"I hear the train a comin'
It's rolling 'round the bend,
and I ain't paid no property tax,
since, I don't know when.
I'm in the Pearl District, with my
fancy condo subsidy, but that
train whistle keeps a-blowin',
and that's what tortures me."

"If I could just unload this condo
I would get so far from here
I'm tired of brie and pinot
And microbrewery beer
Far from the Pearl District
That's where I'd retire
But the market's gotten softer
And my ARM's goin' higher"

Don't they know that train whistles are a status symbol?

I gotta believe that some are from Lake Oswego's North Shore (Lakeview Blvd) or the Bay Area's Atherton, Menlo Park or Palo Alto, where trains are a regular part of life, even at 3am.

When I lived in LO, I just rolled over and went back to sleep. When I visit the Palo Alto Sheraton, I get a room facing El Camino Real and far away from the train (East) side.

These folks really do have mountains the size of mole hills. Getta life!

Go By Condo!

Er, that's Go Buy Condo.

A good headline would have been 'Pearlies go boo hoo over choo choo' I think the engineers blow the train whistles extra loud out of habit from the days when drunks were probably passed out on the tracks.

I guess when the current residents were buying their overpriced condo and heard the engineers liked to "toot their horns" or "blow their whistles" the prospective buyers figured it was a euphemism for something else.

We may not have that SoHo look quite down, but the 'tude is there.

So when Sam gets his next big project and turns Couch into a one-way arterial, how's that gonna go over?

Tomorrow's Pearl District Headline:

"Rainy Days in the Pearl"

Lead graph:

"According to Sue Miller, some Pearl District residents who have moved to Portland from Los Angeles are convinced that it rains in Portland more than necessary. They are not exactly sure what to do about the rain, but are circulating a petition for an extension of their property tax abatement."

When the wind was blowing the right way in NE Montana, we could here the freights and the Empire Builder blow their horns 5 miles north of the tracks. I loved that sound. Now we live fairly close to the tracks in NE Portland and the sound of that whistle echoing in the breeze makes me feel like I'm home. I'm thinking these "Pearlies" aren't too bright...the fact you could practically throw a rock out onto the tracks from any of those condos should have been a clue that perhaps they could hear the whistle blow...

Sorry...that was "hear" the freights. Never would guess I have an English degree, would ya??

Driving in the Pearl last week I honked my horn unnecessarily. Maybe I'll do it again this week.

It's the quintessential modern yuppie pose: move somewhere new because it has certain qualities, and then as soon as you get there spend all your time trying to turn it into the place you just left.

And as for the trains, it has nothing to do with engineers trying to annoy the Pearl District residents (although God bless 'em for it), and everything to do with avoiding lawsuits. If they hit and injure anyone on the tracks, they have to be able to prove that they were laying on the horn. Hence, as they move through an urban environment, they pretty much honk the horn all the time.

What Dave J. said about the train whistle... Doesn't anyone remember the recent news story of the car that crossed that tracks when one train went by, then was hit by another coming the opposite way? They thorougly investigated whether or not the engineer blew the whistle prior to coming to that particular crossing...

That is freakin' hysterical. Did they think the railroad tracks were just there for aesthetic purposes?

Yes the Post-Modern Industrial oeuvre. The tracks were put there for the ambiance.

Just wait, the city will pay for study after study to somehow move the tracks. Just like they're trying to do to PIR.

The airport will be the next noisemaker to be 'studied.'

Maybe they can release a few more criminals in order to pay for it.

Go ahead, have your fun with the Yuppie Boomers. When you're paying for their treatments for PTSD (that's post-tooting stress syndrome for those of you who care), we'll see who has the last laugh.

City should issue BOSE noise cancelling headphones to Pearlies.

This just in: the Pearlies(i love that name) also request that the sun might shine less through their windows and that birds refrain from pooping on their BMW's.

Don't those condos come with soundproofing?

Now maybe they understand the true meaning of "the other side of the tracks".

I know one person who is a train fan...he moved there BECAUSE of the trains...so what does he do if they succeed in silencing them.....

This is so like the SoCal, San Diego whiners.

When I was growing up in Memphis I used to sit outside on the porch and listen to the mournful wails of the night trains. I always found it comforting- that there was a bigger, better world outside of Memphis and those trains were going there. It gave me hope that I'd escape from the South.

What a minute......I thought the whole aethsetic of the Pearl District was the choo-choo train???

Ohh yeah, they only like trains that don't contribute to the economy. Just reminds me of that joke comment that floated around a few years ago. The Pearl Dist. is what it would look like if Disney tried to reproduce a hotel version of Greenwich Village.

This story made me think of 'The Little Engine that Could." Not so much the motivational theme but the description of the train loaded down with lots of good things for the town like wholesome foods, lolliepops for after dinner treats, and toys for the children. I began to imagine all the wonderful things that the train could bring to the Pearl; cases of Chardoney, organic produce, brie, and flat bed cars filled with crappy art for all the galleries.

and "the little engine that could" is now sold at Starbucks!

Isn't there a large neon sign on the side of a building in the Pearl that says "Go by Train"??

Hmmm. It's not really about the trains is it? Sounds like you folks are suffering from a bad case of Pearl-life envy.

[Posted as indicated; restored later.]