Metro survey on SW Corridor station communities

METRO wants your opinion

Metro is working on the High Capacity Transit portion of the SW Corridor Plan and wants to know what people think of their concept maps for transit station locations.  A "transit station" is the same thing as a Transit Oriented Community, or TOD.  Perhaps they have given up using the "community" portion of the designation since none of their TODs has come anywhere close to being one.  Simply put, these "transit stations" are places to warehouse people in densely packed apartments close to planned light rail stations and "multi-modal" transportation options (bicycle and pedestrian paths).    

The original theory is that people would want to live near where they work, and these densely populated communities would be located within or next to (20-minute walking or biking distance) their place of employment.  Commercial areas are being relabeled, "Employment Districts," and mixed-use housing and retail is being worked into development codes to re-make the areas into "vibrant" communities - though the concepts of community and quality of life for the occupants is debatable.  The real test will be if large numbers of planners and their families start to move into the station communities they plan for others.  Or are these just gilded cages they will avoid?  

Lake Oswego is not on the map for proposed station communities because we have no current plans for HCT or linkages to the SW Corridor HCT plans - yet.  Lake Oswego is one of the listed "strategic partners" (I think that has something to do with wanting us to adopt their plans and then help pay for it), and both of our Employment Districts - one on Kruse Way, plus the re-designated industrial area at the southern end of Boones Ferry Rd. are adjacent to the SW Corridor transit lines on the other side of I-5.  

Should LO have station communities on Kruse Way or Boones Ferry Rd.?  Should LO become the newest experiment for New Urbanism community-building in the region?  Do the locations on the map make sense for dense housing, mixed use (employment/retail/housing) development opportunities?  What would you think if you lived in Durham, Tigard or Tualatin?  Would you shop at SW Corridor stores if the area became a string of transit stations?  Where should density really go?  

It's your chance to tell Metro what you really think.  Go for it!

* * * * * * * *

Take our online survey today!

An online survey for the Southwest Corridor Plan is available right now.  It asks for you to select your top choices for high capacity transit station areas and multimodal projects (bicycle, pedestrian and roadway improvements). Click here to review potential station area and multimodal project materials and provide your feedback! The materials necessary to answer the questions are linked directly in the survey itself. The feedback duration has been extended and will now be open until Friday, April 25 at 5 p.m. Your feedback will help inform which multimodal projects will be included for further study as part of the Plan’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Purpose and need statement update

The following is an update regarding public involvement for the Southwest Corridor Plan’s purpose and need statement. A statement of purpose and need is important because it forms a foundation for planning. It explains why a plan is needed and what it will do. The Southwest Corridor Plan’s purpose and need statement lists the needs that a high capacity transit project in the Southwest corridor would address and what the project sets out to accomplish During the present refinement stage, the statement was updated based on public feedback. A report on the public feedback can be found on the project website under “Project Library” (see Public comment report: Draft purpose and need statement for the refinement phase, January 2014).

The draft purpose and need statement for the refinement phase of the Southwest Corridor Plan opened to public feedback on Nov. 7, 2014 and closed 17 days later on Nov. 24. Feedback was gathered through an online survey that was posted to the project website, emailed twice to the interested parties list, and advertised through the project’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. The survey consisted of ten questions on the statement, plus five additional Title VI questions (for required demographic information tracking). Survey results are not meant to be statistically significant. Participants answered a general question to evaluate current support for the contents of the draft statement, submitted comments about what they saw as missing, submitted their own questions about the statement, and provided general feedback and improvement ideas.

The updated purpose and need statement can be found on the project website under “Project Library” (see Refinement phase: Adopted purpose and need statement for a high capacity transit project in the Southwest Corridor). Notes from the Steering Committee meeting discussion preceding approval of the purpose and need statement can also be found on the project website under “Decision-Making” (see Agenda and materials for Jan. 13, 2014).

Will there be another opportunity to comment on the purpose and need statement?

Yes. Public feedback on the purpose and need statement was gathered in November 2013 as part of the project refinement phase before a formal robust planning process begins as part of National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) requirements. The NEPA process includes preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The purpose and need will be reviewed and potentially revised based on new information from the refinement process for the DEIS, and the public will have an opportunity to comment on the updated version. The comment period will likely take place during the summer of 2014.

More answers to frequently asked questions may be found in the latest project fact sheet on the project website under “Project Library” (see Southwest Corridor Plan fact sheet, spring 2014: Refinement phase activities and next steps).

