Gee, this almost makes up for Kitz' daily caravan from the Pearl district to Salem - Even after we give him a free house down there.

The stuff he must do to keep the missus happy.

People tend to drive a lot less when they don't have a job to drive to.

Gee, drive less? Think it has anything to do with gasoline going from $1.89 to over $3.50 in the last four years? Nawww!

Organizations like this have to keep up the sermon to keep the donations flowing in from the faithful.

P.S. Once local government succeeds in putting 95% of the population in the poor house, nobody will be able to drive anywhere and the dream will have come true.

Isn't it fun to see a phenomenon out in the world and then just claim that you caused it?

For instance, my campaign to bring exploding meteors to earth has paid off 100%!

Also, I'm proud to announce that our initiative to ensure that fall was followed by winter was a complete success!

Also, the streetcar has "caused" billions in investment!

See how that works?

I wonder how the rally squad at the big O will handle this PR release.

CO2 in the atmosphere is about 3% of all greenhouse gases. Human-induced CO2 is around 3% of that amount (97% is natural and essential to life). So we are adding around 0.09% of CO2 to the atmosphere for ALL industrial output - including those horrible cars.

Even if their BS was correct that they caused a reduction in car trips, it would still be scientifically insignificant and a huge waste of money as far as reducing CO2 goes.

Great comment, Snards!

To build on Tim's comment. Total CO2 is about .04% of the atmosphere. Not 4%, but .04%. Tiny. As Tim said, our contribution is 3% of that.

Since it's hard to wrap your mind around such tiny numbers, I explain it to my friends thusly: In a 90,000 seat football stadium, .04% equals 36 seats. So that represents all CO2 in the atmosphere. Our contribution, 3%, is equal to 1 seat in that stadium. ONE. So doubling human CO2 would equal TWO seats. And that's what all the fuss is about.

Another fun way of looking at it. One a 100yd football field, total CO2 equals 1.4 inches. Our 3% of that is .04 inches. That's it. If you want to get all metric, that's right about 1 milimeter.

My first thought was, "Why is a government agency (ODOT) using a dot 'com' website?".

From FAQ on this "drive less..." website:
------------------------
"Q Who sponsors the Drive Less/Save More Campaign?"

"The Drive Less/Save More Campaign is sponsored by Metro, the Oregon Department of Transportation, TriMet, the city of Portland and other public/private organizations. Click here to see the full sponsorship list."
------------------------
Well, THAT certainly muddies the water.

When anyone says, "public/private partnership..." grab your wallet.

Larry, it's actually 360 seats, not 36 seats. So its 10.8 seats, not 1 seat. Doesn't change your overall point though.

"The Drive Less/Save More Campaign is sponsored by Metro, the Oregon Department of Transportation, TriMet, the city of Portland and other public/private organizations."

The funny thing is that Drive Less/Save More claims that its goal is to "reduce car trips in Oregon and SW Washington" despite what appears to be a complete lack of involvement by any organization in Washington.

Guess it's like light rail on the CRC crossing - it is the job of Portland elites to bring the benefits of Goddess Gaia to the heathens in Clark County, whether the heathens want it or not.

Why, Clark County is so backwards that they still construct new roads to accommodate population growth! Portland obviously needs to guide these simple souls - with patience and training, perhaps they can get Vancouver to construct a streetcar.

Bob - nope. 390 parts per million (rounding to 400) = .0004. Multiplied by 90,000 seats = 36 seats. Where is my math wrong?

Randomx,
Metro has been drooling over getting their meathooks into Clark County for years. Their strategy is to extend the rail lines across the river via the new CRC to gain a foothold. Like Hitler's annexation of Austria, they are hoping that then Clark County will come along willingly.

Metro's problem is that Clark County isn't buying. A popular vote overwhelming opposed to light rail was recently affirmed by the Clark County Commission.

I do truly hope that Clark County never loses sight of the reality that Metro is a powerful and unelected government body which has decided its purpose is to micromanage everyone's lives. Clark County may be lacking in hipsters and other cultural amenities, but like an empty field on the other side of the barbed wire in a divided Germany, to a lot of Oregonians, former or soon to be, it represents freedom.

"Clark County may be lacking in hipsters and other cultural amenities, but like an empty field on the other side of the barbed wire in a divided Germany, to a lot of Oregonians, former or soon to be, it represents freedom."

Which is why the Portland political class hates Clark County...

Metro is a powerful and unelected government body

Er, pretty sure I voted in a couple elections featuring Metro races.

Gee, since people are driving less, we're going to have to increase gas tax rates to make up for our lost revenue.

Sounds like the Water Bureau (without Randy's help!) bought into that line.

Since it's such a hugely successful campaign when is ODOT going to start reducing its staff?

All of the Portland Polite and nepotism/rigging/scamming/defaming that goes on in Multnomah County government and business is already catching up with itself. It will be Portland's undoing. There aren't just cracks in the pavement. There's potholes, purses, stashes, payoffs, bribes, tips, blackmail, lies, defamation, misappropriation, manipulation, corruption, neglect, denial, refusal & arrogance abound. Portland has become a real piece of work. Will be fun to watch the show from out of state as a former resident.

