" East Portland,... could use a streetcar like the one downtown. If it could make an extensive loop, starting at the Rose Quarter Transit Center, swinging up through North Portland, down through the Hollywood Transit Center as far south as Division Street, nobody in Portland would ever use a car again." What?

Fascinating. I'd love to hear if the writer:
- Has a job he has to go to
- Kids to go shopping with
- Goes out on dates
- Doesn't work for TriMet

To quote Alex Winter's short film "Entering Texas", "He's just greasing the pan, dear. It's special grease."

I'd like to see the same article written by a homeowner with one or two kids, who discusses going out to buy a week's groceries.

Honestly--even in the most urbanized, transit-heavy cities in the world, personal transport is still a major (and critical) component of everyday life. Even if you don't "own a car", you're dependent on somebody who does at various times. Yes, this even applies to fantasy places where Mayor facebook travels, like Amsterdam.

But proponents of density, urbanization and ubiquitous mass transit seem to forget that hipsters eating a $4 burrito do not a city make. In fact, they don't have much long-term economic or social impact on a city at all. Mostly, they just provide fodder for, say, articles about Portland.

Technocrats are always deciding how OTHER people should live. They are all over-educated Jimmy Bakers in tweeds with adolescent planning messiah complexes. John Fregonese's most stunning performance: explaining how he wanted to live in the kind of dense, urban development he was mandating for everybody else, but that he had to live in a big detached single-family home on its ow big, green Lake NoNegros lot...because his wife made him! Another great moment in Portland planning: one of Metro's imported experts explaining to a huge audience of us that suburban sprawl was _women's_fault_, because they all wanted their own cars, and that dictated how suburban development was formed. Sexist much? I am not making these up.

I've seen a handful of people carrying their Trader Joe's cloth bags on the bus full of groceries. Would I do it? No, not very often unless I've just got a couple of items to pick up.

Keep in ming that there is a Winco and Fred Meyer next to the Gateway transit center and of course Trader Joe's near the Hollywood station.

So, for those of you with children, why do you take them to the store? I know that it is often easier given the time available and scheduling someone to watch the little darling(s) can be difficult, but if you're lucky enough to have a partner or friend who can watch the child while you perform your errands, why wouldn't you do this?

Now if they are old enough to help carry the groceries, then by all means bring them along.

The once a month trip to Costco or Winco is usually marred by massive family groups that all had to go shopping together for some reason. I'm boggled by this since there is usually only one parent actually doing the shopping, the rest are merely trying to entertain themselves or begging for things they don't need.

"for those of you with children, why do you take them to the store?"

Ever hear of single mothers who are responsible for their children and don't have a lot of spare money for babysitters? If you think they do it by choice, you may want to reconsider.

Of course, I am sure CoP would love all of us to rearrange our lives to fit their plan for nothing but mass transit on the streets also. Somehow, though, life interferes with your plans.

I notice that the author mentions at the top that the system "rocks" and then goes into a number of problems that it has or did I miss read this?

One thing in this article I found particularly interesting was the story of how Portland lost its late-night bus service in the 1980s, apparently due to an ill-fated agreement with a cab company. I never knew late-night transit even existed in Portland but have always thought there should be something available after the bars close.

Stefan -
We are each entitled to our own opinions (until that too is legislated away), my opinion is different than yours. In this day (IMO) kids are kept indoors far too much as is. Everyday I see kids who's social skills are sadly lacking, and I'm pretty sure that being cooped up in the house for long periods is part of the problem. On the other hand, if you do have kids between the ages of 1 - 6, please remember to schedule taking them shopping at a time that they are NOT suppose to be napping. When I see a kid acting up, 80% of the time I look at the kid and think, "He just needs a nap, why the heck is the parent here, now?"

No, we need to teach discipline, we need to teach socialization skills. There are many things that can be taught on a shopping trip.

Oh, and for the sake of general conversation. I don't take mass transit ANYTHING, in well over 30 years I've only ridden MAX three times and each time it was worse than the time before. I don't like listening to other people's conversations, thier 'music' or having to deal with their hygene, or lack there of. Mass transit is necessary, but more of the cost needs to be borne by those who use it.

Stephan,

It's a pleasure and a joy to go shopping with either or both my daughters. It has been since they were babies. We laugh, talk about anything & everything, goof around, look at stuff, make menu decisions, etc.. My God, that anyone suggests it's a better option to farm out your kids rather than enjoy every precious moment with them is sadly misled.

As far as Portland's bus service, I used to depend exclusively on bus transportation. I didn't even have a driver's license until I was 30. I went to a high school clear across town by bus. Working downtown made the commute easier, of course. Along with traveling to community services I was involved with. But the transfer system got me from far west to the outskirts of Gresham to visit my friends within a very reasonable time frame. The system was logical, affordable, and safe. And the busses ran until an hour or so past midnight. Even after, there were "owl routes" that continued to run a truncated route. Portland was very transit user friendly in the 60's and thru into the 80's. I don't pretend to know the financial status of the systems at that time, but the service got people from where they live to where they needed to go very efficiently. Most people could have driven to work. They chose not to due to convenience, regularity, a thorough coverage of the city (not fixed tracks), affordability, and dependability. I will never know why the system was destroyed.

I will never know why the system was destroyed.

Because buses aren't, like, totally deck. Anyone know what this means?

Mayor Creepy doesn't have kids; neither did Vera (at least living with her) so it is WAY easier to tell other folks how to live their lives when one has NO concept of real life as it is for the vast majority of us.
Just ty and carry home that 4x8 sheet of dry wall or the 2x4s or the 20 ft length of pipe on the trolley or the MAX line along with the 4 bags of groceries!
These people are idiots!
...go by street car... and you can leave the driving to the dumb-dumb that shuts the doors and cuts you off from your child, probably talking on the cell phone or texting.