Adron, developments followed streetcars 120 years ago because there were no cars and streetcars were the only transport beyond horse and buggy. To compare that to today is as silly as the claim made above.

I suspect Sam counts everything within two blocks of the Streetcar line as "fostered" by the Streetcar.

We'd have to know whether development would have occurred without the Streetcar--which we could probably figure out by comparing most similar areas which are farther away.

I suspect the Streetcar, like the Tram, is not a linchpin at all.

Read today's story in the O about Beaverton. That is the much more likely path of development, even as the powers that be in Portland resist (and lost middle class residents as a result).