Pure advertising GENIUS. Right up there with Apple's "1984" campaign. Somebody call the Clio's and set aside some shiny, gold trophies!

“Reduced road miles translates into a reduction of about 10,700 tons of greenhouse gases released into our atmosphere\Campaign has saved public more than $8 million in auto operating costs”

Not necessarily. Driving a fuel efficient car such as a Toyota Prius emits less Co2 per passenger mile that riding transit - even in Portland. Furthermore, in addition to using taxpayer paid transportation dollars to fund the Drive Less Save More Campaign, less dollars from driving are being collected to pay for transport infrastructure. If the program initiated a switch from car usage to transit; and since transit fares cover only 25 percent of operating costs; then in Portland taxpayer paid dollars are subsidizing each one-way by $7.50. For a commuter that has switched to transit, that equates to a $75.00 subsidy for a 5-day work week. If the program initiated a switch from driving to a bike, it is one less taxpayer and one more freeloader. Finally, since eight to ten percent of the jobs in the US are tied to the auto industry, driving less and lowering car ownership can only equate to a loss of jobs, a large percentage of them family wage private sector jobs.

This is what you get with progressive envirocrat zealots: An empty promise of so-called green jobs while eliminating both private sector jobs and the collection of revenue by replacing financially self-sustainable taxpaying transport with taxpayer subsidized transport alternatives, and then complain there is a lack of funding. What idiots! The creation of unsustainable debt just keeps growing for their government controlled un-finically supported fantasy world. It is time to significantly hike transit fares and require hefty bicycle license and registration fees.

Larry, you're right. I misread your post. Sorry.

It's all of a piece with this recent "report" on KGW about high gas prices:

http://www.kgw.com/home/Gas-prices-rise-for-32-days-straight-191752211.html

Some of the advice is ludicrous. Turn off your engine when idling more than 20 seconds? Nobody is going to do that, unless their car is designed to stop and start the motor automatically.

Wait 10 minutes before turning on the heater? Again, nobody is going to make that sacrifice. And how the hell do you expect people to defrost their windshields? This advice might actually be dangerous.

This sort of self-imposed suffering sounds rather like the kinds of things that the "just don't drive at all" crowd would suggest, to make you feel like driving is unpleasant.

Yet, all the studies I've seen is that single-occupant motor vehicle trips aren't that far down (a couple percentage points, but not significantly); TriMet ridership is FLAT, bicycling use is up but almost to the exact proportion that bus ridership is down (basically inner-city Portland residents have given up on TriMet's buses and switched to buses)...carpooling is almost non-existant in Portland as is telecommuting.

So what is being planned behind the curtain?
To make Portland a shining experiment, the first city to either ban autos completely from certain areas or limit times? They already have certain streets designated at 20 mph, it is only a matter of time to close some down completely to autos.

Two observations on today's streetcar commute:

TriMet is going to have to figure out what to do with two growing populations:

Aging baby boomers and their Hoverounds, Rascals or whatever

and

Street people with their huge bags of stuff, carts and wheelchairs

Both coming and going the streetcar was packed with scooters and stinkers. I didn't notice either paying although the folks in the scooters probably have a disabled monthly pass.

In one case, a hugely overweight gentleman in a scooter not only took up the space available for the disabled, but blocked two seats so that no one else could use them. A homeless fellow in a wheelchair with all his earthly possessions in his lap parked in the middle of the aisle so that it was impossible for anyone to get to either end of the streetcar. Then two other scooter riders boarded and it was gridlock all the way downtown with nobody able to get to the fare box even if they had wanted to.

On the way home three drunken, filthy guys elbowed their way on, spouting profanity and pinballed off the other passengers while trying to decide when to get off. This involved a lot of hammering on the glass door and spitting on the floor. Oh, they didn't pay either.

But on the bright side, they weren't driving.

And these same clowns will get re-elected again and again and again.
OH well , at least there not Republicans.

I think the idea is for us to have such a disdain for government that we will welcome with open arms what we expect will be better, privatization!
Be careful what one might wish for here, in my view, doors will be closed tighter than a drum then and zero say and we have given up complete oversight, control.
It know it seems we have no say now, that is what happens when we have elected officials working for the "private" whether via pet projects or corporations.
If we can get past electing career politicians, those who have betrayed us, and start being seriously involved and engaged in our elections, and even back to hand counting if need be, that might help.
In my view government is a word, it can be good or bad, we just need the good people in it.

Dear Clinamen:

Don't keep your light under a bushel. I make polite anti-rail phone calls to my elected representatives all the time. Hale
is not dumb and seems to amenable to putting the brakes on no-parking bunkers if the yelling is loud enough.

The situation can be partially salvaged with enough activism by average Portlanders.

Show up at the comprehensive plan meetings.
Go to the March 12 hearing on Mr. Zehnders
proposal re: minimum parking requirements.
Balance out the anti-car activists.

Thanks to everyone on this blog for giving me good ideas for things to say to Bob Stacey and Steve Novick.