Now that Amanda Fritz has educated us with regard to value of money (or lack thereof) when it is spread over a lot of people, I understand how none of these expenditures really matter. We can stop worrying because it's only a few cents each.

Graphic design, development services...to convince us to ride bikes in the cold and rain.

Public involvement or propaganda?

To protect yourself against the techniques of propaganda, three good questions to ask yourself are:
1. Who does this benefit?
2. Why did they do that?
3. According to whom?
http://propaganda.mrdonn.org/techniques.html

They keep telling us govt can do it better then the private sector then farm their work out to the private sector. Meanwhile us taxpayers get to enjoy paying both the govt and private companies. Does any of this make sense?

Out of curiousity, I did a cursory review of the City's 2009-10 adopted budget to see if the City already has the capabilities that the Transportation Bureau is seeking to contract for. The results:

Service Area I: This is an area where the Bureau may have a legitimate need for contracted help. The budget indicates they have only one Graphics Designer III who makes between $59k and $76k a year. I don't know if there is another city division that could provide graphics services capabilities that the Transportation Bureau may lack.

Service Area II: The Transportation Bureau already has plenty of people who could do this work. It has 1 Principal Management Analyst ($72k to $97k salaries), 2 Senior Management Analysts ($61k to $82k each), and an Assistant to the Program Director ($72 - 97k). In addition, the City has a Bureau of Human Services that could provide these services for free. The Bureau of Human Services has a budget of $48.1 million and about 71 employees.

Service Area III: The Transportation Bureau appears able to handle this work with existing staff as well. It has a Public Information Manager ($63k - $91K salary range), the equivalent of 1 Senior Community Outreach and Information Representative ($58k - $78k), 6 Program Specialists ($53k - $91k each), and 1 Community Outreach Assistant ($43 - $67K).

Service Area IV: The Bureau is already well-staffed in this area, too. It has 1 Principal Financial Analyst ($72 - $97k salary range), 2 Senior Financial Analysts ($61k - $82k), and 4 Financial Analysts ($55 - $74k). In addition, the Bureau could seek assistance from the Revenue Bureau, which has almost 65 employees and an annual budget of $9.8 million.

It appears to me that a) the Transportation Bureau is just throwing money away, and b) it is reluctant to utilize the services of other city bureaus that have the kinds of capabilities it may need.

Portland's archaic and outmoded form of government is the root cause of such wasteful spending. Take any politician, put him or her in charge of large city agencies with hundreds of employees, and watch what happens. The mission of each agency expands to encompass any and every social cause/goofy "progressive" idea that pops into that pol's brain. The resources and employees of the agency are used to accomplish whatever is deemed necessary to get the pol-in-charge re-elected. That's how you wind up with a water agency filled with planners and a sewer agency building bike paths.

Darrin comments:
They keep telling us govt can do it better then the private sector then farm their work out to the private sector. Meanwhile us taxpayers get to enjoy paying both the govt and private companies. Does any of this make sense?

What doesn’t make sense is paying those who are “cloaked in government” to do the bidding for the corporations.

It is only good government that can stand between us and corporate control. I am concerned that this may have been planned light years ahead of us, or did it just evolve? It may be a merry path planned for us into a trap. Trap being that we are so angry at our government and with justification I might add, that we will “toss” it aside for privatization. Then the big hammer can come down on us. It already feels like it because of this concept of “cloaked” ones in our government. Do not like what is going on now, but we should not give up on the concept of good governing.

What we need is to keep a real scorecard on those who actually are in service for the public good and interest and those “cloaked” and who are the betrayers.

Many who might want to give good service may have hesitations now because of a system that has gone sour. Good and decent people do need to step up to the plate for the good of our community, our country and future generations.

What would the scorecard be on our elected officials?
Jack might want to consider a poll, are they for the public good or “cloaked betrayers”?

Sadly I agree with all the comments above. If, in managing my own business, I went out and hired a consultant for everything I wanted to do I would not be in business very long. The art of running a profitable business seems to include deciding what you must do, what you can do, and what you can afford to do without sacrificing your profits. My business is small, limited in scope, constrained by factors financial, geographic, and technical, but nonetheless profitable. Please don't try to sell me any software or non-essential services.

My new motto: "Walk. It pencils out."

When people are in charge of spending other peoples money, without any reporting requirements, this is what you get.

As good as it gets for the anti government folks, cause they got a point.

They run like corporations, but do not answer to a board of directors, a ceo, or anybody.

Spend spend spend, then plead poverty when the public really needs something.

The Graphic Design consultant's first job: Create a logo with the theme, 'Exodus to the Suburbs, 2010'