The folks running the Portland Streetcar say they want to pull out of Tri-Met's "free rail" zone. Once upon a time, all public transit through the downtown core was free, but Tri-Met jerked the buses out of that program, leaving it strictly to the MAX trains and streetcars, just after the pointless renovation of the downtown transit mall was complete.
Now the streetcar folks are finding that they're running out of money, just like Tri-Met, and they're proposing to end their participation in farelessness. That would leave only the MAX trains free through downtown. One less reason to go down there.
The streetcar staff is also talking about increasing fares (and maybe even figure out how to get people to pay them) and jacking way up the price of an annual streetcar pass. But hey, we're going to bring this wonderful exercise in fiscal stewardship to Lake Oswego and beyond, doggone it! Go by streetcar! [Via Portland Afoot, which dissects the whole package here.]
Good point, Mike. It's amazes me how there's no Tri-Met service over huge swaths of residential areas (Max or otherwise), but then a stop every block around the Convention Center. It makes you wonder, who's Tri-Met really for? It reminds me of how the City recently decided to subsidize rental bikes for tourists but passed on putting in a real bike trail for eastside/downtown commuters. It all seems to be about giving tours to people who might get them a job somewhere else.
As a retired officer that served in the TriMet Detail, I find this absolutely hysterical. When I was assigned to the unit in 2001, we were not allowed to do *any* fare checks on the streetcars.
A full 50% of the exclusions we wrote were overturned by TriMet, and miscreants were routinely allowed back on the system.
A minority of these exclusions were for simple fare-dodging. Most were for drinking, drugs, disruptive behavior, or other "quality of life" issues for the riders.
When I asked why we couldn't fare check on the streetcar, and why our exclusions kept ghetting overturned the answer from management (a PPB Captain) said: "It's poitical, TriMet gets Federal money based on ridership. They don't want anything to impede the numbers of riders." The result was MAX became a rolling crime scene.
This came to a head a few years back when Gresham politicians became alarmed at the increase in crime on MAX within the City limits. The Gresham Officers assigned to TriMet insisted that tough enforcement was the answer, but TriMet balked at this concept.
Finally, the GPD officers assigned to TriMet threatened to resign from the unit en masse, and Gresham made noise about pulling out of the TriMet detail. The Chief in Gresham supported the officers actions, and TriMet relented.
Due to some dedicated police work, within 6 months there was a 17% decrease in violent crime on MAX, east of 162nd.
It is utterly astounding that TriMet has taken 10 years to figure out that enforcement of fare evasion and behavioral standards aboard public transportation are necessary for a safe and secure system.
HMLA-267, so basically trolleys are mere means to siphon federal dollars. And then add on the parking meter revenues they suck, like from SoWhat and state gas taxes through STIP gas tax dollars and we get one big sucking sound. Trolleys have little to do with mass transit.
Between the streetcar fare ($2.00) to ride from 11th & NW Johnson to NW 23rd and the prospect of the new parking meters to be installed on NW 21st and 23rd, the merchants and neighbors of Goose Hollow, Nob Hill and Slabtown are understandably leery. I think if the city could figure out a way to charge pedestrians a per mile fee (I was going to say "sidewalk tax" but in my neighborhood some streets don't have them) to walk around town, it would not hesitate to do so.
Here you've got cars increasingly computerized, and it's not hard to imagine this computerization leading to high levels of safety, energy efficiency and all the while maintaining large elements of trip flexibilty (a truly 21st century adaptation); and yet government at all levels robotically seeks to spend billions on a fixed line, inflexible largely 19th century technology (less than a couple of percent of people significantly utilize).
Maybe these government robots, like Hansen who made bank at TriMet and moved on up before the bills came due, are like HAL in the movie 2001. They have taken over and can only control people by putting them in cattle car like vessels (really another form of nazi-ism). Doesn't matter to these robots what kind of behavior is allowed in and around these vessels; as the primary mission is to control people for the benefit of the robots.
David Wu might have been on to something when he said there are cleons in the white house. He should have extended it to stump town city hall and Metro.