Contact

Juan Carlos Ocaña-Chíu, Metro

503-797-1921

juan.carlos.ocana-chiu@oregonmetro.gov

Tree Related Cryptogram - Solution

In case any of you worked on the cryptogram I posted for Arbor Week, here is the solution.

In case any of you still want to solve it and need a hint, try this:

The last word, JFVVY is TREES.

Here's the solution to the whole puzzle:

It is difficult to realize how great
a part of all that is cheerful and
delightful in the recollections of our
own life is associated with trees.

--  Wilson Flagg

www.bartlett.com/puzzles

Sidewalks? Who needs sidewalks?

"You can't push baby strollers down this narrow road, there needs to be a sidewalk!"

How did generations of mothers and fathers and children get around this town when most of the neighborhoods were built - without sidewalks?  And aren't narrow streets a hallmark of "slow streets" that make streets safer?

With children all grown up, Up Sucker Creek hasn't touched a stroller in decades and only had an umbrella stroller way back then.  And yes, there are undoubtedly places in town that need a bike or pathway for safety, but  not for hauling babies around.  Luckily there are alternatives to rolling strollers on asphalt and concrete.  In fact, some are made to be all-terrain!

 

Go-Anywhere Mobility Aids

  

The He-Man.            The All-Man.    

         The Dominator.                                 The Dominatrix.                 I'm secure with who I am

The Double Whammy.              Winter's A-Comin'.      

And for folks who depend on wheeled transportation... 

Take Me Too!                       Convertible Balloon Chair

                    I'm Game!               The Geo. Roger's Park "Life's a Beach"

King of The Hill


                The Goat Tracker.                              Take Me Too! II

There are an amazing number and variety of  ways for people to get around these days.  I am always awed at the inventiveness and resiliency of the human species to adapt and make their world more accessible and joyful!  The trouble with linking human wants and needs with a limited government is figuring out how to spend precious resources.  Too often the "nice to haves" become "essential" but rarely does an idea become "unnecessary".  The base and bulk of the infrastructure pyramid should start with the nice to haves and leave the peak for the essential.  Leave the unnecessary to do list to those ever-busy humans to navigate on their own.  What a great species we are!

CCI got earful and then had their say

Engineers told: Talk with neighborhoods and revise the TSP.  Show how public and neighborhood input is being used to shape transportation and land use planning.

The Engineering and Planning staff are taking comments and suggestions on how to improve the TSP.  Residents who have something to add should send comments to Amanda Owings, City Traffic Engineer, before the end of the month.

At the Planning Commission meeting on Monday (4/14), the Commission heard back from the lead engineers for the Transportation System Plan.  After being told that their first draft lacked a local focus and contained little feel for what individual neighborhoods wanted or needed, staff is trying to gather comments from citizens in various meetings they have been able to attend since then. It was obvious to anyone who read the Draft TSP (Feb. and Mar. Versions) that this is a plan that requires the city to change to fit the plan, rather than a plan that fits the city.  While too idealistic and driven by a narrow vision/agenda to be useful to most citizens, the TSP would have frustrated transportation for many and cost more than the city could ever afford.

Following the Planning Commission Meeting, the Commission members reconvened as the Commission on Citizen Involvement to do their Annual Review.  They got an earful in both oral and written testimony.  The gist of the testimony was that there was a distinct feeling of an "us against them" when interacting with the city.  Citizens feel left out and their city under siege with public servants working against them.

•  City staff have been dismissive and obstructive of citizens' requests for information and assistance.
• Information about the "big picture" of land use planning for the city is being withheld.
• Regional and agenda-driven planning goals consistently trump local and individual goals.
• There is little effective outreach to citizens about planning efforts.
• Private property owners affected by city planning are not informed of plans until the "refinement stage" when the plans have been on the books for years and much planning effort has gone into them.
• Private property rights are not respected.
• Regional and state guidelines and goals are presented as actual obligations rather than suggestions.
• Costs and city debt are not an overriding concern to staff who do not live in the city.
• Staff has little knowledge of what residents want, how neighborhoods function, and why people choose to live where they do, or what constitutes quality of life for Lake Oswegans.  

The following is an excerpt of dialogue between staffers at the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) meeting on April 9.  (Audio recording is posted on the meeting website.).  This transcript was presented as an example of what staff thinks of the city and its inhabitants.  What seems like a joke is mocking and ridicule when the speakers refer to a beloved city lane they propose to "improve" to their standards.  Staff knows what's the best and the right thing to do.

