Portland needs to think big!

1. Get rid of downtown freeways! Move those ugly polluting eyesores to the west side through Beaverton. This will also encourage a more vibrant and alive downtown sector which Portland desperately needs.

2.Inner Portland has enough room from infill and urban renewal to quadruple its density and population. Portland brags of its "Smart Growth" yet has a downtown density a small fraction of that of places like Vancouver BC and Manhattan.

Encourage more mid and high rises downtown and more condo developments in inner NE and SE. Portland downtown is more vibrant than most US cities because of its Smart Growth planning but it pales in comparison to Vancouver BC and Manhattan which "never sleeps". Van BC has so many downtown pedestrians that its stores stay open until 11 or 12 midnight!
It also is very important to mention that Manhattanites have 1/3 the carbon footprint of the average American because they can easily walk to work or take mass transit. Their shared condo and apt. walls also conserve lots of heating and cooling energy

3. Vancouver BC has several condo and apt highrises surrounding each Skyway lightrail station. Needless to say they all take SkyTrain into Vancouver every morning saving them gas, time and highway congestion.