Comments on: BDS wants new electronic permitting system /news/2010/07/15/bds-wants-new-electronic-permitting-system/ Building and Construction News in Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:11:12 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.6 By: Steven /news/2010/07/15/bds-wants-new-electronic-permitting-system/#comment-32905 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:11:12 +0000 /?p=56442#comment-32905 We just paid big bucks for the state to create and build a new permitting system. You can use that one and don’t neeed a new local system. I use the state one because the cities web site sucks. It is filled with tons of useless junk and one has to wade through to find one thing. The problem is the cities won’t cooperate and buy into it. With all the hundreds of jurisdictions and hundreds of different local systems it makes sense to have just one. Randy spends enough money on useless junk for his amusement. Don’t let them create another debacle aka water dept.

]]> By: Old Town /news/2010/07/15/bds-wants-new-electronic-permitting-system/#comment-32782 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:48:33 +0000 /?p=56442#comment-32782 It certainly isn’t clear how BDS will pay back the loan nor the need to borrow in the first place. Because of the economy there has been less new development and construction therefore less need for the number of department workers. That follows.

It seems logical that layoffs follow too especially if there were an excess of employees. But while a new and apparently needed updated permitting system, if one wants to believe Randy Leonard, how does that update save so much money that it can pay back the loan without further raises in the cost of the permit?

Shouldn’t the real value in the new permitting system be efficiency (and less cost) and the service it can provide to the community? But will it be efficient? For who – BDS or the permit seeker? What value will it be to the permitting community? Will borrowing reduce the permit cost so as to not scare away the small businesses and others needing a permit?

Aren’t most of the approved permits already recorded and available via portlandmaps.com? And will the permit cost be reduced back to the former minimum $45? To take advantage of the “database” what equipment will be needed to upload to the database?

Pie in the sky? The new system will predict downturns? The German octopus might be a better predictor.

The new system seems more like a Randy Leonard toy, and that he will attempt to push it through the council using every unsubstantiated claim of benefit.

A Perspective

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