u/Dragontastic22

After Mayor Hu forbid teenagers from making public comments last week, I started paying a lot closer attention. Tigard City Council decided their current budget priorities include "minimizing impacts to police services" and "adjusting library services."

For fiscal year 2027, Tigard Police will see an increase in their budget. Tigard Public Library will see large cuts. The current proposed library cuts include cutting the library's Social Services Coordinator position entirely, reducing hours for the only Teen Librarian, reducing hours for an Adult Services Librarian, reducing the fund for new books and materials by nearly a third, and more. Because the library is paid out of the general fund, the city keeps leaving levy dollars for the library while reducing the general fund dollars the library used to have. The result is that Tigard Public Library is looking at the smallest budget it's had in years.

These cuts are proposed right now. The deadline for written public comment is today at noon. The deadline to submit virtual public comments during the final meeting is today at noon. The final Budget Committee Meeting is Monday, May 18 at 6pm at City Hall. In theory, walk-up, in-person public comments will be welcome at that May 18 meeting. City Council will vote on June 9.

I've never seen any mayor shut down a group of young people (or even adults) like that. More than 40% of the City of Tigard's proposed budget cuts will come from the library. The teens organized themselves and were right to be angry.

Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/live/36FtZpuCIEk?t=29m50s

The part where the mayor shuts down the teens is roughly minute 30-34. Adults were allowed to speak before and after. The woman who offered to concede her time so a teen may speak was denied.

The line was so racially diverse because you were standing in the transfer line for international flights, you idiot. We could hear you ponder about why there were so many brown folks, so many of "those people." We could hear your travel partner joke about not seeing color. I could see you side-eye everyone in a hijab and everyone speaking anything but English. I, an American, was 9 hours into my 13 hour travel day. I was flying back from Mexico, and you and I were both standing in the same line as travelers transferring from flights from Oaxaca, Guadalajara, Shanghai, Alexandria, and Sao Paulo. My Mexican-American spouse and I were exhausted. I'm so glad that you big-blonde-haired, spray-tanned, metallic-pink-shirt wearing boomer with your Texas drivers license in your hand, were presumably flying out of Texas. I hope whenever you've landed, you're learning to be less of an outspoken racist idiot.