Here I am in Portland, attending the Rail-Volution conference. Here’s some of the coverage.
From The Oregonian:
Let’s not forget that Portland is a great place to live
In these first early moments of fall, the darkness that seems to be falling over the Portland region is as much metaphorical as literal.
The days are becoming shorter, and so is our communal temper. Political analysts expect voters to pepper state and local leaders with a barrage of no’s on most November bond measures. Democrats are so worried about apathy here in the heart of liberal-dom that Barack Obama drops by today to help John Kitzhaber. Unemployment remains above 10 percent and home prices just fell to a decade-long low. Schools are closing, contract talks with TriMet drivers have stalled and the Portland Police Bureau hasn’t solved its p.r. problem.
Given all that doom and gloom, you’d be excused for groaning at the title of a kickoff speech at Rail-Volution, the annual four-day gathering of transit geeks and do-gooders: “Why the World Needs a Portland.” That eye-roll-inducing subject line was just the start Tuesday as several hundred planners, transportation engineers, architects and academics packed the grand ballroom of the downtown Hilton to hear Mayor Sam Adams, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Canadian city planner Gordon Price gush about how Portland has become an international model of sustainability, civility and alternate forms of transportation.
Adams: “We’ve thrown ourselves into becoming a living laboratory.”
Blumenauer: “This is what can happen when you get back to the basics of a livable city.”
Price: “I love Portland because of its willingness to innovate. They are willing to try things out. They make mistakes. They learn from them.”
The display of unadulterated Bridgetown love felt a tad precious. Even the location — the same room that recently hosted a bargain-basement selloff of unwanted South Waterfront condominiums — seemed unintentionally ironic.
Yet here’s the underlying truth: They are absolutely right. Portland is great. Even with the uncertainty about how we’re going to turn all these good ideas about saving the planet into honest and lasting economic growth, we remain the envy of the planning world for genuine reasons: Life here is, compared to most U.S. cities, easy and sweet.
Our body politic might feel paunchy and irritable at the moment, but the bones of our city and region are solid and healthy, in the form of the urban growth boundary, one of the nation’s best public transit networks and central city neighborhoods that are safe, scenic and walkable.
Not that we couldn’t stand some time at the gym, or at least some serious self-reflection. As Price noted, though the Rail-Volution schedule is packed with events touting Portland’s success, “you’re not going to hear a lot at this conference about 82nd Avenue.” In a 10-block walk to the Hilton on Tuesday morning, I passed four panhandlers and five people asleep in doorways, statistics that made it tough not to laugh out loud when Adams mentioned that the city’s investment in the streetcar has enabled us to “address social injustices.” People in Lents and Linnton might beg to disagree.
Still, there are two ways to look at where we are as a community. The cynical view: Sure, Portland is a wonderful place to live if you’re white and affluent, if you can afford quality mental-health care, private school tuition and a house in one of those vaunted “20-minute neighborhoods.”
The optimistic, Rail-Volutionary view: No, this place isn’t perfect. But what works for some of us can work for all of us. All we have to do is try even harder and keep thinking creatively.That’s the Portland the rest of the world sees, even if we don’t always recognize it ourselves.
From the Portland Tribune:
Rail~Volution participants gather to ponder future of transportation
By Jim Redden
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer told people attending the 16th annual Rail~Volution conference in Portland that the region was a model for transportation development in other cities.
Congressman Earl Blumenauer reminded the hundreds of people attending the 16th annual Rail-Volution conference Tuesday that they were sitting in the middle of a transportation model for the rest of the nation.
The Portland area’s mix of road, rail and bike systems was building livable communities and could be a guide for other cities across the country, Blumenauer told the conference during an opening speech at the downtown Hilton Hotel and Executive Tower.
“It’s happening everywhere as we renew and rebuild America,” said Oregon’s 3rd District congressman, who started the conference 16 years ago when he was on the Portland City Council.
But Gordon Price, former Vancouver, British Columbia, city councilor and director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, said the jury was still out on the success of the regional efforts, noting that the TriMet’s MAX light-rail system had not yet sparked redevelopment projects in much of Gresham, Hillsboro and Beaverton.
“The extensions into the suburbs are the real test,” said Price, who also noted that residential development in Clark County, Wash., had relieved pressure for new homes in Portland in the past.
Ride the streetcars
About 1,200 people from around the country are registered for the conference. They include elected officials and transportation planners from other cities that are considering transit projects, including local versions of the Portland Streetcar.
“Portland is a living laboratory where people can come and experience what we are accomplishing,” Mayor Sam Adams told the gathering.
Among other things, Adams encouraged the attendees to try the streetcars that were built in Clackamas County by United Streetcars, the first American streetcar manufacturer in more than 50 years.
“The conference was founded by people who believed transit should serve a higher purpose than just moving people over great distances, but should be part of a wholistic approach to renewing neighborhoods and corridors,” Adams said.
