The vast majority, probably 80%, of Portland (the city, not region)'s residents live on the eastside or in inner Northwest or Southwest -- where it is almost as flat as the Netherlands. And most of those people work there too.

As far as density, the density is for the country, which is admittedly not large, thus it is dense. But the cities throughout the Netherlands look to have somewhat similar density to many Portland neighborhoods -- single-family homes on small lots. Half of the trips here are 3 miles or under -- we're dense enough.

And I'm not sure what marginal tax rates are doing to encourage bicycling -- discourage the ability to pay for two+ cars? Please explain.

There are the naysayers. And there are the dreamers. In Oregon, supposedly, we love dreamers.