They don't seem to have thought recently about who votes.

Or who doesn't vote.

It is hip to not vote. Voting is for old geezers, not young geekers.

They're "effing" delusional. And yeah, smug. They're all bozos on that bus, but not funny at all.

I would never ask one of them about computers but maybe that's because I've had a real job in IT for 30 plus years.

I remember when Boomers were young and wanting to take over the world. We knew we had to work for it and we worked damned hard. We have barfed at the idea of a creative class. And we voted. Because after all we were the first generation of 18 yols allowed to vote.

I think this guy's in for an education. He stands not a chance with Charlie The Fixer and Eileen The Green.

Never trust anyone under 30.

Your headline has me literal laughing out loud... "Bus Project goes all "us vs. them" on its elders"

Jack, you are one of the biggest fomenters of generational warfare rhetoric in the Portland area. Remember, you oldster might be winning recent battles, but in the long run you lose first.

Nice self-righteous Boomer rant there, LucsAdvo. Geez...

What makes this group think that gov'ment listens to anybody any more?

The folks that gets their opinion heard don't need to fill out an effing survey.

"It's up to us to make it awesome!"

Funny thing about that. You work to make it awesome for your 25-year-old self, then you hit 35 with a couple kids and realize that your 25-year-old self was clueless.

This is ridiculous.

Metro has already whined that their opt-in program is overwhelmingly dominated by the usual lefty TriMet/Metro loyalists.

So what could the Bus Project, of all people, possibly think is not getting across to the planners when their favorite activists already run the entire place?

Is this a response to head off any trickle of conservative opting-in particiaption? Total tyranny is best?

Metro and TriMet should be reduced to covering only Multnomah County who they currently only consider.

Hate to say it, but generational warfare has already broken out and will continue to rage until the the majority of the Baby Boomers shake off their mortal coils. Young people want different things than old people, and with less money to go around, we'll have to choose between things that primarily benefit young people (schools, parks, libraries) and things that primarily benefit old people (pensions, healthcare, low taxes). When it comes to voting for which will be made priorities, my money's on Grandpa.

You only have to look at unions (both private-sector and public-sector) to see a microcosm for how this plays out. Whether its the OEA or the UAW, the unions have fought for job security, pensions, and gold-plated healthcare for older members at the expense of their younger coworkers who face lower starting salaries, fewer benefits, and decreased job opportunities. 'Course, the unions are just doing what their members tell them to, and older union members vote more reliably than younger ones. Anyone who thinks all PERS participants are cossetted 8-percenters clearly hasn't talked to an Oregon public employee under the age of 40.

I got the same email. Here's the image that is missing. It shows that the email was a joint project of Metro and the Bus Project. So, it seems that Metro is getting all "us versus them," too.

...The folks that gets their opinion heard don't need to fill out an effing survey.

So true.
Surveys? Those tend to be controlled as well!

The wording of this painful/pitiful in its desperate attempt to be cool.

It reminds me of stuff Kari Chisholm writes. Maybe he was in on it?

"Metro's internetz panel..." - really? That's embarrassing. I hope she doesn't consider me a part of the "generation" she's talking about.

Young people always want to storm the Bastille. The funny thing is, they don't realize that they're already well on their way to middle-age and beyond, let alone that every generation, when "young", thinks the rest of the world is clueless. Hardly original, but definitely pitiful!

The wording of this painful/pitiful in its desperate attempt to be cool.

I almost spit my coffee out laughing while reading this. My teen would have nothing to do with this based on the "lameness" factor alone.

"Internetz?" Really?

"Effing?" "Awesome(r)?" "Serious-face time?" (As opposed to serious 'face-time' I guess?)

And it's signed "Love!!!"

Pretentious, pandering, painfully self-conscious, not remotely clever anywhere. This "Caitlin" person is getting paid for this crap. Scary, but not half as scary as anyone buying into it.

Wow. Metro is "world famous"? Wow.

Oh, and to deconstruct's Eric's mess here:

Young people want different things than old people

Er, duh. But society is made up of young *and* old people.

and with less money to go around, we'll have to choose between things that primarily benefit young people (schools, parks, libraries)

First, it's the "old" people (that is, property owners) who pay for schools. Second, those "young people" using parks are accompanied by *old people*. Ever had kids? Last, guess which demographic uses libaries the most? Young people? Wrong. "Old" people. Three strikes so far, but let's press on:

and things that primarily benefit old people (pensions, healthcare, low taxes).

I think you're genuinely confused, because you think the demographic splits so simplistically and cleanly along "age" lines. It never has, and isn't now.

When it comes to voting for which will be made priorities, my money's on Grandpa.

