinds of public school choice.

Oregon should join the “school choice states” and give parents the power to choose the best options for their children. Education Freedom for Oregon, a school choice advocacy group, is making that its goal through two separate school choice ballot initiatives. If enough voter signatures are received before June 30, Oregonians would be able to vote on those measures this year.

State education policies should value all options that empower students to achieve academic proficiency and reach their personal best. Oregon students would be served well by increasing opportunities to meet their learning needs, goals, and personal circumstances.


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeewithcascade/message

A committee of the Oregon legislature will soon be traveling around the state taking testimony on how to pay for Oregon’s network of highways, bridges and roads.

Since 1919, Oregon has relied on gas taxes for road maintenance, but costs are rising faster than tax revenues. One option is to enact mileage-based user fees, also known as tolls. But Gov. Kotek recently shut down ODOT’s plan for highway tolling in the Portland area, due to widespread opposition. Tolling would be more palatable for new facilities, but we never build any in Oregon.

Elsewhere, things are different. More than 60 express toll roads have been built in the U.S. over the past three decades, and they are highly popular with drivers.

Even the remote nation of Madagascar is building a four-lane, 162-mile tollway that will provide convenient travel to and from the nation’s capital. This will be the first toll road in Madagascar’s history.

Oregon drivers are willing to pay for the new roads we need. Just don’t ask us to pay twice for the lanes we already have.


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeewithcascade/message