Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: Cascade CounterPoint
Episode: QP: Metro’s Playing Farmville With Taxpayer Money
Description: Full Text: People in the Portland area love their parks and they love nature. So much that in 2019, voters approved $475 million in bonds for Metro’s “Parks and Nature” program.
What voters thought they were voting for—and what they were told they would get—was more public parks for people and the protection of natural areas.
However a recent job posting placed by the regional government revealed a dirty little secret. About 10% of the land purchased by Metro’s Parks and Nature program is being actively farmed or leased to farmers. That’s more than 1,300 acre...