Excerpt from TAB meeting 4/9/2014
1:30:58 - 1:32:19

Staff person speaking is Erica Rooney with a short interjection in the middle by Nancy Flye.

"One of the comments we hear all the time is that this city has very few pedestrian facilities. It is a suburb, but it is really not a suburb. It is kind of a rural town with the exception of Westlake which was built more in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s where we’ve got curb, gutter, sidewalk. We don’t have that as our normal here. Our normal here is ah- as we often refer to it -um- 

Interjection by Nancy Flye: ‘Country lane.’ 

(Staff laughter.)

Back to Erica Rooney: ‘Goat Path’ (more laughter).  We have very narrow roads, 20-foot roads that is a collector carrying 5,000 cars a day does not provide a place for a pedestrian to walk safely in any way shape or form so we’ll put that on here. We’ll put that there needs to be a pedestrian facility, and over time we’ll either get it through development or someday should the funds become available.  It's the right thing to do. We don’t want to take them off of here necessarily at this time until further evaluation is done on each road as it comes up and as funding becomes available, because its true, there are no pedestrian facilities on Kelok and it's all homes and there’s people there who are walking, who are pushing their strollers, and some of those people do want to have a place to walk, maybe not all of them, but we’ll get in to that debate when we actually get in to the project should it get that far along, but I wouldn’t worry about that yet. This plan is at a much higher level. Fifty-thousand-foot level."

           Goat track-turned road.                                Country lane.                                              Portland-envy 

 

Sketch of goat herder  by Vincent Van Gogh 

Whose land?

Here is an interesting piece that appeared over the weekend.  It seems the AP is the main source of information on this meeting so it hasn't had much press yet.

The idea of decentralizing government power and control - over land, personal property, individual freedoms and personal lives - is compelling, and unless it is accomplished, we are headed for (and are already in) a diminished state of freedom in this country.   If you haven't read The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek, it is a primer on the insidious rise of government authority over our personal lives and its consequent evolution into tyranny.  This book should be available in any library, in used and new bookstores, and may be available as an e-book.  It's a short book, but full of essential concepts of liberty.

The summit in Salt Lake City brings into focus three key concepts:

1. A larger, more distant government cannot make better decisions governing the fate of a people than one that is closer to, and more responsive to their electorate.  
2. Even at the local level, individual rights must be protected from an overbearing government.  As a general rule, no one takes care of property better than the owner who has a vested interest in its care and maintenance.  All personal freedoms must be defended and preserved.
3. A citizenry that wants to retain some powers for itself, can and should preserve them within their charter or constitution.  To protect citizens from officials who may want to encumber them with large debt or make certain decisions deemed unwise, the public can require a vote.  

“Legislative Summit on the Transfer of Public Lands"

Western states to feds: Turn over public lands 

A public lands summit at the Utah State Capitol drew top legislative leaders from eight Western states who are trying map out a plan to gain control of certain federal lands within their borders. They say mismanagement is damaging landscapes.

By Amy Joi O'Donoghue, Deseret News

Published: Friday, April 18 2014 8:25 p.m. MDT

SALT LAKE CITY — A group of lawmakers and policymakers from eight Western states joined forces Friday in an all-day summit in Salt Lake City to declare "enough is enough" against the federal government when it comes to management of public lands.

"It is time states in the West came of age," said Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Twin Falls. "We are every bit as capable of managing the lands within our boundaries as are the states to our east, those states east of Colorado."

Bedke and representatives from Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and Utah, are part of a coalition of Western states where federal land ownership has been an enduring complaint they say locks up access to mineral resources, strips them of revenue and shreds their autonomy when it comes to control of their own house.

"There is a distinct difference in the way federal agencies are managing the federal lands today," said Montana Sen. Jennifer Fielder, a co-organizer of the summit.

"They used they to do a good job, but they are hamstrung now with conflicting policies, politicized science and an extreme financial crisis at the national level. It makes it impossible for these federal agencies to manage the lands responsibly any more."

             

View From The Top

VIEW FROM THE TOP

Klaus Leidorf's View From the Top

Wall St. Journal, April 19-20, 2014

It looks like the images can't be published online.  Please use the link above!

"Classic Car Market"

While flying nearly 2,000 feet above Munich, Mr. Leidorf caught a glimpse of this pattern of colorful vehicles and people 

at a classic car market. He picked this image out of more than 1,500 pictures he took that day

"Flowering Fruit Trees"

'From 100 meters away you can see things clearly, but from the ground, you can see nothing,' Mr. Leidorf says.

