'$3.4 billion has been - TAKEN in the form of FORCED taxes - by private businesses along our streetcar lines'

I was trying to give him a fair listen until he cited the PDC's statistics about SoWhat- and streetcar-related job growth, and then he lost me. Had the stats come from an independent evaluator and not an entity with a huge vested interest in putting the best possible spin on the numbers so as to justify its continued existence and funding, they would have had some credibility.

The O gives Charlie the opportunity to be a guest columnist. Will they give that same paper coverage to the other candidates? I mean all of them, not just those three?

However no surprise there, after years of seeing the prescribed pattern of coverage and elections here.
Hopefully the people will have seen and had enough of the insiders.

Cascade Station a success? The last time I looked you needed money to buy crap. An economy is not huge stores full of crap made in China that you buy with credit cards.

The political class is absolutely insane. They have no idea of what are the key fundamentals of a thriving society.

Oh, yeah. He's going to be the perfect hipster candidate. Why am I willing to bet that the first question he'll be asked after this by Willy Week will be "What brand of breakfast cereal?", and he'll respond "Cookie Crisp"?

Cheerios!

My favorite part was his populist BS about "proud retail and restaurant workers," and how Lister is allegedly looking down his nose at those jobs. Give me a break.

Hey Hales, I'm proud of my job performance and that I worked hard as a bartender lo these 30 past years. But don't act as if most of us in these low salaried, no benefit, no future jobs are there because we want to be and wouldn't give our eye teeth for something that could reliably pay the bills.

Yeah, nothing says "proud" like standing in the line at the DHS office, applying for food stamps.

GAG ME. And why does no one seem to remember anymore that this guy quit his job on city council? He didn't even finish out his term. He just walked.

I remember a Trib story a few years ago about the biotech bust at SoWhat. PDC couldn't let the dream die, so they fudged some numbers without checking them and defined urine testing as biotech.

At least Charlie has the sense of humor to bring up OHSU's threat to move to -- god forbid -- Hillsboro. Reminds of of a scene from a movie ...

Cascade Station is truly a shining example of transit-oriented development. All kinds of people ride the airport max to buy furniture at Ikea.

...defined urine testing as biotech...

That might fall in the category of jobs at the ICE Detention Facility.

"The jobs for tomorrow will come from smart planning today."

O, crap....We're royally screwed.

"urine testing as biotech"....better yet, what will the smell testers at the proposed Eco-District bio-mass burner facility in SoWhat be called by Charlie?

Naturally, they'll be bio-tech jobs.

And the smell testers out at North Plains are making over $120,000 including the benefits.

Anybody else remember the lengthy period when Cascade Station was not yet a stop but we still got to pay Bechtel a sh**tload of money to "manage" it?

Hales knows rail DOES NOT CAUSE DEVELOPMENT. He knows this because he noted that after 10 years, Eastside light rail DID NOT CAUSE development. He then voted to start taking millions of dollars from school, police, fire and social services to give to his developer buddies.

From the Oct 23, 1996 city council hearing:
“He [Commissioner Hales] said it is a myth to think the market will take care of development along transit corridors, noting the many vacant sites along the current MAX system” Here is the video(you have to download, then play it):
http://www.portlandfacts.com/vid/PortlandCouncil_10-23-96-communityPlan-Hales(256k).wmv

I consider this proof that he does not care about basic city services!

Hales also resigned his city council seat mid term. (Co-incidentally when money became short for the city to buy his toys.)

Thanks
JK

Check out the Disney World-like sprawl that was to have been Cascade Station before Bechtel and other developers got the bad zoning news from the airport.

I'm still stuck at the "people will want to live at Cascade Station"...nevermind it's right below the approach path for runway 28L.

I went up there a few weeks ago and stopped inside the Target. While I was there, Oregon's finest decided to make a few training runs...let's just say if you think an F-15C is loud, stand inside a big building with that F-15 just a couple hundred feet above it with full afterburners going. Makes living next to a railroad yard seem like serenity.

Makes you want to live there...the FAA didn't think so, and so Portland got another dreaded big-box shopping center - the very kind of development Portland rails against as bland and suburban, but Portland loved it because it was next to an otherwise disused and overbuilt MAX stop. (In fact for years, trains didn't even bother stopping at the stop that is now at the far end of the Target parking lot. The best thing about that MAX station is that if I have to fly to or from PDX, my wife drops me off or picks me up there. No having to circle the terminal, no having to park at the "cell phone waiting area". And fare inspectors never go there.

