A coworker saw Judge Perris from the Oregon bankruptcy court get stopped for jaywalking last week when the police stung a lot of people crossing the bus mall. No word on whether she actually received a ticket.

The city and TriMet are apparently doing what they can to minimize the financial impact of personal injury or wrongful death suits that will be filed after someone gets killed by a bus or train on the new mall.

The rationale is, "Hey, we warned people not to get hurt, but they wouldn't listen."

I saw a motorcycle cop pull a Uey on 5th Avenue and ride wrong way down the sidewalk in front of Pioneer Place to catch a fellow crossing mid-block. Yeehaw!

Officer Hoesly, no doubt.

toe the line

There's a "mind the gap" joke here. I can't do the math though.

I *do* know however that during my excursions downtown this weekend, I was 100% careful to obey crosswalks and signals wherever I was, lest Officer Hoesly pop up out of nowhere.

Just another reason to avoid the downtown area. No reason to go there unless my destination is the central library, historical society or a land use hearing (and those really aren't worth going to since I already know the way a majority of them will be decided).

I'll be trying to avoid downtown as much as I can, even with work obligations. To go 7 blocks to go one-half block because you can't make a right hand turn is hell. That's Portland Planning. Thanks Tri-Met, Sam and Chris Smith.

I wonder if officer Ron Hoesly is related to notorious ex-cop Gina Hoesly. At the very least, I know she's into motorcycles.

Speaking of lack of convenience, has anyone else noticed that the Post Office drive up boxes disappeared in the new and "improved" version of the transit mall?

I hope those drop off boxes are coming back. University Station is already an overworked madhouse, covering delivery of all of downtown to Burnside and up into the west hills. AND the parking lot is completely inadequate.

Wait 'til Creepy and the Fireman turn the main P.O. over to Gerding and the boys for a Soviet apartment bunker. Another big blow to livability.

Here's what we ought to do.

On the first business day of new transit mall operations, let's permit filmmakers to completely scramble downtown traffic.

We'll film at Pioneer Courthouse Square right in the middle of the day, thus causing all traffic -- including buses and trains -- to be periodically stopped.

Car traffic? Forget about it. Don't even go down there. When things do move, the cops put you in the wrong lanes just to get by. Pedestrians? They're all extras.

Yeah, that will help with safety, business access, and public opinion. First big day, and we were already confused.

I'll be trying to avoid downtown as much as I can, even with work obligations. To go 7 blocks to go one-half block because you can't make a right hand turn is hell. That's Portland Planning. Thanks Tri-Met, Sam and Chris Smith.

Me too. I wrote about this on here weeks ago...the traffic jam that is going to immediately ensue from this design will be of epic proportions. But, that is all part of the plan...make driving in Portland so miserable that you are forced onto the trains with the scum of the Earth. This, of course, will kill off even more small businesses downtown, until it's just one giant decrepit plastic shopping mall full of chain stores and thugs, soaked in bum urine. Go by Streetcar !

And now I have heard that the statutes have been revised so that taxicabs cannot use the bus mall after dark or on weekends any more. Good luck to my comrades that do decide to brave downtown in order to pick up their customers, I'll be over on Alberta or Hawthorne, myself. Until the Transit Mafia utterly ruins those neighborhoods, too.

And now I have heard that the statutes have been revised so that taxicabs cannot use the bus mall after dark or on weekends any more.

That sounds suspiciously like an urban myth. Citation, please?

The post office drive-up boxes were moved to Broadway.