Planning with Babs (Jack Bog's Blog)

We got a kick out of this story in one of the two silly Portland business papers. In it, former Gov. Barbara Roberts, now a bobblehead on the Metro government board, tells us that she's so happy that the "planners" are really listening to people about what kind of development they want on Barbur Boulevard from Portland to Newberg. If it weren't for Roberts and her fellow Metro drone Carl Hosticka, why, the planners would have made up their minds about what to do before asking for public input:

Rather than telling people what to expect, Metro started the conversation by asking communities what they wanted.
Roberts said when she and fellow Metro Councilor Carl Hosticka were asked to lead the effort she knew there was an opportunity to change the dialogue.

"We both felt strongly that governments too often step up and tell people what they’re going to get, rather than ask them what they want," she said. "Carl and I have done government long enough to know that there is merit in doing it the other way."

She probably actually believes that, but let's face it: If it doesn't involve a light rail mystery train and rows and rows of hideous apartment bunkers, the Metro's, their developer overlords, and especially Earl the Pearl, the bow-tied bike nymph who brings the magic federal dollars, are going to lose all interest in that project.

Comments (11)

I gave them my comments yesterday and encourage all to chime in.

http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id/35309

Posted by pdxjim | June 29, 2012 8:43 AM

"done government long enough" brings to mind several things. Why didn't she just say: "I've done the people....."

Posted by dhughes609 | June 29, 2012 9:08 AM

I've posted my comments there, but in typical Metro fashion anything that discourages light rail will be summarily dismissed. We all know Metro is just the light rail contractors and developers' forum - and NOBODY ELSE.

Posted by Erik H. | June 29, 2012 9:39 AM

Here are the planners listening:

"So, this is a drawing of new 6-story apartment buildings with light rail access, and three lanes of car traffic eliminated to accommodate wider bike lanes and bioswales. So what we want to know from you the public is, what do you think of this plan on a scale of 9 to 10?"

Posted by Snards | June 29, 2012 10:28 AM

The day Babs cares will be the day hell freezes over.

Posted by Evergreen Libertarian | June 29, 2012 10:45 AM

I encourage everyone to take the survey which pdxjim referenced; Snards thanks for the post. I think the survey should have been reduced to two questions:

1. Do you want to tear up Barbur Blvd and Hwy 99W and reduce available road surface from 4 lanes to 2 lanes?

2. Do you think you and your community can afford to pay $2 or $3 billion or more for this project?

Posted by Carol | June 29, 2012 10:54 AM

It's a stupid, worthless survey!

Posted by PDXLexus | June 29, 2012 11:36 AM

As noted here:

http://bojack.org/2012/05/bunkers_on_barbur_good_idea_or.html

Posted by Jack Bog | June 29, 2012 11:54 AM

Babs and more of the "Conversation with Oregon" after M5 hit during her reign decades ago. Been there and "done government".

Posted by Harry | June 29, 2012 12:54 PM

I took the survey - thanks for the link.

My biggest issue is that these guys are all professional planners and engineers, so of course they look at community development in only one way:

Everything is a PROJECT. Look at the terminology of the survey itself.

State-sponsored planning has proven to be a failure and prone to cronyism. A failure not because it can't be useful, but because their approach is flawed.

Posted by Tim | June 29, 2012 1:07 PM

Babs is the nitwit that allowed TriMet to start down the road to bankruptcy. She is the one who approved the huge benefit handout which is now killing TriMet. She was strongly advised against it, but she just wasn't smart enough to understand the advice.

As for the topic at hand, I get the strong impression that she doesn't understand that Metro ignores any input which it doesn't like. She sounds like she thinks someone actually reads the input. I wonder if anyone could tell her otherwise or if she would just nod off to sleep during the explanation.

Posted by Andy | June 29, 2012 7:07 PM

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Friday, June 29, 2012

Planning with Babs

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