Actually, for quite some time, the "trains" did stop there, and opened their doors toward the empty field. Not only did I personally see it, I have a photo of an actual passenger who boarded at that stop. It was a coyote, and he took a window seat. He didn't pay, either.

http://seattletransitblog.com/2009/02/04/coyote-on-portlands-max/

Cascade Station cracks me up. It is a monument to the failure that is Sam Adams. It was supposed to be a very transit oriented development and instead became a very automobile oriented development, which is ok with me because I drive, enjoy shopping at Target, and won't ride crime rail.

I had been wondering what was going in on the other side of the crime rail tracks from Target and after doing some googling it's the new Oregon FBI headquarters....with a fancy fence and security check point and all. Wonder if the Federal agents will be taking max to work? Probably not....

Hales cites Politifact as substantiating his claims for private investment and jobs. "Indeed, according to The Oregonian's own PolitiFact, $3.4 billion has been invested by private businesses along our streetcar lines, leading to thousands of new jobs (PolitiFact Oregon, Oct. 23, 2011)."

The Politifact piece is here: http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2011/oct/22/sam-adams/mayor-sam-adamas-city-say-streetcar-attracted-4-bi/

It investigated Sam Adams claim for thousands of jobs and $4 billion in private investment and found it "mostly false" on its truthometer scale. Politifact attempted to back out some of the obvious misstatements and cast most of the rest in at least ambiguity if not outright doubt. A spokesperson for the Mayor later "corrected" his statement.

"The jobs for tomorrow will come from smart planning today."

O, crap....We're royally screwed.

Apparently, you don't realize how many planners from PSU will need to be hired to make Charlie's dreams happen.

Hales didn't even try to rebut the two most damning things in Lister's column.

His quote that he wanted Portland to be "the best European City in America" and his description of ODOT and the PBA as "backward-looking organizations".

A spokesperson for the Mayor later "corrected" his statement.

Most of the time it's not a lie if no one calls you on it, and if you get caught, well, just call it a mistake and blame it on someone else.

If I remember correctly, Cascade Station sat empty for about 5 years while the local economy boomed that is, until Metro/PDC/CoP (I can't remember which) relented on the no-cars requirement and IKEA announced they'd move in and anchor the whole thing.

And, the coyote incident was well-covered by local news that then, still reported instead of just repeating.

They originally blamed the failure at Cascade Station on the 9/11 attacks.

Cascade Station sat empty because the Hales/Katz planning class prohibited any alternative to their planners' fantasy. Only when the fantasy requirement (smart growth & maximum foot print) was removed did IKEA and the rest get built.

That deliberate prohibition of any alternatives to their plans is what kept North Macadam fallow for years.
The same approach is used to prevent UGB expansions from developing.

No one is allowed to do anything with their own land and own money unless it is what Katz, Hales, Metro et al want done.

Cascade station was zoned mixed-use for nearly a decade. It was supposed to be retail on the ground, condos above, walkable, no big-box stores, minimal parking. They finally had to cave and re-do the zoning. Ikea demanded - and got - 2,000 parking spaces. They also demanded - and got - a variance allowing them to erect a super-large sign. Best Buy followed Ikea, and the rest is history.

I (heart) Central Planning.

Cascade Station and Beaverton Round - Central Planning at its best!

I love Cascade Station now. Far better than Lloyd Center, far better than downtown. And no, I won't take light rail there, too much of a chance of having my large purchase taken from me by force, if I could even wrestle it on the train.

INFO, like you said about Cascade, when Planners/Bureaucrats/Pols just say they want to get involved in "planning" an area, things seem to stop. Of course it would, the developers, property owners are waiting for the windfall of subsidies and rezoning.

It happened in SoWhat. In 1989 the City (Sam/Katz)publicly stated that "we want to look at appropriate planning for North Macadam".

Many property owners at the time had interests of developing their properties to higher use, or better use, or even adding to their businesses. But those magic words met a bonanza for those who could afford to wait for their guess of..."ahhh, urban renewal!".

There were four major proposals in the early 1990's in the area. But Planning axed them. Ten years later the South Waterfront URA was adopted by Council. Ten years of development were lost including their property taxes, jobs, and a better respect for the Willamette river, since no buildings were proposed to be 325 ft high right on the river's edge without height step-backs.

We have too many examples of this urban renewal failing of how it seems to stop time.

It is all about the money for the developer weasels, and their minions.
I am confident that bribes are offered and paid to those in power who can game the system. Ellis McCoy is only the tip of the ice berg here in Puddletown.

Hales said he wanted Portland to be the best European city in America. Nuff said.

Hales will be knocked out in the primary. And good riddence to "Streetcar Charlie".

