For Whom Does Metro Speak?

I've told you about the group in Tigard that got an initiative on the March ballot to halt all High-Capacity Transit (light rail, street car, bus rapid transit) without a public vote.  This group is a thorn in Metro's side, just as are a growing number of communities who are pushing back against Metro's central planning that leaves their communities' wishes in the dust.

Here is an excerpt from an article by Dave Lister for The Northwest Free Press, first published in The Oregonian on March 29, 2012.  The signature-gathering was successful and the vote is just weeks away.  Metro is gearing up a public relations campaign to counter this threat to their plans.  More dirty tricks are in store for all rebels who challenge their authority to rule.  This is a look back to 2 years ago, but it's message is just as relevant today as it was then.

For Whom Does Metro Speak?
Suburbanites trip up Meetro’s regional light-rail, development vision –

In response to the signature-gathering in Clackamas County to refer the county’s funding of the Milwaukie light-rail line to the voters, Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette, who represents part of that county, was quoted as saying, “We work hard to find out what communities want to be, and then help them become that.” That would elicit a laugh-out-loud from the petitioners in Clackamas, the Estacada voters who just squelched urban renewal and the voters in Damascus who just thwarted Metro by passing a measure requiring a popular vote on any comprehensive land-use plan. It would probably also elicit a chuckle from the Troutdale City Council, which appears to have reached an uneasy truce with the regional government over alleged non-compliance with Title 13 of Metro’s 2040 master plan.

The pushback against Metro’s regional transportation and development vision has now jumped to the west side of the Willamette. Not waiting for funding to be approved or construction to start, as in the case of the Milwaukie light-rail line, citizens in Tigard, Tualatin, King City and Sherwood will be gathering signatures to thwart a light-rail expansion west on Oregon 99, still only in the conceptual stages with TriMet.

In response to that effort, Metro Councilor Carl Hosticka, who represents those communities, suggests in a March 24 opinion piece in The Oregonian’s Southwest Community weekly that the petition effort is undemocratic because “a handful of voters can veto a project affecting people throughout the region.” Probably without knowing it, Hosticka has perfectly illustrated the argument. The central-planning advocates believe their regional vision overrides the will of the bedroom communities in the suburbs. The suburbanites believe they have the right of self-determination. They don’t want the crime, congestion and density that they think will come with light rail. The central planners don’t care what the suburbanites want.

From Damascus to Tigard, from Milwaukie to Sherwood, citizens are pushing back against Metro’s vision for the region. As more and more of these initiatives make the ballot and are passed, the question is, what will Metro and other agencies do? The central planners aren’t going to go down without a fight.

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.       --  Thomas Jefferson