Yes but now that Streetcar Smith has objected to MAX taking futere operation revenue the Streetcar will have to take from kindergarten classes or some other lower priority.

Let's actually go back to the beginning of Streetcar and understand where it started and how far it strayed off course with each new commissioner. And then can it get back on track. No public money.

"with Ted Wheeler gone, the county is about to slide back into Saltzman mode"

Heck, it will be back to bad grrls mode. Y'know where the commissioners spend about 3 hours meeting a week then screw around or blow money on pet projects? I say 3 hours because they all have these little vendettas agains each other.

Then ka-boom, Mult County will be broke again.

Regarding the Saltzman race; if no one gets 50% +1 vote there will be a run-off between #1 and #2. If Jesse Corn. is left in the race he will get a large wad of Voter-Owned election cash. Then for 5 months we will have his stupid grin on almost every page view of NYT, Bojack, Oregon Live, The Onion & other fine news sources. The Horror!

Yes but now that Streetcar Smith has objected to MAX taking futere operation revenue the Streetcar will have to take from kindergarten classes or some other lower priority.

Chris "Streetcar" Smith has made it clear he would rather see the complete shutdown of the bus system if it meant protecting, at all cost, the rail (MAX, WES, Streetcar) system.

Don't worry about your Kindergarten class just yet, Smith and cronies still have over 80 bus lines to eliminate first.

Smith and his friends actually BLAME people for living outside of the Streetcar area, claiming that they have a "choice" where to live. Tell that to someone that can only afford $700/month in rent, but doesn't qualify for section 8 or food stamps. St. Johns looks really good for them, and there ain't no streetcars there. Milwaukie and Hillsboro (downtown), and parts of Beaverton, and Tigard, also have "affordable" housing near bus lines - but not Streetcar/MAX lines (and WES is a flat out joke, especially since most lower income folks don't work 8-5 shifts, and WES doesn't even serve Washington Square, much less operate on weekends.)

What does the county have to do with the streetcar?

How many hundred of millions to build and operate WES and it doesn't even stop at or go near the largest regional shopping center on the WESt side?

What does the county have to do with the streetcar?

The streetcar's now going to go over county bridges, for one thing. But I'm sure the county will get sucked into blowing money on it. The streetcar taps every pot of public money it touches.

How many hundred of millions to build and operate WES and it doesn't even stop at or go near the largest regional shopping center on the WESt side?

WES serves:

Beaverton Transit Center. Surrounded by several undeveloped acres to the north, a half-vacant strip mall to the south, one apartment complex to the NE, and a car dealership to the west.

Hall/Nimbus. Where is it? Why, it's behind a strip mall, next to a Residence Inn, and if you blink you pass it on Hall Boulevard.

Tigard TC. A run down, abandoned downtown of Tigard. Oh, some buses stop there sometimes.

Tualatin. A strip mall and a redeveloped dog food factory now home to some condos, some small businesses, and a big man made lake.

Wilsonville. It's behind some warehouses and next to a protected wetland that Metro wants to punch a street through to make it easier for Villebois residents to drive to the WES station.

What is WES NOT next to?

1. Nike, Tektronix, St. Vincent's...you know, any of the major Beaverton employers.

2. Washington Square - a Metro designated "Regional Center" and is supposed to be a transportation hub.

3. Kruse Way. Supposedly lots of jobs out there, served by just one, rush hour only, bus.

4. Bridgeport Village. A location that Metro reluctantly termed a "regional center" because people have told Metro that it is where they want to go. There's a transit center there (established decades before, back when Bridgeport Village was a rock quarry).

5. Meridian Park Hospital. Major Tualatin employer.

6. Tualatin-Sherwood Road/Tualatin Road/Herman Road. Lots of jobs and ZERO transit.

7. Anywhere in Wilsonville that people want to go to. (At least Wilsonville has SMART, a half-way decent bus system after they kicked out TriMet a decade ago; today Wilsonville businesses get better bus service, and pay less in taxes than a comparable business in Tualatin or Sherwood does.)

But what do the WES communities have in common? They are all forced, without a public vote or any public comment, to subsidize the City of Portland Streetcar.

"How many hundred of millions to build and operate WES and it doesn't even stop at or go near the largest regional shopping center on the WEST side?"
During the entire approval process Trimet referred to the stop closest to Washington Square as a stop at Washington Square.
At one point a journalist wrote a story about the wonderful experience of using WES to go shopping and other errands.
After it opened TriMet dropped that lie which out-lived it's usefulness.
If private business pulled what TriMet did with WES they would be prosecuted.

The WES had to follow the established rail line. It shows the mentality of the transit freaks around here they they didn't care that it really doesn't go anywhere.

Just starting a new rail service (ANY rail service) was the important thing. They are obsessed. For them, rail projects always are justified in and of themselves, regardless of public cost or eventual ridership.

During the entire approval process Trimet referred to the stop closest to Washington Square as a stop at Washington Square.

Not just that - but there was talk of building a direct pedestrian pathway with an overpass over Highway 217 directly connecting the "Washington Square Station" with the mall itself.

Not only did that not happen, but TriMet completely forgot about planning for intermodal connections (WES to bus) at the station; as a result the southbound stop is hidden behind a tree and is just a bus stop sign with no shelter or bench or anything; the northbound stop is located smack in the middle of a driveway to an ODOT storage yard.

That's about as brilliant as putting the WES station on top of an active railroad spur and telling people "It's OK to wait here, don't mind those freight cars slowly rolling towards you and the locomotive blaring its horn. And when the train shows up...you'll have no problem climbing onto the train."

The County needs to approve the IGA about the Eastside streetcar because the streetcar line will cross the Broadway Bridge, which the County maintains.