Planner hype was wrong: Hordes not flocking here
More folks out in Clackistan are figuring it out: Damascus (which has its city hall in a strip mall) wants to pull a lot of its land off the Metro merry-go-round. It seems that the million new people who are supposed to move here any day now -- and for whose benefit, we're told, the region must be wrecked -- are not, in fact, showing up.
| Posted at 8:47 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (15)
But where will we put all the climate refugees that will be showing up any day now?
Read the proof! (Produced with your tax dollars, of course...)
http://www.pdx.edu/usp/sites/www.pdx.edu.usp/files/Environmental_Migrants.pdf
Posted by Random | July 13, 2012 9:07 AM
Seriously, though: a bit more of the triple digits across the country, the violent summer storms, and the fires in the west, and we'll be getting them at a higher rate.
Posted by Allan L. | July 13, 2012 9:23 AM
"Seriously, though: a bit more of the triple digits across the country, the violent summer storms, and the fires in the west, and we'll be getting them at a higher rate."
People live in Texas. People are still moving to Texas. Most people are going to move to places where they can get employed, as opposed to places like Portland, even if Portland has really nice summers.
Posted by Random | July 13, 2012 9:33 AM
You know how Metro is going to spin that, right?
"New residents shunning tract developments in suburbs, choosing to live in central Portland instead."
Of course, Portland's population growth isn't going very far either.
Posted by Erik H. | July 13, 2012 9:38 AM
Maybe those planners should take a look at this http://www.newgeography.com/content/002934-questioning-messianic-conception-smart-growth
Posted by Evergreen Libertarian | July 13, 2012 9:45 AM
Isn't removing land from the UGB and upping the density the kind of thing us evil urbanist types prefer?
Posted by Aaron | July 13, 2012 10:28 AM
Aaron, you got it right. Metro should be helping to sponsor this ballot measure to decrease the UGB. That's one of their Missions-Density.
Posted by lw | July 13, 2012 10:45 AM
Anyone who has traveled across the country by train to see as I did vast amounts of open space, can see this "controlled livability by density promotion" is not needed. There are communities with infrastructure in place and with internet, and perhaps a need if this country continues into a downward spiral for more people to settle in the areas where they can produce their own food, etc. - and quite frankly, not to be under the thumb of social engineering.
Gang shootings? Poor Schools? Poor Roads? Higher Taxation?
Bonds after Bonds? City Debt?
Who is going to come?
This does not mean I am an advocate for sprawl,
there are other options besides having to live with "extreme density"
and "questionable livability."
Posted by clinamen | July 13, 2012 11:25 AM
"not, in fact, showing up"
Especially if local. Govt gets even better at making it harder for new companies to move here.
Posted by Steve | July 13, 2012 1:04 PM
Allan L.: Seriously, though: a bit more of the triple digits across the country, the violent summer storms, and the fires in the west, and we'll be getting them at a higher rate.
NOAA:
The average temperature in June 2012 was 71.2 F. This was 2.0 F warmer than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 14th warmest June in 118 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.
2.27 inches of precipitation fell in June. This was -0.62 inches less than the 1901-2000 average, the 10th driest such month on record. The precipitation trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.02 inches per decade.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/na.html
Thanks
JK
Posted by jim karlock | July 13, 2012 1:16 PM
Let's face it.
If one were to start a business here, would not want to deal with the City of Portland.
The irony, is that the area has been wrecked by the very plans we were told had to be done to make room for those millions coming in! Now they won't want to come and the rest of us have been stuck with the "smart growth!?!"
Posted by clinamen | July 13, 2012 1:19 PM
I think it all went wrong when they changed the opening Rose Festival parade from the Rainmakers parade - where you could toss water balloons and use squirt guns - to the Starlight parade.
Ever sense then it has all been sanitized BS. And sanitized or not, BS still stinks.
Posted by Tim | July 13, 2012 1:50 PM
Seriously, though: a bit more of the triple digits across the country, the violent summer storms, and the fires in the west, and we'll be getting them at a higher rate.
One of the late-night guys claimed it's so hot in some parts of the country that Eric Holder's smuggling water pistols.
Posted by Max | July 13, 2012 3:41 PM
Gotta love that City Hall! I bet the building was purchased or leased at a good price and not some pantheon of ego-busting glitz like SOME towns I know (cough, um, Lake Oswego,shhh). In LO, the good mayor and a few councilors think it would be a grand idea to build a NEW, NICER city hall to replace the current one (so crowded because they keep hiring more people!). Replacement $43M. Repair existing $13-$17M. (Almost the exact same numbers as building a new library downtown as compared to Kruse Way. Guess which one the mayor and gang chose?) Plus extra savings if half the planning staff were dismissed. LO is so wealthy that we have the highest number of planners per capita in the state, so we can spare a few for the rest of the region.
I'm jealous of Damascus. They really know how to do things right.
Posted by Nolo | July 13, 2012 5:08 PM
Tim, that was the Merrykhana Parade and I remember it well. Loved it!
Posted by NW Portlander | July 16, 2012 12:25 PM