A new public service blog feature
Today we kick off a new feature on this site: helpful tips on how to live a better life, brought to you by the Portland Bureau of Transportation, Sam Adams, Commissioner in Charge.
You know, when you're only going a short distance and there's decent weather, you should really consider walking, particularly if you're obese and feeling stressed about your future. It's better for you, and it's better for the earth. The last thing you should do is drive. Travel smart -- walk to wellness -- take the Ten-Toe Express for a happier, more virtuous life!
For example, if you are traveling from Portland City Hall to Lincoln High School -- a distance of only 0.7 miles -- you could get there in 14 minutes by walking at an easy pace. By the time you get into your car, drive around on the city's maze of one-way streets, hassle with streetcars, buses, trains, and cyclists, and find yourself a parking place at one of the city's high-priced meters over by the high school, you could have walked there for free. And if you drive, you're causing traffic congestion and polluting the earth. So get out there and walk!
If you must drive, do so defensively. Expect the unexpected! And remember:
This has been a message from the Portland Bureau of Transportation. Next week: Trip options at Jantzen Beach.
| Posted at 8:42 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (12)
Can I get these sent to me on my wireless enabled F350 pickup?
Posted by zonedar | June 9, 2011 9:12 AM
I still say we should really go green and go back to riding horses. I think I-205 with thousands of horses galloping along would look pretty cool.
Posted by Bill McDonald | June 9, 2011 9:27 AM
Can we find out who thinks up this stuff - then find out where they live - and then make their lives a living hell?
Posted by Dave A. | June 9, 2011 9:32 AM
How weird! Those CoP nitwits released a pyramid modeled on the usda 1992 nutrition visual aid a week after the big news splash about how a pyramid is the wrong paradigm and how a plate (or pie) chart is actually more accurate and informative. http://www.usdaplate.com/
If anything, those numbskull transportation planners should have their anti-car pyramid turned 180 degrees.
Long Live Portlandia!
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1894947072/tt0023969
Posted by Mojo | June 9, 2011 9:33 AM
Do as Sam says and not as Sam does.
Sam's Club response: "the Mayor's time is too valuable to walk when a car will permit him to complete the round trip in less time than walking."
But the rest of you shlubs should sit on the bus even if it increases your trip time four fold.
Posted by Mister Tee | June 9, 2011 9:36 AM
Horses are cost effective. The little rings you need on the curb to tie them up? Already there.
Posted by Bill McDonald | June 9, 2011 9:39 AM
And their exhaust makes good compost
Posted by David E Gilmore | June 9, 2011 9:42 AM
And they run on biofuel.
Posted by PDXLifer | June 9, 2011 9:48 AM
Sam is a city boy now, and is scared of horses.
And who would possibly want to be behind him in traffic astride a horse? BAD visual!
The mounting block in front of city hall could also be considered an eye sore.
Posted by portland native | June 9, 2011 10:17 AM
Sam isn't scared of horses. They just make him feel inadequate. You would, too, if people see your face and think of a horse's other end.
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | June 9, 2011 10:24 AM
Ok I know that some thought the Weiner story was a yawner, but please.
Our transportation Mayor getting rear ended by a bike rider, while driving a Prius, enroute to a location he could have walked to.......is no less humorous than our favorite big Weiner calling Bill Clinton to apologize for his sexcapades.
Posted by Gibby | June 9, 2011 10:37 AM
I'd love to walk...oh, wait, I live in Southwest Portland where it's patently UNSAFE to walk to my closest bus stop, and there's no shoulder and too many curves to safely ride a bike...and I live on an unpaved, pot-holed street that is unsafe to ride on...
(This is why I moved to Tigard. Paved streets, sidewalks, off-street bike paths, and bus stops that aren't located in the middle of an intersection or IN a drainage ditch.)
Posted by Erik H. | June 9, 2011 12:58 PM