The next fiasco: the east side streetcar
Maybe I need to get my tinfoil helmet adjusted, but there's something about the way the City of Portland is pushing the east side streetcar extension that doesn't seem genuine. If I didn't know better, I'd say the people who run the city aren't so hot on the idea after all.
Granted, there's the big public show going on, with a lot of the trappings of a classic Portland snow job. The public-private (i.e., nonaccountable) corporation that runs the streetcars is out front and center, with city commissioner wannabe Chris Smith and his newfound buddy Mike Powell ready to drive the first platinum spike for the trolley rails. The buzzwords are flying. "It will spur $700 million in private investments," linchpin bellwether yada yada. "The route is expected to attract 2.4 million square feet of development and 15,000 new jobs, while reducing congestion and global warming..." Fifteen thousand new jobs? Don't tell me -- biotech jobs.
Pardon me while I lose my breakfast.
There's even a trumped-up deadline for a federal funding application, which we're told means that a decision has to be made wiki-wiki. No time for serious public discussion of the many other things we're sacrificing to build this, folks -- we've got to get going! (So much for "visioning," I guess.)
The developers are lining up with their apartment tower dreams along the route of the thing. Joe Weston's already shown us a monster that he's going to construct over the by the Lloyd office towers, and he's licking his chops over the land across NE Broadway from the Rose Garden, where he'd like nothing better than to punch out a couple of similar skyscrapers.
Did somebody say "Joe Weston's money"? Well, then, the deck has probably been stacked. Over on Amanda Fritz's blog, she says the streetcar's a done deal, and old Smith is right there, figuratively rubbing her back the whole time.
But there are a few features to the current campaign that are different from previous go-rounds, and they all scream "Don't do this!" Interestingly, the warnings aren't all coming from the usual anti-transit wingnuts. Many of them are emanating from the mouths of the public officials themselves.
First, they're actually laying out big, fat cost figures for public scrutiny. The current liars' budget says that the new line will cost $147 million to build. At four miles of new streetcar (and I think it may be less mileage than that), that would come to $36.8 million a mile. As Jim Redden lays it out in the Trib today:
The council is scheduled to vote Sept. 6 on whether to commit $27 million in urban renewal funds to the project, currently estimated at $147 million, including $75 million from the Federal Transit Administration and $20 million from the Oregon Lottery....As we've pointed out on this blog time and time again, those magical, mysterious "urban renewal funds" are property taxes. Nearly 20 cents of every dollar of property tax collected by the City of Portland goes toward "urban renewal." So that's $27 million from taxpayers citywide, plus another $21 million from folks old and new somewhere near the project route. Forty-eight million very local clams.City Transportation Commissioner Sam Adams briefed the council on the streetcar project Tuesday morning. He said the council needs to commit $27 million in urban renewal funds by early next month to secure $75 million in Federal Transit Administration money for the extension.
According to the budget presented to the council, the rest of the project would be funded with $20 million in Oregon Lottery bonds, $15 million from property owners along the line, $6 million from system development charges assessed against new projects in the area and $3.7 million in federal funds administered by Metro.
But wait, the dollars get bigger. This time, they've unveiled not only a construction budget, but also an operating budget. Now here's where this extension is starting to look different from the previous ones. You never, ever heard a peep in the media about the operating budget, which requires a heavy city subsidy, in planning discussions surrounding previous streetcar extensions. And on this one, the subsidy's a doozy: $2.2 million a year, split half-and-half between the city and Tri-Met.
A million-plus a year in city money to run the thing? Come on. The city's annual subsidy of the entire streetcar system up to this point is reportedly something like $1.6 million. This single extension is going to increase that by 68.75 percent? Gee whiz.
Capitalized at 5 percent, the present value of $1.1 million a year in perpetuity is $22 million. And so the local cost share, in present value terms, just went up from $48 million to $70 million. That's taxpayer money. From Portland. (Not to mention another $22 million from Tri-Met, which survives on payroll and self-employment taxes from throughout the tri-county area.)
Second, everyone's admitting that the preliminary budget figures that are being thrown around have at best a tenuous link to reality. They're likely to go up, and that's putting it mildly. The City Council heard this week that the budgeted figures are "low confidence estimates." Well, of course, they are -- we all know that infrastructure construction budgets are always understated. Always always always. When this project is being built, surely we'll watch that $147 million break $175 million -- it's virtually guaranteed. (Indeed, in March 2005, they said the cost was going to be "only" $85 million. It's nearly doubled in the last 29 months.) But to have someone from the city government actually come forward and rub people's noses in that fact at the outset -- well, that's new.