It may become a ghost train, but Charlie Hales said "I cites the streetcar work as evidence of My walking the walk when it comes to promoting the livable, sustainable values Portland prides itself on. “I’ve proven that that was real, not just a notion of mine,” http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=131543434137401200
I use the halfway house on wheels sometimes when I have something heavy to carry back to my place and the streetcar is coming. Otherwise I walk. The streetcar only saves me one minute between stops because you can almost walk as fast as it goes. If they start charging for it in downtown, I wont ride it. Other than tourists, drunks, and junkies, who would?
management (a PPB Captain) said: "It's poitical, TriMet gets Federal money based on ridership. They don't want anything to impede the numbers of riders."
I once had a TriMet mid-level manager tell me essentially that TriMet doesn't see the area citizens or riders as "customers".
TriMet's "customers" are those government agencies - the Federal Transit Administration, Metro, ODOT, the cities - that pay TriMet to build and run light rail.
To TriMet, light rail is a product. The buses are just an annoyance and a leftover from TriMet's original design and intent but needed to protect TriMet's taxing district (which TriMet denies, but then why is TriMet fighting so hard to keep Boring in the district, while TriMet gave a pass to the South End area of Oregon City a few years back?)
"....Doesn't some of the streetcar operating budget come from the City of Portland's Transportation Bureau (PBOT)?"
Yes, it does. And one of the basic services provided by PBOT that had to go because of the streetcar was the ticketing of vehicles illegally stored on the street. This directly affects the livability of neighborhoods; in fact, there have been three accidents* on my block since 2007, all caused by illegally-stored vehicles.
My neighbors and I pay a large price every day for the streetcar, having to look at and avoid hitting illegally-stored vehicles. As far as I'm concerned, it's way past time for streetcar users to share in that inconvenience.
*Results from these accidents: three totaled vehicles, one person taken away in an ambulance.
We were just in Brisbane and were FLOORED by the absolutely seamless transit system. Noone bothers with trains or streetcar BS. There is a bus, every 10 minutes, from everywhere to everywhere, with dedicated lanes, and available all days of the week. AND, you need to pay the driver, or buy a transit card which you touch to an electronic sensor in front of the driver. You can give the drivers money but it is disliked. Ubiquitous convenience stores and transit centers sell passes for any amount of money you want to put on your transit card.
Bike-haters, this is a city that has so much bicycle infrastructure it actually feels safe to ride there, which we did, for 3 days, all over town. Something I would never do in Portland.
I saw only one homeless person on the street during a pretty wide-ranging exploration of Queensland. At a Woolworth's at 8 in the morning, I alerted a checkout clerk about a shrieking man with an animal kingdom appearance, kicking the wall outside the store. She went outside, took a cautious look, came back and said, "he doesn't look familiar. Best not to make eye contact, yeah?".
"Yeah."
Also, the male airline attendant on Virgin Australia called my tween son "honey", more than once. The overland train guys routinely called me "dahlin". The airport security guard called the hubby "mate" as we were being screened.
EVERY SINGLE AIRLINE SECURITY PERSON SAID THANK YOU AND SMILED. TSA, please put out a memo. Smiles and friendly demeanor are good. It makes getting around SO much more fun.
NW Portlander wrote: Between the streetcar fare ($2.00) to ride from 11th & NW Johnson to NW 23rd and the prospect of the new parking meters to be installed on NW 21st and 23rd, the merchants and neighbors of Goose Hollow, Nob Hill and Slabtown are understandably leery. I think if the city could figure out a way to charge pedestrians a per mile fee (I was going to say "sidewalk tax" but in my neighborhood some streets don't have them) to walk around town, it would not hesitate to do so.
Excellent idea! Look for the next charrette to propose how the city could charge, not a sur-tax, but a chaussure-taxe. Taxes, like meals, are more palatable in French.