"Under Snow"

A nursery in Stamberg, Germany.

"Fish Ponds"

Ariel view of the fish ponds at The reservoir in Ascheim, Germany.

Klaus Leidorf, an aerial ecologist for the Bavarian state government in Germany, spends up 
to seven or eight hours a day in airplanes, taking photograph.

While surveying the land and looking for ancient remains, Klaus Leidorf sometimes ends up with art. A freelance aerial archaeologist for the Bavarian state government in Germany, Mr. Leidorf spends up to eight hours a day in the pilot seat of an airplane, scanning the local terrain for things like buried stone walls. Over his 30-year career, he has identified and photographed more than 30,000 historical sites where humans lived up to 5,000 years ago. More recently, he has emphasized the artistic side of his work, and the art gallery Contempop in Tel Aviv has started to sell some of his photographs at art fairs, giving viewers a different perspective on the world. "From 100 meters away you can see things clearly, but on the ground you can see nothing," he says. He posts his work at www.flickr.com/photos/leidorf.

—Alexandra Wolfe

Budget Meeting Date CORRECTION!

A previous post regarding the Budget Committee Meeting gave the wrong date.
The correct date is, 

Tuesday, April 22

6:00 PM

City Council Chambers, City Hall

Meeting will be televised live and streaming on Tualatin Valley Cable Television.

Heard on the Street

Mark Barry Apartment Report 
Apartment Construction: New apartment projects continue to be the darling of the development world. Based on the latest permit numbers, we expect there will be a total of 10,000 to 14,000 new units in 2014 and 2015, with half of the construction activity in Multnomah County. The first wave of completed projects were typically smaller infill properties. The coming wave of projects are significantly larger. One developer stated “Those opportunities don’t exist in Southern California” when elaborating on the availability of prime developable Portland real estate. Only limited apartment construction will have public sponsorship. Clackamas County and East Multnomah County show little construction activity.

Apartment Vacancies and Rental Income: While around 4,000 units hit the market in 2013, vacancies remained low. With increased apartment construction and an improving single family market, apart- ment vacancies are expected to gradually increase in 2014, and be at 5.0% to 5.5% by late 2015. In 2014, apartment income will be up by 1% to 3%. Rents on many units have shown double digit increases since 2011. The spread on rents between new and older units is substantial, which may allow some additional increases on older, well maintained and well located properties. We expect there will be a shift to a market in balance by late 2015. 

HEARD ON THE STREET
“The smart money is saying if you’re not out of the ground now, or very close to getting out of the ground, you might have missed the boat.” Craig McConachie C and R Real Estate Services

“Fully supplied, not oversupplied in 2014. The apartment sector may flirt with overbuilding, but this industry can lay off the gas pedal fairly quickly.” Real Estate Analyst—2014 ULI Emerging Trends

“Retail is a fine idea, but as a planning tool, I think it’s been applied too liberally. It’s oversupplying the retail market essentially,” Spencer Welton, Simpson Housing, regarding ground floor retail at many of the new apartment buildings.

“We’re at a price point that no one else is delivering. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a choice, and we like offering choices,” says Jim Potter, founder of Footprint Investments regarding their 56 unit NW Thurman Street micro shared kitchen apartments.

“Half the apartment for 60-80% of the cost seems ridiculous to me. This sounds like bodies stacked in shoe boxes.” “This project seems like a glorified flophouse.” OregonLive commenter on micro apartments.

“No one worked more fiercely than he did to push dense development on Portland’s east side, and to pass no parking space requirements. His love of streetcars won him the name ‘Choo-Choo Charlie’ but he could just as rightly been called ‘High-Density Hales.’” Willamette Week

“I have before me Multifamily NW’s most recent report on the Portland rental market, and its digital pages are practically stuck together with excitement over all the money to be made off chumps like us.” OregonLive commenter.

“If you want a snapshot of what Portland chic has become, just drive—well, maybe you’d better bicycle down Division Street between SE 31st and SE 44th Avenues.” Willamette Week
“I rented about eight apartments last year sight unseen.” Nina Lyski, Manager of Jeanne Manor Apartments on the SW Park Blocks.