An amusing example of this phenomenon came this week, when even the operating subsidy suddenly shot up by 10 percent in the blink of an eye. Tri-Met had signed on for an annual $1 million cough-up, but the Portland bureaucrats jacked it up to $1.1 million for the City Council meeting without telling anyone in advance. Tri-Met boss Fred Hansen wasn't too happy about it.
Anyway, when the streetcar costs skyrocket, as we know they will, who will pay the overruns? In this case, who else is there but taxpayers -- and probably only Portland taxpayers?
Third, they've allowed comparisons to the OHSU aerial tram [rim shot] to be passed around in public discourse on the streetcar extension without refutation. "Isn't this another aerial tram?" the mayor asked (perhaps not in so many words) earlier this week. You would think the streetcar pushers would have an organized, bullet-point answer to that one ready. But they don't.
There's one difference that's easy to spot, of course. This time there's no OHSU standing by waiting to chip in more bucks for this if and when it starts to go all weird. There's just us Portland folks, and maybe we can beg a few more bucks from our good buddies in the Bush administration or from the lottery.
Fourth, a few key players in the bureaucratic machinery are voicing serious misgivings about the project, particularly the way it's being financed. Earlier this month the chair of the ever-weakening Portland Development Commission wondered aloud at a hearing whether the streetcar extension would gobble up everything in the PDC budget other than transportation and housing funds. He didn't sound pleased. The Tri-Met folks don't seem to be clicking their heels over this. The mayor's raised his eyebrow pretty high as well.
Fifth, and it's a related point, to pay for streetcar, the city's financing plan will involve raiding other urban renewal pork barrels, all of whom have their constituencies. As the O explained it Wednesday:
The city contribution would come from three urban-renewal districts: $17 million from the River District, $4 million from Convention Center and $6.2 million from the Central Eastside.As noted here yesterday, the PDC already has around $600 million in debt outstanding for urban renewal. Debt and real estate are tanking at the moment, and they're taking the rest of the economy down with them. Is this a good time to leverage Portland even further, including "short-term" debt against the city's general fund -- over the freakin' streetcar? San Diego, here we come.Keith Witcosky of the Portland Development Commission explained that each of the these districts has money budgeted for the streetcar extension but at much smaller amounts than Adams is asking for.
That may require the city to raise debt limits, put off other projects, and take out short-term loans backed by the city's general fund.
Sixth, the natives are getting quite restless. Not only don't the inner east side blue-collar businesses want to cough up good money to bring the yuppies into their neighborhood -- even the Holy Rosary Catholic Church (confessions held daily) is protesting the $126,000 that it will have to pay toward building the streetcar. The church's outraged letter, which of course was written in Latin, made the paper this morning. Then there are all the new parking meters that will go in on the south end, and service cuts on the no. 6 bus -- more p.r. disasters in progress.
In sum, with all the mess that's been created around this boondoggle, you couldn't make the public more uneasy about the streetcar extension if you tried. It's almost as if the city's not that interested in making it happen. Wouldn't it be something if public opposition killed it? Gee, that would mean that the streetcar ran only on the west side, where Homer Williams's money is. Wouldn't that just break everyone's heart at the University Fight Club?
But no, I'm hallucinating again. Surely this foolishness will come to pass. It's a law of nature: The stupider it is, the more the Portland City Council loves it. We'll soon have yet another wasteful project that the public never wanted and that won't perform as promised. We can all hate it as we worry about paying for it.
And isn't that the way it goes with anything that's being spearheaded by the city's dysfunctional transportation commissioner and next mayor, Sam the Tram? The guy is a walking stress machine, and it's starting to rub off on the city, big time. When he's running the whole show, we're going to long for the relatively stable, level-headed days of Vera Katz.