You mean, like a billion or so for bike paths? Go grandpa.

You only have to look at unions (both private-sector and public-sector) to see a microcosm for how this plays out.

Unions are often heavily young and middle-aged, not "old". that is, people in professions and with families.

Whether its the OEA or the UAW, the unions have fought for job security, pensions, and gold-plated healthcare for older members

Horsesh*t. Teachers in Oregon have some of the most mediocre healthcare in the state, for starters--and it gets chipped away at yearly. Other union members? Similar story. Not only are you wrong, your bias is showing clearly now.

at the expense of their younger coworkers who face lower starting salaries, fewer benefits, and decreased job opportunities.

Gag. The highest unemployment right now, in salary value, is amongst those who are middle aged and older. And as far as I know, there is no "progressively better" benefit as you get older. Tell me where, and I'll go work there. Let me guess--you think teachers in Oregon now get a fat pension. WRONG, boyo, and stunningly wrong. Ask a teacher who's been in the Oregon system for 10 years or less.

and older union members vote more reliably than younger ones.

Dude, you keep getting wronger with each screed. Give me proof that this is true. Any proof. Voting records. Reliable anything at all.

Anyone who thinks all PERS participants are cossetted 8-percenters clearly hasn't talked to an Oregon public employee under the age of 40.

It's been that way for many years, and you're arguing both for and against PERS, weirdly. It has nothing to do with age; it has to do with differing tiers of PERS that state government created. PERS continues to get worse, and that has nothing to do with the age of the participants.

"Right now, they're mostly hearing from old folks."

To paraphrase Oedipus: "First you kill the father"

Besides that, the "young" folks they have running things are pretty much a bunch of hamsters who think the same thoughts and then tell each other how smart they are.

I googled Caitlin Baggott. She's a Reed graduate who's written for BlueOregon and Oregon Humanities magazine (U-O) among other publications. This cutesy pseudo-hip semi-literacy is sheer shtick. In reality, doesn't she disrespect her target audience -- deeply?

Sally, I thought semi-literacy was a trademark of Weed College.

LucsAdvo, I thought intellectualism was Reed's trademark. Speaking of "trade," I guess Ms. Baggott traded in her intellectualism for hucksterism and hype. Someone should pen a parody of Elmer Gantry around this new-age roadshow. It's even got the bus. It even STARTS with the bus! The thing practically writes itself. (I'm just not sure which character, Smith or Baggott, would play which role, Elmer Gantry or Sister Sharon. Baggott might indeed be the born-again and only true believer.)

Teachers in Oregon have some of the most mediocre healthcare in the state...
-----

I've heard that as well. Walmart, McDonalds, Subway all have better healthcare than public teachers.

Teachers have to pay $300-400/month for their healthcare. All the others only have to pay $50/month, with only $10 co-pays.

Sally, I have briefly dated a Weedie and worked with several others. I have not found any of them to be intellectual pillars. I have found them to be shallow, spoiled, and lazy. But hey this is the crew that trashes their campus annually before graduation. What an intellectual statement that is.

"would you like fries with that?" or "double, triple 1/2-1/2 americano"...some creative class

Metro is "world famous"?

Where've you been hiding? Of course it is. That's why nobody else has followed their "model".

Bet dollars to donuts that the older females Metro thinks are overloaded on its panel are saying they want schools and basic services freed from the 25% mordita being raked off for Sam's real estate buddies. They are probably hoping the young males from Clackamas County will say they want to live in vertical starter-forclosure condo farms.

East County voices needed. Stat.

Out here in forgotten-land, we care SO MUCH about our neighborhood getting heard in our democracy. [bold font] We're raising our children in this pace, so it's up to us to keep it awesome. Trouble is, people in power rarely ask us what we think about anything (except...ummm...nothing. They effing never ask us about anything.)

This is just another "us vs. them" approach to try to whip the masses into a desired action.

Michelle,
Be careful what you ask for.
I have heard people in East County express the sentiment that they were better off before the city interfered, some saying "Just leave us alone."
Seems there are only a "few" neighborhoods that are listened to, most others have been abused in one way or another.

The only buses we're talking about are:

1. The folks who ride the bus aren't you and I, they're the chosen beautiful people who get to ride a specially outfitted motorcoach, with all the luxurious amenities that only V.I.P.s receive.

2. The rest of us will be, so to speak, thrown under the bus. We all know Metro has no interest or concern for buses, bus riders, or bus-served neighborhoods. You're either "with them" (in a dense, urban, Streetcar and bike lane served neighborhood) or "against them" (in a pleasant suburban neighborhood with parks, playgrounds, sidewalks, schools, oh, and yes we drive and take the bus.)