“Setting bare minimum standards and then offering developers a thousand ways to dodge them is a short sighted calculation masquerading as big city thinking,” Oregonian editorial 

Apartment Boom

The cost of land, artificially inflated by scarcity caused by the UGB, has driven up pricing for all housing in Portland for decades.  When money was cheap, and government-sponsored loans artificially lowered borrowing rates, more people bought houses and apartment vacancies went up.   The combination of high land costs, a fluctuating economy, and a boom in cheap housing which depressed apartment rents resulted in a dearth of construction of new apartment units.  Not anymore.

To build new apartments, the market had to see an increase in renters' ability to pay higher prices for new construction, and a flexible building code that allowed developers to add density without adding parking, and placement of larger-scale apartments in previously off-limits areas in established neighborhoods.  The highest price per sf for apartment rents is in central Portland, so that is where new (expensive) construction is located. Smart Growth meets Urban Growth Boundary meets The Millennials.  Houses are out, apartments and "vibrancy" are in, and neighborhoods get the shaft.

Here are a couple of stories about what the tight rental market and government manipulation of the market has done to the fabric and inner life and soul of Portland.  For any city that has Metro's eyes on it for high density growth, the future is being played out in Portland and places where infill apartments, attached housing and mega-complexes are going in.  Portlanders, for all their acceptance of so-called "green" urban planning are running into the livability problems that density and smart growth theories bring.  What looks good on paper is not so pleasant in real life.  (How many policy-makers and bureaucrats actually live in one of the dense apartments or condos they support for the masses?)

Apartment Boom
Oregon Business, February 2014

Developers and builders are meeting pent-up demand for rental housing from a growing population and people who are once again finding work and needing places to live. These developers are doing nothing short of transforming some of Portland’s historic neighborhoods, entirely changing the character of some areas or creating brand-new neighborhoods in others. 

The apartment boom helps meet the city’s desire for density and development of long-stagnant areas. But it’s also rankling neighbors who bristle at the prospect of increased traffic, parking challenges and the loss of character that attracted residents to these neighborhoods in the first place.

How much longer the market will support such a boom is hard to tell. Estimates of units on the way range from 10,000 to 20,000. Whether it’s two more years or five or eight, the apartment spree will leave Portland neighborhoods much different than they are today: more densely packed with people, woven with restaurants and shops, and central to the city’s ongoing urban evolution.

“A lot of people are upset and moving out, but apparently the city doesn’t care,” Lambert says. “It’s like the people in government want it to become like New York City or a large metropolitan area. There are major, major problems with that, and I don’t think it’s right.”

Goose Hollow residents pledge to fight Goose Hollow project
Portland Business Journal, April 14, 2014. By Wendy Culverwell

Goose Hollow residents have united to fightMill Creek Residential Trust's plan to construct apartments on a park-like site owned by the Multnomah Athletic Club.

Mill Creek, led locally by Sam Rodriguez, wants to build 260 to 280 rental units above a below-grade parking garage that would serve both residents and visitors to the neighboring MAC Club, 1849 S.W. Salmon St.

Goose Hollow residents prepare to fight Multnomah Athletic Club-affiliated apartment project
The Oregonian, April 14, 2014, Elliot Njus

Home Rule

Home Rule.   Metro, the State... everyone wants to tell Damascus what to do.   But HOME RULE gives the city independence from the county, regional and state governments.  

Damascus residents begin exodus process

The Gresham Outlook, April 18, 2014

Only border lands can de-annex, but neighbors waiting in line

by: OUTLOOK FILE PHOTO - 

Damascus was incorporated in 2004, but many people want to de-annex because the city has no development plan.

Hank Brown wants out of Damascus. So do Jim Syring, Bruce Kayser, Jerry Schofield, Trish Voss, Don Hanna, Lowell Patton and many more.

Some landowners had high hopes when the city incorporated in 2004, but now are fed up because Damascus has failed to produce a comprehensive development plan, as required by state law.

Because of that failure, people can't develop their land like they want and they have trouble selling it, so they're caught up in comp plan limbo.

But thanks to the Legislature, they now can opt out — or de-annex — from Damascus, and join another jurisdiction, like Happy Valley to the west or Gresham to the north.

Hank Brown was first in line to submit a de-annexation form to the Damascus City Council, and has a hearing date set for May 1. According to House Bill 4029, residents of the city can make statements at the hearing and the city “shall withdraw the tract from the city by an order or resolution adopted during a work session at, or immediately after, the close of the public hearing.”

Within two days after adopting the resolution to allow de-annexation, according to the bill, the city must then report the change in its boundaries to Metro and the Department of Land Conservation and Development.