Hales said he wanted Portland to be the best European city in America.

Yeah like one in Greece. Broke and overrun.

Athens? 3,812,330 plus 1,500,000 illegal immigrants total 5,312,300

Actually, for quite some time, the "trains" did stop there, and opened their doors toward the empty field.

At first, no, the trains did not open the doors. The train would stop (because of the signal system mandating a stop).

Later on, yes - TriMet did open the station and the doors did open, for no apparent reason. Don't ask me the date as to when TriMet "opened" the station, but there was a good period of time in which that stop was not "open" and trains did not open the door there.

Portland Native, I don't know if there has been numerous "bribes", of money being exchanged. There's been a few explicit ones like McCoy. But I think there has been kickbacks, in the sense of favors. You scratch my interests and I'll do you a favor. It sure is happening on several urban renewal URACs.

There has been "conflict of interests" undeclared. And when declared, even the declared has benefited very directly which is criminal. Then there are the numerous ethical violations like Sam's Tom Miller accepting lodging from a developer doing business with the City. I think if we had an honest DA, state and federal, investigation then we'd discover more explicit bribes, with money or favor exchanges.

I classify Sam's leaving $hundreds of dollars for Beau at the City Hall guard desk as a bribe, like many do.

Are coyotes usually that cute? You'd think there would be some crazies trying to keep them as pets, just to get a gander at them every day.

Very telling that the Mayor got away with leaving that envelope of cash at the guard desk...message was that investigation was not going anywhere about that.
I found it disgusting that the "leaders?" of our community were giving him a pass. . . and have continued to go along with the financial mismanagement of our council.

I would expect in a healthy city, leaders who have a sense of stewardship of our city
would have not tolerated what has been going on.

For what it's worth, I've taken light rail to Ikea and bought furniture there. They offer free home delivery if you show a Tri-Met ticket or pass. At least they did in 2010.

Lee, we agree, I am just not as semantically versatile as you are.
Dave Lister, I hope you are correct and "streetcar CharLIE" is not elected or appointed to anything and goes home to Camas.

semi-cynic,
For what it's worth is nothing.

Why would you suppose parroting some TriMet/planner's bromide about some rare use of MAX to buy furniture would mean anything at all?
It doesn't.
Yes it is possible to do what you did.

One could also take a helicopter from Aurora to PDX and then catch MAX to Cascade Station to buy IKEA stuff and have it delivered.

One could also ride their bike to IKEA, use their bike racks and order furniture to be delivered.

Or one could walk along the Columbia River to IKEA and do the same.
I've been to Cascade Station at peak hours on weekends with all the parking lots nearly full. Stopping to observe the MAX station for a few MAX trains showed how essentially useless it is for this Auto dominated station.
One person getting off one train and two getting on another while 1000s of people come and go by car is a lesson in total failure of the plan Hales championed with planners from the PDC, Port, Metro and TriMet.

Their lack of any acknowledgement or visible planning adaption and push for more of the same approach is a lesson in a insanity and dishonesty.
None of which is somehow neutralized or justified by your meaningless story.

Calm down, INFO. I was merely responding to an earlier post that incorrectly asserted that it was impractical to use MAX for shopping at Ikea. Jeez.

Sorry, but that was calm.

You just don't get it and your judgement for determining what is practical needs some serious repair.

Using MAX for shopping at Ikea is impractical.

That's because in practice it is not useful.

For something to be practical it has to be pertaining to, or concerned with ordinary activities.
Or adapted or designed for actual use.
To be useful.

The exception of 1 customer out of 5000 arriving by MAX is not a demonstration of ordinary usefulness or practicality.

It is the opposite. A demonstration of uselessness, out of the ordinary and impracticality.
Failure on a grand scale.

Your measure of practicality is as defective as TriMet's and Metro's.

In their case it is also disingenuous.

INFO: You're just going to shove it down his throat with a jackboot, aren't you?

There is just the remotest possibility that something could be practical and economical for a certain individual while for a city or county at large it would prove of little practical use and enormously extravagant. Ya think?

They offer free home delivery if you show a Tri-Met ticket or pass. At least they did in 2010.

It was never free, you get $20 off home delivery.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/portland/services

The way that it is worded, it is not valid for passholders (like my wife and myself) since you must show a valid same day fare. So I'd have to buy a round-trip TriMet fare, plus sit on the 12 bus all the way to Portland (or Parkrose) and pick up MAX there...plus deal with my two kids, one of whom is now old enough to require a youth fare...

OR...I can just plop $8.00 worth of gas in the car, drive there, and take it home. (And I'd also be carpooling, since there'd be four people in the car.)