Lenny Anderson | Jan 24, 2006 2:55:22 PM: For a city without a research university...a show-stopper for economic development in the 21st century...[snip] .. Looking at the big picture, OHSU had better be a big part of our future, or that future will be bleak.

JK: How does losing a tax consumer make our future bleak? My impression is that they pay no property tax, no income tax. What tax do the generate for the city? What income does their research generate for the city? Why can’t they expand on the hill? What kind of a new road can they put in to get to the hill without going through neighborhoods for $100 million (cynical guess at final tram cost.)

Lenny Anderson | Jan 24, 2006 2:55:22 PM: The tram is a clear case where the greater good trumps the neighborhood. Sorry. And many of the opponents are the usual suspects who oppose any public investment in anything.

JK: Thanks Lenny for a clear statement of a situation that is better applied to our general transportation needs throughout the city: ROAD CAPACITY. I hope you won’t be one of the opponents.

MarkDaMan | Jan 24, 2006 4:15:53 PM: If we allow the buildings heights up to 750 feet, SoWa wouldn't need subsidies and we could require the developers to dump some of their windfall profits into neighborhood improvements, like the tram and PS park.

JK: Where have you been all those years? The original owners proposed a plan around ten years ago that would be built WITH NO SUBSIDIES. It wasn’t dense enough for our former mayor, so it was rejected. It would have been paying taxes all these years, instead of consuming tax money for the next 30 years. That is a good example of the mismanagement that caused Portland to be BROKE.

Thanks
JK