Portland Gloom

[suncat]

Originally Posted by LindaWH

I hope, for your sake and that of your neighbors that it will be soon--you sound terribly unhappy!

Oh look! A classic example of the Portland passive-aggressiveness.

[Minervah]

Topaz this article is great. Thanks for sharing. It should be required reading for everyone who wishes to move here.

[janb]

yep, new PDX economy = ex-Appalachian lawyers serving lattes to the few surviving spotted owls,,, the rest of us are living under a bridge and eating at UGM.

As a comment said... the most telling part of the story... "they aren't really making anything anymore" Logging jobs got replaced with High tech, which was quickly outsourced. Good bye earning potential and tangible assets, hello funny money and fluff

Especially like the comment in the story about "closeting yourself with people just like you" surprise !!! the 'individualist' is homogeneous ha-ha... that's pdx enjoy !

[NOTINYUMA]

the light rail is a subsidized failure. the rainbow city council has brainwashed everyone in town that the "choo choo" train is the way to go. more busses actually seem smarter and cheaper. the max is actually an awesome way for methheads to get to the suburbs and rob houses. it isn't called the "METH EXPRESS" for nothing.

Originally Posted by aawest

The fact is only 7 percent of commuters in Portland use public transportation. Most commuters dont like to be forced to drive to a light rail station and then take a train to work. The light rails top speed is only 22 mph which isnt exactly fast. Money for the light rail was also diverted away from other city services. Portland public schools are severly under funded and had to close early for many years. Also people have voted many times against taxes to expand the light rail.

[argo69]

Buses are most definitely NOT the way to go with public transit...it's what Seattle is currently saddled with and why people are always complaining about the transit situation here. You do bring up a valid issue (and it's an issue with ANY extensive transit system) but the real solution is abolishing the 'fareless square' downtown and adding officers who actually check riders for tickets, not switching everything over to an archaic bus system.

It takes a minute to load or unload anyone disabled on a bus using the lift and about 2 minutes for anyone in a wheelchair. I am always amazed in Portland to see people gliding on and off the MAX in wheelchairs without causing any delay at all. Outside of the city center, the MAX has it's own rail line while buses are always stuck in the same traffic as the surrounding automobiles.

Also, while light rail systems are usually subsidized, so are all the roads and infrastructures for automobiles. None of this comes free.