If the city fails to adopt a resolution or rejects the de-annexation application, within 30 days, “the withdrawal of the tract is deemed complete.”

In other words, the city doesn't have an option to refuse de-annexation of a parcel.

Mayor Steve Spinnett says that's unconstitutional, and he plans court action.

“It's unconstitutional for the state to do this,” he said, and cited the 1957 case of Schmidt v. the City of Cornelius, where the court ruled that the Legislature “...could not pass a special law amending the charter of the city of Cornelius and excluding territory from its boundaries.”

The case history is very similar to that of Damascus, Spinnett said.

“The whole idea of home rule charter is to give cities autonomy from the dictates of Salem,” he said.

Budget Committee needs you

                                                                         
The Citizen Budget Committee meets again on Tuesday to further their quest for the perfect budget for 2014-2015.   Information for the Budget Committee planning process can be found HERE.

Proposed Budget for the 2014-15 Fiscal Year

Proposed Budget for the 2014-15 Fiscal Year

The 2014-15 Proposed Budget is available online at the links below. The Budget in Brief includes the City Manager's Budget Message, citywide summary level information and graphs, department and major programs budgets, as well as the capital budget summary. For more budget detail, follow the Department and Program Budgets link.

The Lake Oswego Budget Committee will be reviewing the Proposed Budget and receiving public input on April 22 and May 1. Any additional materials for those meetings, including the agendas, will be posted on those meeting pages. Public input is also encouraged online via Open City Hall.

* * * * * * * * * *

After you have looked at the Proposed Budget, let members of the Budget Committee know your views.  If you have specific suggestions, contact a committee member for information on how to present them to the committee.  

Friday is the final day to let the Budget Committee know what you think of the Capital Improvement list on Open City Hall.  

Now a word from the transit bullies

Now that Tigard residents have put up a roadblock in the SW Corridor high capacity transit plan, the regional planners and corridor politicians are stymied.  Why didn't the politicians ask the big questions before they got this far?   The way they work is to do the planning first, then introduce THEIR concepts to the public in meetings and open houses.  Public comment at that point is useless.  To get a true feel of what the public wants, ask first, plan second, then ask again.  Not so hard to figure out.  A vote or survey can tell the city a lot.  If they want to know.

Advisory vote gains approval from regional leaders

The Tigard Times, 10 April 2014  | Written by Geoff Pursinger | 

Planners of the Southwest Corridor Plan say Tigard should go back to voters

Regional planners looking to build either a MAX light-rail or rapid-bus line to Tigard say they support plans for a clarifying vote in November, after last month’s passage of ballot measure 34-210.

That measure — which was passed by 51 percent of Tigard voters with 37 percent voter turnout — calls for the public to decide whether or not to allow construction of a light-rail or rapid-bus line through town. 

At Monday’s meeting of the Southwest Corridor Plan Steering Committee — comprised of mayors and city councilors from cities all along the corridor — planners said Tigard needs to decide where it stands on the issue before it can move forward.

“I think that some of us around this table might feel a little more comfortable if six months from now, there is a clarifying vote and people do think that we should continue to study high-capacity transit,” said Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick.

Washington County Chairman Andy Duyck said that was the motivation of some voters.

“It is critical and important to me that we are able to communicate to the public — whether in Tigard, Tualatin or Southwest Portland — the value (of this project) and what it means to their lives,” Ogden said. “If we can’t do that in a way that garners support, we probably don’t have a project that we should advance.”

Tigard's transit bullies

Sound familiar?  

Of course there is a citizen rebellion!  Citizen participation and input on major transportation projects can only be restored by public votes.  This puts citizens back in the driver's seat instead of being bullied by planners inside and outside of the city.  How else will bureaucrats listen to and respect us?  Citizens taking back their cities?  Horrors!  

Tigard must stand up to transit bullies

Portland Tribune, April 17, 2014

As a Tigard resident, I am not shy to say I voted “yes” for Ballot Measure 34-210 (opposing high-capacity transit lines in the city of Tigard). I, like many other Tigard residents, am increasingly fed up with the lack of citizen participation and input into major transportation projects that affect our daily lives.

The Portland Tribune opposed the measure before it passed, claiming that it will allow a minority of Tigard residents to overturn regional transportation projects such as a new light-rail (or bus rapid transit) line that would begin in Portland and end in Tualatin.

