Why does TriMet need "environmental mitigation credits" at all - isn't the whole point of Trimet to mitigate environmental impacts by providing bus and rail service as an alternative to single-occupant vehicle use?

This is another example of how TriMet is bleeding existing bus service dry. Never any money to replace worn out buses, but plenty of money for little frilly projects like this and installing lights on the ODOT owned, operated and maintained I-205 bike path (but TriMet paid for it). I don't see the City, Counties, ODOT or Metro paying for new buses...

I don't recall TriMet being a development agency, a waterways restoration agency, a parks and rec district, the DEQ, the Soil & Water Conservation District...or any other number of agencies that should be worried about the damn river. TriMet needs to be worried about providing transit - THAT'S IT! And it is having a hard enough time providing its base level service...

But, I guess there's jobs to be had in dumping sand in a river... It's all for the fish...and I'm sure it's all for the children, too.

Is Holder saying there are actually dump trucks buried in the industrial fill of the South Waterfront?

Stop TIF now! More scams at tax payer expense.
And yes there probably are entire dump trucks down there.
Alaska junk and Zeidell were there for decades!
Who knows what will turn up? It is a veritable archeological dig.

Like I have mentioned before, we really need to take a serious look not only underground, but behind the scenes as well. Just because something looks "pretty or glitzy" above or above board, does not mean much. Toxins and toxic procedures and decisions need to stop.

A sick society and culture that allows this can no longer be "business as usual." It is in my view becoming more apparent that systems are broken. Hopefully this New Year will bring out more truth and exposure to wrongdoings that hurt our community.

"based on a thorough evaluation of those proposals" (Pause here and allow for 5 seconds of laughter before continuing)

And they think Duck Poop Pond was a problem...

I still can't get over the fact that because it was liquid nobody would dispose of it. So they made it soft concrete!

Lucky Lake Oswego - where the next iteration of the SoWa district is planned. The land there has been industrial for decades - I wonder what pollution problems exist there now. Building within a protected floodplain in a area that is laced with industrial infrastructure -- I wonder if Trimet will be helping out on the development costs there too?

"I am counting on some challenges to come up"

And some pretty big cost plus billings.

"based on a thorough evaluation of those proposals....the contract will go to Kitzhaber's girlfriend".

"Oh, she didn't even submit a proposal? Oh well, that's okay."

I am counting on some challenges to come up.

Jimmy Hoffa?

Before SoWhat even broke ground, the CTLH (Corbett, Terwilliger, Lair Hill) neighborhood association was working on filing an environmental claim. I don't recall if it was an actual superfund application, but it was an attempt to stop the project from moving ahead based on what was known about the fill.

Wow. Corporate welfare on so many fronts. Taxpayers get to pay for cleaning up a mess made by businesses (don't read your water bill too carefully because you are paying to clean up river pollution done by business) and then the sweetheart deal of this contract. Too bad business doesn't like to make money the old fashioned way by actually earning it and not making others subsidize them.

I'm amazed that in such a green town, they'd even consider disturbing that earth. Study after study concludes that the best way to deal with contaminated but stable riverbanks is to leave them alone. There could be anything down there including rotten drums of napalm, pcbs, solvents, dioxin, exotic marine oils and fuels, lead paints, etc. Will those idiots even know what they've found? Do we want that stuff removed from its relatively stable matrix and let loose on Earth? These people are brain dead. It's strange that OHSU wouldn't care more about the potential hazards from poking around in this time capsule. It's unlikely, but still a remote possibility, that they could cause horrible health problems for people in the surrounding area, perhaps even rendering the whole place unfit for having a hospital, and for what? A misguided attempt at restoring fish habitat, when the MAX train construction in the Johnson Creek watershed will have 100x more impact? Nuts. Maybe they'll have the pleasure of having a child born without a skull, and they'll rethink the wisdom of their decisions. Unbelievable!