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Comments (48)
And the LO to PDX trolley is gaining traction by the day and cost estimates for everyone in its path - those poor folk in Dunthorpe, Briarwood - who have the existing tracks in their backyards aren't happy about this. The funny thing about all this is that they keep talking about congestion on 43. I drive 43 everyday from Marylhurst into downtown on 43. The "traffic" on 43 is overblown unless you're speaking of the traffic through downtown LO and running south towards West Linn in the evening. It is annoying, but hardly qualifes as congestion in the sense of Hwy 26 in the a.m. or p.m., or I-5 northbound from Wilsonville in the a.m. or to Wilsonville in the p.m. To me, the eastside light rail is a solution in search of a problem, as is the LO/PDX run. I'd probably take it because it would be cheaper than parking downtown, but never to do shopping.
Posted by mrfearless47 | August 17, 2007 4:48 AM
If I recall correctly the Chief of Police had an op-ed in the Big OH! about the lack of funding for detectives, over the police department's low clearance rate for crimes such as rape. Then we know that auto theft is seldom solved.
So I guess I can conclude that since the streetcar will do away with the need for cars the auto theft rate will go down and since women will be riding the streetcar in a crowded environment they will be less likely to be raped. Ya know this method of preventing crime thus doing away with the need to solve them is really creative thinking on behave of the streetcar advocates. I have only high praise for such astute thinking.
I'd love to stay on and discuss this more but I have to go to work early to pay the bills. I'm still just amazed. WOW!
Posted by M.W. | August 17, 2007 4:58 AM
BTW the was an interesting story in the N.Y. Times this week about the quality of teachers in American schools, or course that does not apply to Portland, but if it did I'd bet the "Streetcar" would solve that as well.
Posted by M.W. | August 17, 2007 5:13 AM
Will the new $200,000 illegal immigrant job center still be easily accessible?
BTW that's where the 15,000 jobs come from: 10 illegals hired for 1 days work = 10 jobs. Same 10 illegals hired tomorrow for 1 days work = 10 jobs (total job tally to date: 20 jobs). In one work week you've created 50 jobs! And in 50 weeks that's 2,500 jobs. In six years, bammo you're at 15,000 jobs, game over.
Posted by got logic? | August 17, 2007 7:23 AM
So who is going to stop them and how?
Posted by Abe | August 17, 2007 7:33 AM
Samd Adams and his staff have been busy concocting one lie after another as a means to extend the streetcar.
Call it mean and nasty all you want but he and his agenda are sorely lacking in ethics.
Among many other lies are claims such as the streetcar spawns or "linchpins" private development and Urban Renewal can't be used for road maintenance are blatant lies. Eastside redevelopment is already happening W/O the streetcar and UR TIF has already been used for every imaginable thing by simply calling the traget "blighted" and even extending the UR district when the "Sams" want to divert a few million beyond a current district bnoundaries.
Sam's office hires consultants to cook up the propaganda he needs and public agencies run with it.
The local streetcar activists and our newspapers chip in with their contributions of bullshot making it look like the public is in full support.
And the next thing we hear is "Sam for Mayor".
Gag me, he's a con man and a fanatic car hater.
Posted by Ben | August 17, 2007 7:47 AM
"When he's running the whole show, we're going to long for the relatively stable, level-headed days of Vera Katz."
Puh-leeze - Vera had her hand up his back for 12 years. Now that he's fallen out of her lap into public office the megalomania is getting worse. Can we slip Prozac in his food?
Hell, I'd settle for Frank Ivancie now. At least we had fewer potholes and cheap water/sewer that worked.
Posted by Steve | August 17, 2007 8:10 AM
How do will they get the ridership they need?
ELIMINATE BUS LINES!:
"But this assumes creation of a central city fare district with streetcar fares set at $1 and also assumes savings from service cuts on TriMet Line No. 6."
Sounds like some real "savings" ...
Posted by Garage Wine | August 17, 2007 8:12 AM
Funny, isn't it, Jack, that us "anti-transit wingnuts" were right all along about all these rail scams.
And a correction: we are not anti-transit. We are anti rail transit.
Nevertheless, welcome. Nice to have you in the club.
Posted by Rob Kremer | August 17, 2007 8:18 AM
Why does the street car say "Bankruptcy"? What city are we talking about here, because it's obviously not Portland, given the INCREASE in bond ratings, not the other way around.
Whose real estate market is "tanking?" Again, not Portland's, given that median home prices are up 8% over last year.
And this is utter nonsense:
"The "traffic" on 43 is overblown unless you're speaking of the traffic through downtown LO and running south towards West Linn in the evening."