Lange, Pinot Gris 2015
Kiona, Lemberger 2014
Willamette Valley, Pinot Gris 2015
Aix, Rosé de Provence 2016
Marchigüe, Cabernet 2013
Inazío Irruzola, Getariako Txakolina Rosé 2015
Maso Canali, Pinot Grigio 2015
Campo Viejo, Rioja Reserva 2011
Kirkland, Côtes de Provence Rosé 2016
Cantele, Salice Salentino Reserva 2013
Whispering Angel, Côtes de Provence Rosé 2013
Avissi, Prosecco
Cleto Charli, Lambrusco di Sorbara Secco, Vecchia Modena
Pique Poul, Rosé 2016
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly Rosé 2016
Stoller, Pinot Noir Rosé 2016
Chehalem, Inox Chardonnay 2015
The Four Graces, Pinot Gris 2015
Gascón, Colosal Red 2013
Cardwell Hill, Pinot Gris 2015
L'Ecole No. 41, Merlot 2013
Della Terra, Anonymus
Willamette Valley, Dijon Clone Chardonnay 2013
Wraith, Cabernet, Eidolon Estate 2012
Januik, Red 2015
Tomassi, Valpolicella, Rafaél, 2014
Sharecropper's Pinot Noir 2013
Helix, Pomatia Red Blend 2013
La Espera, Cabernet 2011
Campo Viejo, Rioja Reserva 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2013
Locations, Spanish Red Wine
Locations, Argentinian Red Wine
La Antigua Clásico, Rioja 2011
Shatter, Grenache, Maury 2012
Argyle, Vintage Brut 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #16
Abacela, Fiesta Tempranillo 2014
Benton Hill, Pinot Gris 2015
Primarius, Pinot Gris 2015
Januik, Merlot 2013
Napa Cellars, Cabernet 2013
J. Bookwalter, Protagonist 2012
LAN, Rioja Edicion Limitada 2011
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2009
Denada Cellars, Cabernet, Maipo Valley 2014
Marchigüe, Cabernet, Colchagua Valley 2013
Oberon, Cabernet 2014
Hedges, Red Mountain 2012
Balboa, Rose of Grenache 2015
Ontañón, Rioja Reserva 2015
Three Horse Ranch, Pinot Gris 2014
Archery Summit, Vireton Pinot Gris 2014
Nelms Road, Merlot 2013
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris 2014
Conn Creek, Cabernet, Napa 2012
Conn Creek, Cabernet, Napa 2013
Villa Maria, Sauvignon Blanc 2015
G3, Cabernet 2013
Chateau Smith, Cabernet, Washington State 2014
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #16
Willamette Valley, Rose of Pinot Noir, Whole Clusters 2015
Albero, Bobal Rose 2015
Ca' del Baio Barbaresco Valgrande 2012
Goodfellow, Reserve Pinot Gris, Clover 2014
Lugana, San Benedetto 2014
Wente, Cabernet, Charles Wetmore 2011
La Espera, Cabernet 2011
King Estate, Pinot Gris 2015
Adelsheim, Pinot Gris 2015
Trader Joe's, Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley 2015
La Vite Lucente, Toscana Red 2013
St. Francis, Cabernet, Sonoma 2013
Kendall-Jackson, Pinot Noir, California 2013
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Napa Valley 2013
Erath, Pinot Noir, Estate Selection 2012
Abbot's Table, Columbia Valley 2014
Intrinsic, Cabernet 2014
Oyster Bay, Pinot Noir 2010
Occhipinti, SP68 Bianco 2014
Layer Cake, Shiraz 2013
Desert Wind, Ruah 2011
WillaKenzie, Pinot Gris 2014
Abacela, Fiesta Tempranillo 2013
Des Amis, Rose 2014
Dunham, Trautina 2012
RoxyAnn, Claret 2012
Del Ri, Claret 2012
Stoppa, Emilia, Red 2004
Primarius, Pinot Noir 2013
Domaines Bunan, Bandol Rose 2015
Albero, Bobal Rose 2015
Deer Creek, Pinot Gris 2015
Beaulieu, Rutherford Cabernet 2013
Archery Summit, Vireton Pinot Gris 2014
King Estate, Pinot Gris, Backbone 2014
Oberon, Napa Cabernet 2013
Apaltagua, Envero Carmenere Gran Reserva 2013
Chateau des Arnauds, Cuvee des Capucins 2012
Nine Hats, Red 2013
Benziger, Cabernet, Sonoma 2012
Roxy Ann, Claret 2012
Januik, Merlot 2012
Conundrum, White 2013
St. Francis, Sonoma Cabernet 2012
The Occasional Book
Phil Stanford - Rose City Vice
Kenneth R. Feinberg - What is Life Worth?
