Tri-Met gassing up the chain saws
The local mass transit haters are reporting that Tri-Met is planning to whack all the trees off SW Lincoln Street in downtown Portland for the Milwaukie MAX light rail line. Now, ordinarily the tighty righties could care less about trees -- if the state were cutting them down for freeway widening, for example, they'd think it's fine -- but despite the insincere messenger, it's an important message.
"Green" in Portland is so, so hypocritical. A street full of beautiful trees gets destroyed and for what? A $2 billion mystery train to the utterly failed SoWhat District and all the way down to Milwaukie (pop. 21,000). And maybe some of this. Dumb, crooked, both?
| Posted at 9:49 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (19)
Bear in mind that taxpayers paid to acquire and plant these trees some 50 years ago, and today, you pay to mow them down. What public process?
It's all good, though - they'll put some edgy public art there.
Posted by Max | September 5, 2011 10:11 AM
Of course this is so that SoWa and PSU have more transit choices.
After all the current streetcar running from PSU to SoWa on Harrison Street, a mere two blocks away,is not enough.
This will allow a choice between streetcar and light rail between the two destinations.
Plan B by the "transit hater" would save the trees, preserve the better current transit and $1.3 billion.
Read here:
http://cascadepolicy.org/news/2011/08/10/cascade-requests-congressional-house-committee-to-delete-funding-for-milwaukie-light-rail/
Posted by Ben | September 5, 2011 10:55 AM
I think you nailed it Jack, "dumb and crooked".
Posted by portland native | September 5, 2011 11:14 AM
and arrogant
Posted by pdxmick | September 5, 2011 1:12 PM
"Railroad's comin' through...right now!"
Those shade-providing, healthy trees obviously don't have enough, if any, Friends in positions of power and authority.
Has anyone seen a cost/benefit analysis of this planned urban destruction?
Posted by Gardiner Menefree | September 5, 2011 1:35 PM
What is that horrible 'installation' at the Rockwood station? It looks like two quivers of arrows to me (which would be an appropriate homage to the non-stop violence in that neighborhood).
Posted by Molly | September 5, 2011 1:47 PM
Now, ordinarily the tighty righties could care less about trees
I don't think that's true. Be careful of stereotypes.
Posted by boycat | September 5, 2011 1:48 PM
I thought Dan "The Legend" Saltzman had established a City policy that trees have rights?
Posted by Nonny Mouse | September 5, 2011 3:01 PM
"healthy trees obviously don't have enough, if any, Friends in positions of power and authority."
Don't forget, Saltzman thinks trees are people!
Posted by Steve | September 5, 2011 3:06 PM
The term is "green washing" ; pretending to be "green". Portland has become the world wide champ of "green washing".
Posted by Al M | September 5, 2011 3:30 PM
Say it isn't so!
Posted by Janna Orkney | September 5, 2011 4:13 PM
This is really sad. That area is one of the few green areas in downtown Portland outside of the Park Blocks. It's bad enough that the greedy schmucks at Portland State took over the old Red Lion and turned into soul less offices..
Posted by Dave A. | September 5, 2011 6:15 PM
That's why they call it...STUMPTOWN!!.
Posted by Jeff | September 5, 2011 10:25 PM
No Jack, not a MASS Transit hater. I'm a TriMet hater, Light Rail despite how we vote hater, and 19th century Trolley hater. I love the Bus System, Freeways, and Highways without congestion.
Posted by Mark | September 6, 2011 1:48 AM
Yeah, well, if you scroll back up and look, I wasn't writing about you. I was writing about the people who posted the YouTube video. They don't like mass transit. If Tri-Met were buying buses, they'd be all over that, too.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 6, 2011 2:48 AM
Wait til they get their hands on the environmentally sensitive west side of the Willamette on the way to Lake Oswego....hoo boy you ain't seen anything yet..........hypocrisy to the hilt.
Posted by Kathe W. | September 6, 2011 5:28 AM
"Tighty Rightie"??
Cascade is far more "left" than you Jack.
http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0706b.asp
Posted by John | September 6, 2011 7:08 AM
If the local mass transit mavens were less conniving I might hate them less..
Until that happens (or we need Parkas in Hell) I shall look at any Tri-Met initiative with jaded eyes
Posted by tankfixer | September 6, 2011 8:03 AM
SW Lincoln is one of those famous Urban Renewal tenacles that Sam has tried to foist onto us in NW Portland and PSU proposed urban renewal areas.
When the original UR boundaries of SoWhat were formed they were essentially along the Macadam waterfront. Then PDC, TriMet, Metro, and PSU asked for an extension of 12 blocks along just the SW Lincoln street. It was all for light rail and PSU so that taxpayer TIF dollars could be used for lightrail and PSU's purchase of Red Lion's property.
We may be wising up to the true meaning of these octopus tenacles, but can we stop the loose interpretation of Oregon's urban renewal statutes of "contiguous" boundaries? This is another prime example of why citizens are beginning to question urban renewal at the ballot box.
Posted by Lee | September 6, 2011 11:53 AM