When do you drive it, 3 AM? 43 is extremely clogged at rush hour, from Zupan's to the bridge, and then often right past that all the way to the LO city limits. Don't tell me it's overblown when you sit at a dead stop for minutes at a time and it takes 30 minutes to go 3 miles. And finally, the issue is not traffic in 2007; it's traffic in 2027 when tens of thousands of additional drivers will be using 43.
Posted by torridjoe | August 17, 2007 8:33 AM
Ah the street car...west side...how many years ago??? Some of us asked questions such as, "Why not use those cute little nat gas powered trolly looking busses?" and "HOW much will this cost?" and "What is an LID anyway?" and so on. Oh how innocent we all were. Most of us did not know it had all been decided for us way back in 1991!
IF the east side street car scam dies, it will happen because of the money simply doesn't exist.
As for Joe Weston's towers on the east side, no one I know wants them. We like our "blue collar" small business neighborhoods.
"NO pearls on the east side!"
Maybe we can get an "endangered species" or "protected" listing. I for one do not want to look at some 1/2 built thing that got abandoned because the developer went broke and walked away.
ps: Home Depost isn't doing so well either
Posted by Anne K | August 17, 2007 9:06 AM
"Why does the street car say "Bankruptcy"?"
Because we are eating up future prop tax revenues to support this thing instead of roads, schools and sewers. So 10 yrs from now when Mr Adams says we need another tax to fix roads again because we have no money for infrastructure.
"Whose real estate market is "tanking?""
Besides blogging at work, you should take a walk and look at all the for sale signs, we are not immune.
"When do you drive it, 3 AM? 43 is extremely clogged at rush hour, from Zupan's to the bridge,"
I drive it at 730AM and 500PM. Easy fix, put a center turn lane in from Marylhurst to Zupan's.
Now back to work unless it's a slow day at CoP!
Posted by Steve | August 17, 2007 9:11 AM
And finally, the issue is not traffic in 2007; it's traffic in 2027 when tens of thousands of additional drivers will be using 43.
No, that's YOUR attempt to deflect the discussion from the the REAL issue - which is the inefficient use of public money.
And I can fully understand why YOU wouldn't want to discuss that issue.
Posted by rr | August 17, 2007 9:38 AM
"Funny, isn't it, Jack, that us "anti-transit wingnuts" were right all along about all these rail scams.
And a correction: we are not anti-transit. We are anti rail transit."
>>>> So am I, anti-rail transit here in Portland. BTW, I am a lifetime apartment-dwelling, non-driving heavy transit user. I grew up on the NYC subways and was in the "railfan" hobby for 15 years.
But Portland does not have the spatial characteristics or density for rail transit. In addition, the rail system here is one of the worst I have ever seen in terms of design and operation.
And every time a new rail line goes into operation around here, transit service is degraded for a lot of riders, usually by longer trip times and additional transfers.
Posted by Nick theoldurbanist | August 17, 2007 9:51 AM
Jack, I wish someone with your perspective would at least place themselves in the voter phamplet for next year's city commissioner openings. If the likes of commissioner Leonard and the others end up running unopposed, which has happened in the past, it's going to be a very disappointing election for me at least. Surely, there has to be some frugal persons willing to sacrifice and at least place themselves on the ballot against the current slate of "tax and spenders" running the city.
P.S Sure times in Portland are good now for at least some. Portland is running up its debt levels, and just like the national housing slump, Portland will likely face such pay back. The day of reckoning would likely occur even faster if it were not for the Urban Growth boundary, Metro's slowness in making land available, and Oregon's anti-road building regime. If I were an official in Vancover or west Metro (like Hillsboro), I'm thinking west-side bypass (cut out Portland city altogether).
Posted by Bob Clark | August 17, 2007 9:59 AM
Global warming? Anyone see the 5 day report on Rail, Energy & C02 over here?
http://www.ti.org/antiplanner/
Also, the "spur development" talk is bs. If they changed the zoning over there development would happen rapidly. Now, you watch, the trolley will go in, then zoning will change (along with some subsidies) and the development that would have happened anyway will be done by campaign contributors who give all the credit to the PDC, the trolley and city council.
Posted by John | August 17, 2007 10:52 AM
Without getting into the merits of light rail in general, why don't they just have the planned new MAX line from Milwaukie end up on MLK? They would save the cost of one whole bridge, and all that Streetcar money. People could walk across the river, or hop one of the hundreds of buses that cross into downtown. Many of them would be going no farther than the "revitalized" East side anyway.