Kent Haruf - Our Souls at Night
Peter Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang
Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games
Amy Stewart - Girl Waits With Gun
Philip Roth - The Plot Against America
Norm Macdonald - Based on a True Story
Christopher Buckley - Boomsday
Ryan Holiday - The Obstacle is the Way
Ruth Sepetys - Between Shades of Gray
Richard Adams - Watership Down
Claire Vaye Watkins - Gold Fame Citrus
Markus Zusak - I am the Messenger
Anthony Doerr - All the Light We Cannot See
James Joyce - Dubliners
Cheryl Strayed - Torch
William Golding - Lord of the Flies
Saul Bellow - Mister Sammler's Planet
Phil Stanford - White House Call Girl
John Kaplan & Jon R. Waltz - The Trial of Jack Ruby
Kent Haruf - Eventide
David Halberstam - Summer of '49
Norman Mailer - The Naked and the Dead
Maria Dermoȗt - The Ten Thousand Things
William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
Christopher Buckley - Thank You for Smoking
William Shakespeare - Othello
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cheryl Strayed - Tiny Beautiful Things
Sara Varon - Bake Sale
Stephen King - 11/22/63
Paul Goldstein - Errors and Omissions
Mark Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Steve Martin - Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Beverly Cleary - A Girl from Yamhill, a Memoir
Kent Haruf - Plainsong
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 113
At this date last year: 155
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (25)
And today, the kids at the Merc are talkin' 'bout streetcars.
Posted by Garage Wine | September 8, 2011 8:19 AM
And don't forget, the average person can walk faster than the streetcar from point A to point B.
Posted by Mike (one of the many) | September 8, 2011 8:23 AM
Good point, Mike. It's amazes me how there's no Tri-Met service over huge swaths of residential areas (Max or otherwise), but then a stop every block around the Convention Center. It makes you wonder, who's Tri-Met really for? It reminds me of how the City recently decided to subsidize rental bikes for tourists but passed on putting in a real bike trail for eastside/downtown commuters. It all seems to be about giving tours to people who might get them a job somewhere else.
Posted by observer | September 8, 2011 8:30 AM
They really should take the name "car" out of streetcar. It just ain't cool no more.
How about railslow?
Posted by Ralph Woods | September 8, 2011 8:33 AM
Portland agenda, meet drain.
Posted by Ben | September 8, 2011 8:37 AM
fare + streetcar = ghost trains
Posted by other steve | September 8, 2011 8:49 AM
Since the streetcar is for transit-oriented development, maybe the developers could contribute since it is there for them.
Posted by Steve | September 8, 2011 9:00 AM
Portland's Rail Transit system has been enormously successful spurring more than $8 billion in economic investment.
Cheers from down under,
Fred Hansen
Posted by Ben | September 8, 2011 9:07 AM
As a retired officer that served in the TriMet Detail, I find this absolutely hysterical. When I was assigned to the unit in 2001, we were not allowed to do *any* fare checks on the streetcars.
A full 50% of the exclusions we wrote were overturned by TriMet, and miscreants were routinely allowed back on the system.
A minority of these exclusions were for simple fare-dodging. Most were for drinking, drugs, disruptive behavior, or other "quality of life" issues for the riders.
When I asked why we couldn't fare check on the streetcar, and why our exclusions kept ghetting overturned the answer from management (a PPB Captain) said: "It's poitical, TriMet gets Federal money based on ridership. They don't want anything to impede the numbers of riders." The result was MAX became a rolling crime scene.