While the impact may be true, where was the Portland Tribune to argue that TriMet, Metro and the city of Portland collaborated on many “regional” transportation projects that negatively impacted Tigard? Maybe the Tribune forgot that the city of Portland has its “regional” downtown circulator Portland Streetcar line, requiring $10 million a year in TriMet funds to operate and dozens of TriMet employees. At the same time, bus service was reduced throughout Tigard, requiring Tigard residents to put up with North America’s oldest and least-reliable bus fleet, forcing riders needing to travel north-south along Highway 99W to a lengthy and inconvenient transfer between buses at the Tigard Transit Center.

How about the WES Commuter Rail service, hopelessly unpopular with virtually anyone but the scant 1,000 riders (2,000 trips) who use it — a tiny fraction of the riders on any of Tigard’s bus routes? Yet, WES and its nearly $15 per ride operating cost is guarded at all costs, resulting in the cutbacks of $3 per ride bus service. Never mind that Wilsonville, which previously left TriMet, got to dictate Tigard’s transit service in return.

Clackamas County, arguing it was left out, got its Green Line MAX train along Interstate 205, later deemed a “planning failure” by top Metro executives because of its inability to spur development wedged in next to a freeway. For that, TriMet had to cut Tigard’s bus service “due to the economy” (while refusing to admit the massive cost of the Green Line on its own budget.)

And where is Metro in all of this? Metro refuses to talk transportation investment, unless you utter the word “rail” or “bike.” Ask for money to improve buses or bus stops, and Metro runs in horror. So much for Metro as a “partner.”

Tigard has had its share of impact caused by other communities and governments, resulting in clogged highways and poor mass transit access. It’s well past time for Tigard to step up and show some muscle.

If our “partners” insist on suing Tigard, claiming we’re taking away their service, I suggest Tigard countersue because we’ve already lost our service thanks to our “partners.”

Erik Halstead is a Tigard resident.

Convoluted and confusing

The trouble that can occur when cronies become partners.  I'm all for subcontracting city services, but ultimately, who's minding the store?  This isn't just a Portland problem - the streetcar fiasco impacts everyone in the state, the Metro region, and the cities where the streetcars operate.  This wouldn't happen if public bureaucrats were personally responsible for the dollars they waste, but since it's all OPM, what does it matter?

'Convoluted and confusing' Portland streetcar bureaucracy needs clear goals, responsibilities

The Oregonian, April 17, 2014. By Brad Schmidt

The bureaucracy behind Portland’s $251 million streetcar system is "convoluted and confusing,"according to a new city audit, and no more money should be spent expanding it until city leaders set clear goals. 

In the 19 years since Portland launched its nationally known streetcar revitalization efforts, the city has authorized contracts worth nearly $21 million to the same nonprofit company, Portland Streetcar Inc., for administrative work without seeking a second round of competitive offers.

All the while, city officials within the Bureau of Transportation have broadly failed to set expectations for Portland Streetcar. And when clear responsibilities did exist, the audit found, the company didn’t always deliver.

Thursday’s report, released by Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade, is the most complete look into the Byzantine administrative structure behind the city’s streetcar system.

While Portland owns, operates and is financially responsible for the 16-streetcar system, Trimet employees drive the streetcars and the city contracts with Portland Streetcar Inc. for some administrative work. Consulting firm Shiels Obletz Johnsen has played the primary role, with the company’s Rick Gustafson serving as Portland Streetcar’s only executive director until this month.


While Portland Streetcar states publicly that itoperates the system on the city's behalf, auditors found that isn't really the case. Portland's agreement with the nonprofit places full risk and responsibility on the city while Portland Streetcar has "no responsibility" for operation and maintenance safety.

"How Green Policies Hurt the Poor"

Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2014. Article is unavailable online without subscription.

Notable and Quotable

From environmental writer Bjorn Lomborg's "How Green Policies Hurt the Poor" for the Spectator (U.K.), April 5:

Africa is the renewable utopia, getting 50 per cent of its energy from renewables - thought nobody wants to emulate it.  In 1971, China derived 40 per cent of its energy from renewables.  Since then, it has powered its incredible growth almost exclusively on heavily polluting coal, lift in a historic 680 million people out of poverty.  Today, China gets a trifling 0.23 percent of its energy from  unreliable wind and solar.

Yet most Westerners still want to focus on putting up more inefficient solar panels in the developing world.  But this infatuation inflicts a real cost.  A recent analysis from the Centre for Global Development shows that $10 billion invested in such renewables would life 20 million people out of poverty.  It sounds impressive, until you learn that if this sum was spent on gas electrification it would lift 90 million people out of poverty.  So in choosing to spend that $10 billion on renewables, we deliberately end up choosing to leave more than 70 million people in darkness and poverty.  

