"Where do we put the bird?"
A reader who works in downtown Portland sent us this photo yesterday and wrote:
This shot was taken this morning between SW Oak and Stark on the EuroMall™. There were ten "planners" looking at the new transit shelter. From my observation, they were "problem solving" the ugliness of dried rainwater on the roof of the all glass structures.I wonder who will get the contract to upgrade all the shelters?
It's a question that we've been asking for a couple of years now.
| Posted at 9:41 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (15)
It's flat... and it's glass... it's perfect!
Posted by Christian | July 15, 2011 10:11 AM
If we build a tram on top of the transit mall, we can lower window washers from above.
Posted by Mister Tee | July 15, 2011 10:21 AM
"You know, other than being a real bitch to maintain, that would make a really nice urban garden up there!"
Posted by Ralph Woods | July 15, 2011 10:29 AM
It's supposed to look that way. It's what you call a "Patina". Sheesh you people know nothing about "organic" art.
Posted by Tom | July 15, 2011 11:11 AM
Here's the dialogue:
"That there roof is dirty."
"Yep."
"Looks like it's pretty flat up there."
"Yep."
"Pitch probably woulda been better."
"Yep."
Posted by Snards | July 15, 2011 11:18 AM
Gee whiz! We had NO idea that moss could grow that fast or that thick!
Did you say it rains quite a bit here?
Posted by portland native | July 15, 2011 11:20 AM
"So...who wants to start a study to see how much snow they can handle in the winters? Lou, you stay here and count the snowflakes. Dave, you get a Portland Loo set up next door, so Lou doesn't have to stop counting when he goes boom-boom."
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | July 15, 2011 11:24 AM
"Where do we put the bike hooks?"
Posted by Isaac Laquedem | July 15, 2011 11:36 AM
Thank goodness moss isn't an invasive species.
Posted by Pom Mom | July 15, 2011 12:36 PM
They're getting ready to install an Eco-roof.
And that's all those shelters are - a roof. With a 5 mph wind, only the two people standing in the middle of the shelter stay dry - if both are skinny. Tri-Met, I've got a bird for you . .
Posted by umpire | July 15, 2011 1:03 PM
"So four TriMet window cleaners times two hours times $60 per hour salary and benefits times 25 shelters equals . . . Well, looks like we're going to have to cut the #4 line."
Posted by Eric | July 15, 2011 3:04 PM
"So four TriMet window cleaners times two hours times $60 per hour salary and benefits times 25 shelters equals . . . Well, looks like we're going to have to cut the #4 line."
You got the two cleaners, but you forgot the dispatcher, supervisor, station manager, cleaning district director, executive director of shelter cleaning, and the communications person to put out news releases on the shelter cleaning.
Posted by AL M | July 15, 2011 4:04 PM
"Lou, you know, those rounded formed bus shelters we just discarded weren't so bad after all. Sucks, these new ones cost over $59,000, not including even the communications person's time. Oh well, we still get our pay checks."
Posted by lw | July 16, 2011 10:55 AM
"You want to bolt half a bicycle up there? For what?"
Posted by godfry | July 16, 2011 7:32 PM
"Where do we put the bike hooks?"
"You want to bolt half a bicycle up there? For what?"
Several of those shelters ARE used as bike shelters. One is on S.W. Yamhill between 4th and 5th Avenues (across from the MAX platform near the shuttered Saks store); the other is on the corner of S.W. Columbia and 5th near the Wells Fargo tower.
What really gets me is that those shelters were designed specifically to NOT block views of sidewalk-facing businesses which the older shelters did. That's why I get off my bus at 6th and Market, BEHIND St. Marys School (where the new-fangled shelter is adjacent to a windowless, block-long brick wall); and I get on the bus at 5th and Hall (where there is a parking garage with a nice, decorative landscape of a hedge - but NO storefronts.) Meanwhile over at 6th between Harrison and Montgomery, my old bus stop, now a MAX stop, retains its second generation shelter - the much larger, angled glass shelters, despite "blocking" the view of a number of storefronts (OK, one private business, one PSU parking & transportation office, and the PSU owned and operated BikeHub bike shop.)
Posted by Erik H. | July 18, 2011 9:08 PM