Oregonian: Have your say about streetcars' spread to Portland east side

Once again, Portland proves it is the leader for the new century!
In the greatest corporate scandal of the 20th century, Big Oil bought and destroyed America's streetcar system in the 40's and 50's and finally a city has the guts and common sense to rebuild them.

With diesel at over $4 /gallon, the smart money on Wall Street is on rail transport which has seen their stocks soar in the last few months with no end in sight.
Streetcars also dont damage the roads like buses so this is a win-win-win.

Why bother? Mr Adams has already decided what's best for us so he will find the money to make these streetcars happen and then send us the bill later. I mean when have we ever changed any of these transit projects once the city makes up its mind?

Hopefully Mssrs Powell and AShforth will get their wishes and it will boost their property values.

I seee that once again Portland is embarking on a "plan" that goes to great efforts to EXCLUDE residents of Portland.

My entire neighborhood - Southwest Portland - is excluded from any city transit planning.

Commissioner Sam - I personally would like to extend an invitation for you to ride my bus, the 12-Barbur Boulevard bus. I want you to stand at my bus stop that lacks anything but a bus stop sign, and a portion of my walk is alongside Capitol Highway - sans sidewalks. I want you to experience the rush of running across Barbur Boulevard and its five lanes of traffic, because when I come home from work my bus stop has no crosswalk for me to safely cross.

And when my bus is 15 minutes late, you can stand with me, 15 minutes late. When my bus is packed, you can stand in the crowd. When my bus passes up my bus stop because it's too crowded, you can stand there and watch your watch as you wonder when you'll manage to get home.

Commissioner Sam - what is your plan to INCLUDE all of Portland in transit service, including interim investments in quality, reliable, safe bus transportation for City of Portland residents? I don't care that it "should" be TriMet's job - apparently the City of Portland has entered the transit business, and therefore as a City of Portland resident I demand that my taxes I pay to the city should serve me too.

Erik, you should have thought of that before you bought. 90% of "suburbs" like yours dont have sidewalks. What about all the streets north of Prescott in Cully neighborhood that dont have paved streets let alone sidewalks? SW residents are wealthy enough to put in their own sidewalks. We should not be expected to pay for your upgrades which you can easily afford yourselves.

I live in SW and can't afford to put in sidewalks myself - and no - I wouldn't call all SW residents wealthy. Pretty irresponsible remark there.

But alas, I'm moving back downtown. The suburbs suck.

Paul (the first Paul, anyways), you seem to make a LOT of assumptions about me that are untrue:

1. "thought of that before you bought"

First of all, are you now suggesting that only residents who can afford to make expensive improvements should be allowed to buy into Portland? If that's the case, then I would like to extend the same courtesy to developers in SoWa and the Pearl too.

However I cannot own my home, I rent my home. So are you making the rash assumption that I should pay to install a sidewalk (that is on city right-of-way) that I may not even have access to should I move? Or that as a renter that I am a second-class citizen in Portland?

2. "What about all the streets north of Prescott in Cully neighborhood that dont have paved streets let alone sidewalks"

I agree, what about all the streets north of Prescott in the Cully neighborhood? Or the numerous streets in SW (I believe a recent Oregonian article stated that there are more miles of unpaved streets in SW than NE, but that's neither here nor there) - it is a disgrace that Portland has nearly as many unpaved streets as it does CITYWIDE. This should have been a priority, especially in Lents which was promised city services 10-15 years ago when Lents was annexed into the city...and is still waiting. Maybe we ought to pave our existing streets before building new duplicative transit infrastructure?

3. "We should not be expected to pay for your upgrades which you can easily afford yourselves."

Hmm, interesting argument. I agree. Likewise, I should not be expected to pay for your Streetcars which you can easily afford yourselves.

By the way, I see that 24 hours has gone by and Commissioner Sam has yet to respond.

Erik, maybe you should talk to your landlord. It has long been city policy that any local resident street improvements must be paid for by the property owners on that street.
You should have been aware before you moved to the "burbs" that they dont have sidewalks! Very few developers (since the 50's or 60's) include them because they are too cheap and it doesnt help sell houses anyway as most figure that most burbanites never walk as they drive everywhere. And they claim that the burbs are so good for children??
Personally, I would NEVER live in a neighborhood without sidewalks because I walk my dogs on them 2 or 3 miles everyday.
So save it for your landlord or MOVE!

On the other hand streetcars must be a city wide financial effort with federal help. And with gas going through the roof, we needed them yesterday!

Why aren't we considering "Traction Trolleys"? Does anybody even understand, or remember, what those are? Essentially they are electric buses that use the overhead wires, like a trolley, but they can travel on pavement. They also work on steep hills, unlike steel wheeled trolleys. They are also less expensive to operate, maintain, and build, because they don't need steel rails.

"On the other hand streetcars must be a city wide financial effort with federal help. And with gas going through the roof, we needed them yesterday!"

Paul, why is it OK that I have to build my own infrastructure, but then you demand that I get taxed to build YOUR infrastructure?

Why should the Streetcar be a "city wide financial effort?" Because you want them, and screw everyone else who isn't you? What a community minded point of view.

Anyways, we are now at 48 hours with no response from Commissioner Sam. I guess that as a resident of Portland, that I am apparently not worthy enough by either my elected official (that is, Sam Adams) or by this Paul guy, to be a resident of Portland. What is next - bringing back the "Jap Exclusion Order" of 1942 to exclude and relocate anyone from Portland that doesn't agree with Commissioner Sam and Paul?

Sam has been sighted pounding campaign signs into the ground.

Another priority.

The idea the this is mass transit is stupid. Most of the max lines don't even run at a 1/4 capacity, are we suppose to believe that this is supposed to be likened to say the New York subways that actually are? This is not the way to solve the traffic problems that plague this city. The buses I can deal with but max and trollies are not something that I want to pay for. I work in Portland but I live outside the metro area so why is the rest of oregon paying for your toy trains when the roads in this state are going to hell!!!!