Staff responds to Planning Commission

On Monday, April 14, the Planning and Engineering personnel responsible for the Transportation System Plan will be back before the Planning Commission with answers to questions asked during the March 24 Public Hearing.  Read the Q and A for yourself on the Planning Commission meeting website.

The first question asks about the purpose of the TSP.  The question is a relevant one considering the TSP is not a clear and focused document.  The TSP is inconsistent internally and leaves out key information needed to make important decisions.  The biggest problem with the TSP is that it describes a transportation plan that does not fit the geography, demographics and desires of the community.

While the TSP should work to fit the city, this one requires the city to fit the plan.  In places, the TSP creators do not seem to be listening to their expert consultants about anticipated growth, but apply Metro or State laws to satisfy a predetermined need instead.  Is this a plan to get Lake Oswego in line with Metro and State goals, or how to fit regulations into the structure and needs of Lake Oswego residents?

Read through the entire Memo of staff responses to Planning Commission concerns.  Instead of shedding light on the issues, the responses tend to concentrate on legal issues or dubious rationale rather than getting to the heart of what the questions ask.

Excerpts:

Purpose of the TSP-
Commissioners’ discussion and public testimony indicated that there was confusion as to the purpose of the TSP.
Staff Response - In Oregon, producing a TSP is a requirement by the Statewide Planning Goal 12- Transportation. The TSP is a plan for providing a safe, efficient and economical transportation system. 

In addition, a transportation system should support a pattern of travel and land use that will avoid air pollution, traffic and livability problems. The form of individual transportation plans will necessarily vary depending on the size, needs and circumstances of a community.   In a community like Lake Oswego, which is for the most part built-out, the focus will be on completing the missing connections in the system and protecting the form and function of facilities to meet existing and projected travel demand for at least 20 years into the future.  (What are the predicted travel demands? If they are predictable, surely they can be described. Whose needs are being addressed?)

The TSP is a 20-year plan that combines necessary programs and projects with aspirations of the community to achieve a more tailored and robust multimodal transportation system. Every project listed in the TSP is meant to provide a missing piece of the system whether it has to do with safety, physical connectivity or efficiency.   (Where is the justification that "the community aspires to a more tailored and robust multimodal transportation system"?  What specific outreach did the engineering staff do as part of the TSP project? Are "necessary programs and projects" those required by regulatory agencies, or do they simply exist in various transportation and land use plans with no legal obligation to do them?)

The TSP is the starting point for adding transportation projects to the City’s Capital Improvements Plan (CIP). The CIP is where the community’s needs and desires are prioritized for funding each year.  (I don't think the creators of the TSP know or understand what this community needs or wants.  After reading the TSP, I am convinced of it.  "Needs and wants" is a phrase that gets used a lot but has no real meaning in practice.)

Are the priorities reflective of the Council’s Goals?
Staff Response – The priority of projects was simply a ranking of how well each project addressed the seven Comprehensive Plan goals. The City Council recently adopted the Comprehensive Plan with these goals amended to better reflect their values.  (It would be instructive to review the goals and ask the Council if this is what they meant.  Sometimes it seems like the TSP is addressing the goals of the previous Council as well as the current one since the work was begun in 2011.  A new council was elected to, in part, reverse the trend of the prior council.  How well is this being accomplished?)

Are the priorities reflective of Foothills development?
Staff Response – As discussed above, the prioritization of projects is not reflective of the level of development in Foothills or anywhere else in the City. Those projects within the Foothills District come directly from the Foothills Plan. The prioritization of those projects showed that the projects met several goals of the Comprehensive Plan and, thus, scored high.  (The Foothills Plan is only a plan and will not come to fruition without a viable development agreement.  A future development agreement will determine what the obligations of the City are.  The Foothills projects on the City CIP list implies a certain obligation on the part of the City to consider them along with actual City needs.)

Are the reclassifications appropriate? 
The roads that are proposed for reclassification have volumes that are currently within the range of the upper classification.   (At least one road does not have the needed traffic volumes to justify reclassification - there may be others.  If up-classification is to accommodate anticipated growth, where is the growth expected to occur?  Kittleson and Assoc. said in their July 2013 report that because the city was built out and growth rate was low, little new growth was expected.  They could justify only 2 roads for upclassification.  Why the change to add more roads to the list?)

4.