'Don't move to Portland, Oregon' movement aims to de-hype the over-hype (moving to, money)

[borntorun1180]

Originally Posted by SETabor

If you're going to complain about bikers in the rain, you really should make sure it's a day when it actually rains.

Oh I am more than happy to do that, just because it has been sunny doesn't mean what I said is any less true. Only an idiot would bike in the rain.

[bler144]

FWIW, the rural Oregon vs. Portland/Valley divide is fairly normal around the country. You can find it in western NY (vs. NYC) or northern WI (vs. Madison) or MN (vs. TC) etc.

Politics is a bit over-rated in terms of drawing Fortune 500 companies. The top state for Fortune 500 companies is NY. TX falls slightly behind at #2 (followed by CA/IL/OH). So saying "we should be like TX" is cherry picking the one truly red state from the top 5.

What ultimately matters, in my esteem, is resources and infrastructure. What does TX (or CA) have over OR? Quite a lot, actually. It has a major advantage in terms of seaports, airline hubs, railroads, interstate, natural resources, etc.

Not to mention it has 3x the land and 7x the population. Making OR more conservative is fairly unlikely to make Fortune 500 companies flock to OR, esp. as the one advantage we did have (relatively affordable land for the west coast) continues to dissipate.

[borntorun1180]

We need to be expanding our Interstate and Highway system in the state, making it easier for more than just Portland to grow. The connection to areas besides I-5 is just awful. The state wastes too much money on useless choo-choo trains that don't do much, the smelly buses are all the city needs to transport the few people not driving.

[norman_w]

I am a total liberal. But I remember when they pushed through the Lottery as its going to bail out the schools.

[thedownlow]

Originally Posted by borntorun1180

We need to be expanding our Interstate and Highway system in the state, making it easier for more than just Portland to grow. The connection to areas besides I-5 is just awful. The state wastes too much money on useless choo-choo trains that don't do much, the smelly buses are all the city needs to transport the few people not driving.

Highly doubt we will see that anytime soon. They're too busy wasting money on the useless new Orange line to Milaukie. That's a place that's top on my list to go check out

[borntorun1180]

Originally Posted by thedownlow

Highly doubt we will see that anytime soon. They're too busy wasting money on the useless new Orange line to Milaukie. That's a place that's top on my list to go check out

I rode the Orange line once, seems a bit useless for how much they spent on it. The smelly buses on 99E were plenty, plus they got to downtown faster than the slow moving choo-choo train.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by borntorun1180

We need to be expanding our Interstate and Highway system in the state, making it easier for more than just Portland to grow. The connection to areas besides I-5 is just awful. The state wastes too much money on useless choo-choo trains that don't do much, the smelly buses are all the city needs to transport the few people not driving.

That would take significant federal money. The state doesn't have anywhere near the funds it would take to do that on its own.

And then of course there's the whole geography/topography question. What additional roads would you build, and where would you site them? Westside bypass would be great in theory in terms of immediate needs, but where the heck do you build it that doesn't run into 9 figures in terms of expense?

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by borntorun1180

We need to be expanding our Interstate and Highway system in the state, making it easier for more than just Portland to grow. The connection to areas besides I-5 is just awful. The state wastes too much money on useless choo-choo trains that don't do much, the smelly buses are all the city needs to transport the few people not driving.

Even just improving the existing roads and bridges so they don't collapse when an earthquake hits would be a step in the right direction.

I think the MAX Orange Line is going to be the last MAX line we will see built in our lifetimes. TriMet, Metro, and the city jurisdictions are fighting an uphill battle of negative public sentiment now, especially considering the number of unpaved roads in the Portland city limits. The Federal Transit Administration covered about 50% of the Orange Line's cost--to the tune of about $750 million. I don't know exactly how this works, but I would imagine Metro applied for the federal funding with the full support of Salem and received it. So that may have tied Salem's hands in requesting money for other transportation infrastructure projects, because the feds have to spread the money around. So in that respect I can see a scenario that the Orange Line prevented other improvement projects from occurring.

But again, I think we're past that now. Public support for another light rail line seems pretty dead. The cheaper Bus Rapid Transit seems to be the way they want to go with future projects.

[borntorun1180]

Originally Posted by jjpop

Even just improving the existing roads and bridges so they don't collapse when an earthquake hits would be a step in the right direction.

I think the MAX Orange Line is going to be the last MAX line we will see built in our lifetimes. TriMet, Metro, and the city jurisdictions are fighting an uphill battle of negative public sentiment now, especially considering the number of unpaved roads in the Portland city limits. The Federal Transit Administration covered about 50% of the Orange Line's cost--to the tune of about $750 million. I don't know exactly how this works, but I would imagine Metro applied for the federal funding with the full support of Salem and received it. So that may have tied Salem's hands in requesting money for other transportation infrastructure projects, because the feds have to spread the money around. So in that respect I can see a scenario that the Orange Line prevented other improvement projects from occurring.

But again, I think we're past that now. Public support for another light rail line seems pretty dead. The cheaper Bus Rapid Transit seems to be the way they want to go with future projects.

The Orange choo-choo was a waste of money, they could have upgraded 99E by adding more lanes, eliminating lights with off ramps, and gotten rid of that slowdown in the ghost town Milwaukie calls a downtown. The could have used the money to repair or build a new bridge or any of the ones falling apart. Replacing the Hawthorne Bridge with a more modern bridge would have made more sense. The amount of times that dumb bridge has to do its lifts is just a waste. The lanes on it are narrow and poorly thought out.

The last thing Portland needed was a bridge that didn't allow cars on it. Maybe they should focus on moving the city forward rather than these dumb pet projects for the lazy liberals that just want more money for minimum wage.

If Portland doesn't change its ways, it is gonna continue to go down the toilet and become a city of junkies and minimum wage workers being fleeced by their landlords.

[JonathanLB]

Haha the idea of a bridge that doesn't allow cars sounds like something I'd read on The Onion, not an actual reality. What a waste of money. This city sure knows how to tax and waste every dollar it gets from taxpayers, and the Oregonians in general are so stupid they keep voting in the worst offenders and the dumbest liberals. Nobody said we need a red state republican to run things (although it would help -- look at the states that have the biggest financial problems; they're not red states! Check out the 2010 recession era article by Forbes, all 5 of the worst money-losers were the bluest of blue states because liberals don't know ANYTHING about the economy at all, they are like little children), but a moderate democrat with SOME ounce of common sense would be a huge improvement and step in the right direction.

Building anything going to Milwaukie is a joke. How is that a "downtown"? It's like when I first heard there was a downtown Beaverton -- and I had been living in Beaverton for a year by that point! I couldn't believe it. Then I went and walked around and it was kind of funny and amusing to see, but also perplexing. I had no idea that suburbs had downtowns.