Posted by tom | August 17, 2007 11:37 AM
Gotta agree with Bob Clark 9:59....a Lister or BoJack or someone of their ilk has to step up and face down the lunatics who suck rail $$$ like vampires do blood.
His other point of a west side bypass is pertinent too. Read today's Daily Journal of Commerce....Metro's Robert Liberty is threatening a no vote on the CRC study....offering the planning process is broken....not exploring the sensible possibilities.
Posted by veiledorchid | August 17, 2007 11:53 AM
No, that's YOUR attempt to deflect the discussion from the the REAL issue - which is the inefficient use of public money.
How can any righty troll type this after what this administration and its enablers in congress have done/are doing with public money? Off topic I know, but hey, look over there, isn't that Clinton?
Posted by jimbo | August 17, 2007 11:54 AM
"The church's outraged letter, which of course was written in Latin,"
Love this part.
Posted by LC | August 17, 2007 11:59 AM
How can any righty troll type this after what this administration and its enablers in congress have done/are doing with public money?
Luckily, this "righty troll" has a ready response: ...that's YOUR attempt to deflect the discussion from the the REAL issue - which is the inefficient use of public money.
Do you hear an echo?
Posted by rr | August 17, 2007 12:26 PM
Nice to have you in the club.
Sorry. I love MAX, except to the airport, and the diesel to Wilsonville looks pretty good to me, too. As for the ant-streetcar club, the welcome is late; I've been a member from the outset.
As for "torrid" Mark Bunster, posting from his Fire Bureau job at 8:33 a.m., in violation of city rules: No, son, the real estate market really is down, way down, particularly for condos, like the ones that are supposeed to pay off the city's $600 million urban renewal debt. You might want to catch up on that news.
As for municipal bankruptcy, you might check what the bond ratings mean. They mean that the city's bonds are safe. That doesn't mean that the city will be able to pay its many other bills, including billions for pensions like yours -- default on any of which can trigger bankruptcy. Just ask the PGE retirees and ex-airline pilots. And despite what the bond rating clowns say (they've been wrong many, many times before), Sam the Tram and the head of the PDC have both informed us that indeed, there is a financial crisis in Portland, particularly as regards transportation.
Sorry to hear your commute in to Portland from Lake Grove has become such a nightmare.
Posted by Jack Bog | August 17, 2007 1:03 PM
torridjoe: And finally, the issue is not traffic in 2007; it's traffic in 2027 when tens of thousands of additional drivers will be using 43.
JK: Do you seriously expect “tens of thousands” of people to take the toy streetcar? Lets see, at 100 people per car, that is 100 cars. At 30 per hour, that is over three hours!! WOW that is almost as much as one lane of single occupancy cars over three hours.
Or with 51 person buses, that is 200 buses. Spread over three hours, that is one bus per minute leaving most of that one lane of road for automobiles.
But why would any sane person expect the millionaires in Lake Oswego to jam into sardine cans for their commute, when they have comfortable, air conditioned BMWs without drug dealers?
PS: One lane of road costs a whole lot less than the toy train track.
Now get back to the work the city pays you for.
Thanks
JK
Posted by jim karlock | August 17, 2007 1:19 PM
I don't think that any of the numbers being thrown around include the proposed street car on the Burnside/Couch couplet, which I assumed crossed the river on Burnside Bridge. It will also only be a matter of time before they want to build a bridge over the Willamette River near OMSI so the street car will run as a huge loop around the downtown, Lloyd Center and the SoWhat district. The bridge over the river will at least double the cost of this project.
Posted by Usual Kevin | August 17, 2007 3:20 PM
UK,
Stop already!
Don't give them any more ideas!
Posted by rr | August 17, 2007 3:51 PM
I wonder about the legality (not the popularity) of a ballot measure to require that all city employees live in the city.
I mean, after all...
Posted by rr | August 17, 2007 3:56 PM
Id like to see a ballot measure for a memorandum on rail and other exotic transit "alternatives" until such time that all of the roads, freeways, and bridges are brought up to modern standards and a level of service "A" or "B".
Posted by Anthony | August 17, 2007 4:07 PM
I'd be willing to bet that a large percentage of the people who make these budgetary decisions have never held a small business license in their lives, let alone tried to operate a small business in a place like Multnomah County.