This came to a head a few years back when Gresham politicians became alarmed at the increase in crime on MAX within the City limits. The Gresham Officers assigned to TriMet insisted that tough enforcement was the answer, but TriMet balked at this concept.
Finally, the GPD officers assigned to TriMet threatened to resign from the unit en masse, and Gresham made noise about pulling out of the TriMet detail. The Chief in Gresham supported the officers actions, and TriMet relented.
Due to some dedicated police work, within 6 months there was a 17% decrease in violent crime on MAX, east of 162nd.
It is utterly astounding that TriMet has taken 10 years to figure out that enforcement of fare evasion and behavioral standards aboard public transportation are necessary for a safe and secure system.
Posted by HMLA-267 | September 8, 2011 9:23 AM
....and streetcar Charlie wants back in!
...to build more?
Posted by clinamen | September 8, 2011 9:28 AM
HMLA-267, so basically trolleys are mere means to siphon federal dollars. And then add on the parking meter revenues they suck, like from SoWhat and state gas taxes through STIP gas tax dollars and we get one big sucking sound. Trolleys have little to do with mass transit.
Posted by lw | September 8, 2011 9:35 AM
Between the streetcar fare ($2.00) to ride from 11th & NW Johnson to NW 23rd and the prospect of the new parking meters to be installed on NW 21st and 23rd, the merchants and neighbors of Goose Hollow, Nob Hill and Slabtown are understandably leery. I think if the city could figure out a way to charge pedestrians a per mile fee (I was going to say "sidewalk tax" but in my neighborhood some streets don't have them) to walk around town, it would not hesitate to do so.
Posted by NW Portlander | September 8, 2011 9:38 AM
Here you've got cars increasingly computerized, and it's not hard to imagine this computerization leading to high levels of safety, energy efficiency and all the while maintaining large elements of trip flexibilty (a truly 21st century adaptation); and yet government at all levels robotically seeks to spend billions on a fixed line, inflexible largely 19th century technology (less than a couple of percent of people significantly utilize).
Maybe these government robots, like Hansen who made bank at TriMet and moved on up before the bills came due, are like HAL in the movie 2001. They have taken over and can only control people by putting them in cattle car like vessels (really another form of nazi-ism). Doesn't matter to these robots what kind of behavior is allowed in and around these vessels; as the primary mission is to control people for the benefit of the robots.
David Wu might have been on to something when he said there are cleons in the white house. He should have extended it to stump town city hall and Metro.
Posted by Bob Clark | September 8, 2011 9:42 AM
It may become a ghost train, but Charlie Hales said "I cites the streetcar work as evidence of My walking the walk when it comes to promoting the livable, sustainable values Portland prides itself on. “I’ve proven that that was real, not just a notion of mine,”
http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=131543434137401200
Posted by phil | September 8, 2011 10:27 AM
I use the halfway house on wheels sometimes when I have something heavy to carry back to my place and the streetcar is coming. Otherwise I walk. The streetcar only saves me one minute between stops because you can almost walk as fast as it goes. If they start charging for it in downtown, I wont ride it. Other than tourists, drunks, and junkies, who would?
Posted by Robert | September 8, 2011 11:05 AM
Good point, Mike A - even on a plus 90 degree day!
And, doesn't some of the streetcar operating budget come from the City of Portland's Transportation Bureau (PBOT)?
Posted by umpire | September 8, 2011 11:06 AM
management (a PPB Captain) said: "It's poitical, TriMet gets Federal money based on ridership. They don't want anything to impede the numbers of riders."
I once had a TriMet mid-level manager tell me essentially that TriMet doesn't see the area citizens or riders as "customers".
TriMet's "customers" are those government agencies - the Federal Transit Administration, Metro, ODOT, the cities - that pay TriMet to build and run light rail.
To TriMet, light rail is a product. The buses are just an annoyance and a leftover from TriMet's original design and intent but needed to protect TriMet's taxing district (which TriMet denies, but then why is TriMet fighting so hard to keep Boring in the district, while TriMet gave a pass to the South End area of Oregon City a few years back?)
