Tag Archives: Oregon

Portland: A Challenging Chart

Posted on February 2, 2010 by

Portland is supposed to be one of America’s great transit success stories. Is it still? Do we know what it’s achieving? Do we know how to measure it?

A couple of months ago Portland reader Adrian Lawson pointed me to an Oregon Catalyst article ridiculing the Portland Metro goal of tripling non-auto mode share by 2035. The author, John Charles, Jr., is the CEO of the Cascade Policy Institute, a conservative Oregon think tank that opposes Oregon’s land use planning system and generally favors roads over transit, so this is not a surprising view. Continue reading →

Posted in Auto Independence, Culture, Livability, Placemaking, Portland: City or Scene?, transit, Transportation, walkable | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Portland: Celebrating America’s Most Livable City

Posted on February 1, 2010 by

Last Fall, many members of the Portland Office of Transportation and city administration were gracious enough to talk with me and show off some of the amazing features that make Portland, Oregon one of America’s most livable places to reside.

You’ve previously seen bits and pieces of that trip here on StreetFilms, but we’ve never posted the entire half hour adventure which contains over 12 minutes of additional footage. And with the incredible turn in leadership in the past months and the speed at which changes are coming, it gives me hope that NYC could one day become as livable as Portland! Continue reading →

Posted in Auto Independence, Culture, human scale, Livability, Placemaking, Portland: City or Scene?, Sustainability, Transportation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Portland: Overrated?

Posted on January 31, 2010 by

Is Portland overrated? I’ve tried pitching the following words to the New York Times and the LA Times as an op-ed column, over the last few weeks. Needless to say, neither of them wanted it—they’re too busy running “Ra Ra Portland” pieces. And why not, when it sells advertising?
Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Livability, Portland: City or Scene?, Rants, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment