BLOG: Ostrava's Economy tied to Portland's (Part I)
Sam Adams
I never knew this place existed, much less foresaw that a piece of Portland’s economic future could be tied to this faraway city.
Dominated by industrial parks, smokestacks and housing projects (not to mention a nuclear facility), this appears like a pleasant enough but no-nonsense manufacturing city. It is located in the northeast corner of the Czech Republic, 10 kilometers from Poland and a four-hour train ride from Prague, the Czech capital.
During 50 years of occupation following World War II, Ostrava shaped useful products out of coal, steel and chemicals. Central economic planners in Moscow also assigned the city the task to make streetcars for all the Soviet-dominated countries.
It made about 24,000 of them; many still ply the streets of St. Petersburg, Berlin and Warsaw.
With the Czech’s “Velvet Revolution” in 1989 and the resulting economic reform, Ostrava’s manufacturing sector plummeted. Deep. It fell deeper than anything we can imagine in the U.S. since the depression.
Still, the skills needed to design, build and repair streetcars never left the hands of thousands of Ostrava’s workers.
Now, with the help of some of those same hands, Ostrava’s economy is slowly climbing back.
Part of that story is that then-Portland City Commissioner Charlie Hales struck an ingenious deal with Ostava-based Inekon in 1999 to build Portland’s streetcars. So far, they have built 7 cars for us, with 3 more on order.
Oddly, Portland’s economy now stands to benefit in a much bigger way from Ostrava…
…if only a business deal can be struck.
Posted by Sam Adams on October 28, 2005
(5) Comments | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Filed Under Blog, Front Page, Jobs & Economy, Ostrava, Transportation
Comments by site visitors
Hi Chris!
Did you ever get the cost figures for the streetcar in terms of cost per passenger mile, a widely used standatd?
Of course, this should include capital costs as well as operating costs. This is particularly important as we head towards more of these things.
It would alao be nice to compare this to a rubber tired "streetcar" as is used in some cities.
Thanks
JK"
Posted by: jim karlock | Oct 29, 2005 5:37:13 AM
this website is great but i am getting tired of reading the jim and steve basically saying the same right-wing stuff after each entry. the fact they attack others writers is also bs. maybe sam you should limit the # of comments one person can post each month. kim
Posted by: kim thayer, se pdx | Oct 29, 2005 1:41:11 PM
kim thayer, se pdx | Oct 29, 2005 1:41:11 PM
this website is great but i am getting tired of reading the jim and steve basically saying the same right-wing stuff after each entry.
JK:
Please accept my apologies if I offended anyone by asking for cost data. How is that right wing? I hope you don’t consider my campaign against the tax abatements for developers to be right wing (see www.saveportland.com)
kim thayer, se pdx | Oct 29, 2005 1:41:11 PM
the fact they attack others writers is also bs.
JK:
Sorry. Perhaps you missed the context:
A poster advocated not “wasting” money on roads, but a year or two ago I sat in a room and watched that very same person vote to spend over a BILLION dollars where under a hundred million would have done the same job.
I felt that it was important to point out who is paying his salary. (I have noticed quite a few special interests shills on these blogs supporting their favorite projects at the expense of the general public)
Thanks
JK
(Who has NO INCOME from any source connected with city spending - can you say the same thing?)
Posted by: jim karlock | Oct 29, 2005 4:17:39 PM
JK: How about cost per mile for autos when you include things like:
*the portion of the Big Pipe that is needed as a result of road runoff
*Washington County's property tax-funded Major Streets Transportation Investment Plan
*the 95+% of parking that is "free"
*harm to people hurt in auto crashes (remember, they're not professional drivers) or by pollution
*isolation of people who can't/shouldn't drive but who don't have good transit service nearby since other people who can drive wouldn't use it
Posted by: Jason McHuff | Oct 31, 2005 7:00:48 PM
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For pictures of the Commissioner driving a streetcar on the test track in Ostrava (no, they wouldn't let him out on the city streets), head over to Portland Transport.
Posted by: Chris Smith | Oct 28, 2005 9:50:07 PM