It'd be nice to see a law demanding a prerequisite of, oh, five years experience with operating a business in Portland, before one becomes eligible for any position with major authority over budgets, taxes, and so forth.
Hey, I can dream, too...
Posted by Cabbie | August 17, 2007 5:08 PM
I think Anthony has it just right when he says ...rail and other exotic transit "alternatives"....
That's what draws the moths to the flame - the exotic part.
What an opportunity; quick, get the pyrethrin!
Posted by rickyskwatawa | August 17, 2007 5:16 PM
torridjoe asks:
"When do you drive it, 3 AM? 43 is extremely clogged at rush hour, from Zupan's to the bridge, and then often right past that all the way to the LO city limits. Don't tell me it's overblown when you sit at a dead stop for minutes at a time and it takes 30 minutes to go 3 miles. And finally, the issue is not traffic in 2007; it's traffic in 2027 when tens of thousands of additional drivers will be using 43."
Hey, been driving 43 from Marylhurst to PSU for the last two years. Leave to downtown at 7:30 a.m. and return home about 4:30 p.m. Once I get to 43, whether from downtown directly, or by going over the top of Terwilliger, it usually takes me less than 10 minutes to get home about 3 miles south of downtown LO.
So, I hope that answers your question.
Posted by mrfearless47 | August 17, 2007 5:55 PM
You've missed the biggest point of all Jack - a streetcar that runs in the street is nothing more than a glamorous (for now) immobile bus. The proposed Burnside/Eastside to OMSI route is a bad idea even if it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Someday if MAX to Milwaukie goes across its own bridge (Caruthers) there may be a need for a MAX connection between the Convention Center area and the south MAX line. But that's a long way away, and the MAX line will be worthless if it isn't separated from vehicle traffic in its own right of way.
As for the condo towers, I'll bet they would show up eventually with or without a streetcar if the city lets them. Given the current real estate market it might be a few years, but there's a growing demand for this kind of housing, despite the contrary claims of the Karlockians.
Posted by Urban Planning Overlord | August 17, 2007 6:00 PM
Which means, of course, that all the claimed economic development benefit from the streetcar is a myth. Change and growth would happen in that area anyway.
Indeed, "urban renewal" impedes change and growth, because as long as people think that tax money's going to be handed out at some point, they abandon all thought of developing the property on their own. They're not stupid. They wait for the pork.
Posted by Jack Bog | August 17, 2007 6:05 PM
It will also only be a matter of time before they want to build a bridge over the Willamette River near OMSI so the street car will run as a huge loop around the downtown, Lloyd Center and the SoWhat district. The bridge over the river will at least double the cost of this project...
Uh...that's already --and exactly-- the plan. The bridge is alone expected to cost some $250 million, to serve the East Side Loop streetcar and Milwaukie Light Rail. Some folks at METRO are re-thinking this and saying keep Light Rail on the east side and save a quarter of a billion dollars. Maybe then we could afford to stripe crosswalks in my neighborhood and build a long-promised community center. Which, after all, serves multi-modality (i.e. walking) and keeps families in the central core by giving the kids something to do besides riding the streetcar to the Pearl.
Posted by Frank Dufay | August 17, 2007 6:13 PM
Frank, Frank, Frank...
Stop making sense!
(apologies to David Byrne et al)
Posted by rr | August 17, 2007 6:33 PM
They're not stupid. They wait for the pork.
That indicts most of us - donut?
Posted by rr | August 17, 2007 6:39 PM
Jack B. said:
"Sorry. I love MAX, except to the airport, and the diesel to Wilsonville looks pretty good to me, too."
>>>> Jack, that seems strange coming from you. If you think the trolley is a big waste of money, then the MAX (really just over-sized trolley cars) has been and will be MUCH bigger waste of money. Would you like me to enumerate the shortcomings of MAX for you?
I have ridden loads of transit systems during my lifetime, and as far Portland's situation is concerned, a bus rapid transit system would have served Portland much more elegantly.
MAX too, is just a immobile glorified bus, like somebody called the streetcar.
Posted by Nick theoldurbanist | August 17, 2007 7:10 PM
No, it isn't. It's on a dedicated right of way.
Would you like me to enumerate the shortcomings of MAX for you?
God, please, no!
Posted by Jack Bog | August 17, 2007 7:20 PM
Jack, please...
Enumeration is the way of the future...
...roll with it...
or was that numerology?
Posted by rr | August 17, 2007 7:54 PM
Nick writes; "MAX too, is just a immobile glorified bus, like somebody called the streetcar."
Nick there is a bus designed by Volvo that looks like and is called The Streetcar. It is used in England. I'm way to lazy to find the Url, but the idea was interesting. Volvo has designed some of the best buses in use, but this crowd of transit people here in Stumptown wouldn't pay attention if you begged them to. They have all the answers. Just ask them.
MW
Posted by M.W. | August 18, 2007 7:19 AM
Jack --
Love the photo with the destination banner. Very nicely done. Where was the original pic taken , the one before it was photo-shopped?
Posted by Nonny Mouse | August 18, 2007 7:33 AM
Since we are suggesting ballot measures:
A constitutional amendment prohibiting TIF schemes.
Outlaw public employee unions.
Elimate METRO
Make all new transportation projects pay their own way, directly.
Posted by John | August 18, 2007 8:44 AM
MW:
Interesting tidbit about the Volvo buses; a big reason the powers that be want rail so much in Portland is because it is so "Euro." (Charlie "streetcar" Hales: Portland is now the most European city in America.)
Posted by Nick theoldurbanist | August 18, 2007 10:26 AM
Portland is now the most European city in America
which "European" city is Portland like?
European cities are much more diverse in design that American cities, thank god. the "most European city" slogan is just marketing fluff, not reality.
like those 10,000 biotech jobs down by the river.
Posted by ecohuman.com | August 18, 2007 10:56 AM
Where was the original pic taken
Somewhere over near the start of the line in Northwest Portland. On this day.
Posted by Jack Bog | August 18, 2007 12:21 PM
The sad part of this is that over the years American cities, and Portland was a leader in this, have made it difficult if not impossible for private businesses to own, or operate a transit company. Now if that was turned around the city might be able to make some money at it, by taking bids from companies to operate various transit businesses within the city. You might be able to see a Hawthorne neighborhood cab company, or the 82 St. Jitney service. Granted the city would charge a fee to operate, but that money could then be used to fund street maintenance to some degree an relieve the taxpayers of a little bit of that burden
Thus we bring private capital and innovation to the marketplace.
MW
Posted by M.W. | August 18, 2007 1:39 PM
Thanks for that 2005 link about the streetcar vs walking race. I too experimented but I din't make the assumption that I was going to just go walk along the tracks.
I left a friend's house in NW Portland (a few blocks from the NW 23rd ave Streetcar stop) to attend a meeting at the Wells Fargo tower. I timed my entire trip there including walking to the stop, waiting for a trolley and walking from the closest trolley stop down to the tower. It took 40 minutes. After the meeting I walked back (a more direct route that along the tracks). It took 20 minutes. About a week later I timed it by car, 5 minutes.
Posted by John | August 18, 2007 5:15 PM
Good for you Frank for pointing out that all this conjecture is not conjecture at all but "planninng".
The property owners in the 'east side industrial district' got a notification about 2 years ago that the LID had been formed and the assessments would be forthcoming. We even got an initial low ball estimate. It was absurd! I have heard that this has been in the works since the east side river walk was built.
I wish I knew how we could stop it and use what money is available for schools, libraries and real projects that truly benefit all the citizens of Portland in a long term and meaningful way.
Busses would be a way better alternative for mass transit, but the pork isn't there to entice those who use the system to enrich themselves.
Posted by Anne K | August 18, 2007 6:24 PM
The ignorance and dishonesty that drives this stuff is simply out of control.
Today the O editorial board jumps on board with their "opinion" that this streetcar extension "makes sense".
So friggin stupid and lying as they advise that the $27 million to be skimmed from property taxes is a good idea, oblivious to the fact that it is needed for basic services and the road maintenance backlog or anything else that is legitimate bligt.
Saying the Lloyd district awaits the streetcar, covering up the reality that light rail has been there for 20 years.
Claiming the street car will spur development, but they admit zoning changes will be needed to do it.
This editorial board, like Sam Adams office, the PDC, TriMet and Metro, have no inside secrets, special vision or understanding of complex issiues.
They are all ethically corrupted, hopelessly dishonest and just plain dumb.
Incappable of assessing and judging any public investment based on a comprehensive set of considerations they launch their pitches for new crap like snotty brats screaming they want it.
Posted by Ben | August 19, 2007 8:24 AM