Posted by Erik H. | September 8, 2011 11:26 AM
We're just cargo, Erik.
Posted by Old Zeb | September 8, 2011 12:27 PM
"....Doesn't some of the streetcar operating budget come from the City of Portland's Transportation Bureau (PBOT)?"
Yes, it does. And one of the basic services provided by PBOT that had to go because of the streetcar was the ticketing of vehicles illegally stored on the street. This directly affects the livability of neighborhoods; in fact, there have been three accidents* on my block since 2007, all caused by illegally-stored vehicles.
My neighbors and I pay a large price every day for the streetcar, having to look at and avoid hitting illegally-stored vehicles. As far as I'm concerned, it's way past time for streetcar users to share in that inconvenience.
*Results from these accidents: three totaled vehicles, one person taken away in an ambulance.
Posted by Patsy | September 8, 2011 1:36 PM
Trimet is a profit making business. It just gets its profits from a source other than customers.
Posted by Evergreen Libertarian | September 8, 2011 1:40 PM
Trimet is a profit making business. It just gets its profits from a source other than customers.
~~~>It sure is,at least for some people.
I believe it was Mr Jack Bogdanski that came up with this LIST!
Posted by AL M | September 8, 2011 2:13 PM
We were just in Brisbane and were FLOORED by the absolutely seamless transit system. Noone bothers with trains or streetcar BS. There is a bus, every 10 minutes, from everywhere to everywhere, with dedicated lanes, and available all days of the week. AND, you need to pay the driver, or buy a transit card which you touch to an electronic sensor in front of the driver. You can give the drivers money but it is disliked. Ubiquitous convenience stores and transit centers sell passes for any amount of money you want to put on your transit card.
Bike-haters, this is a city that has so much bicycle infrastructure it actually feels safe to ride there, which we did, for 3 days, all over town. Something I would never do in Portland.
I saw only one homeless person on the street during a pretty wide-ranging exploration of Queensland. At a Woolworth's at 8 in the morning, I alerted a checkout clerk about a shrieking man with an animal kingdom appearance, kicking the wall outside the store. She went outside, took a cautious look, came back and said, "he doesn't look familiar. Best not to make eye contact, yeah?".
"Yeah."
Also, the male airline attendant on Virgin Australia called my tween son "honey", more than once. The overland train guys routinely called me "dahlin". The airport security guard called the hubby "mate" as we were being screened.
EVERY SINGLE AIRLINE SECURITY PERSON SAID THANK YOU AND SMILED. TSA, please put out a memo. Smiles and friendly demeanor are good. It makes getting around SO much more fun.
Posted by gaye harris | September 8, 2011 3:32 PM
NW Portlander wrote:
Between the streetcar fare ($2.00) to ride from 11th & NW Johnson to NW 23rd and the prospect of the new parking meters to be installed on NW 21st and 23rd, the merchants and neighbors of Goose Hollow, Nob Hill and Slabtown are understandably leery. I think if the city could figure out a way to charge pedestrians a per mile fee (I was going to say "sidewalk tax" but in my neighborhood some streets don't have them) to walk around town, it would not hesitate to do so.
Excellent idea! Look for the next charrette to propose how the city could charge, not a sur-tax, but a chaussure-taxe. Taxes, like meals, are more palatable in French.
Posted by Isaac Laquedem | September 8, 2011 4:23 PM
We're just cargo, Erik.
You ought to see how much attention the freight railroads give to cargo. Some of those new refrigerated cars are pretty damn nice.
TriMet bus riders are BELOW cargo.
Posted by Erik H. | September 8, 2011 7:29 PM
The caption writer for the photo of Charlie Hales in the PTrib's (Anderson) piece on him in the Sept 8 edition notes:
"Hales has one of just two lifetime streetcar passes. The other belongs to Congressman Earl Blumenauer."
To the victor the spoils have always belonged.
Is it likely either Mr Hales or Mr Blumenauer will voluntarily surrender his free ride?
Posted by Gardiner Menefree | September 9, 2011 12:52 PM