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February 17, 2006
Cincinnati Heart Portland
Apparently we have Portland Transport readers all over, including John Schneider, who wrote this piece for a weekly in Cincinnati extolling Portland's transportation virtues.
John is suggesting Cincinnati could emulate our transit-friendly downtown, and he points out examples including our Safeway, topped by condos and served by Streetcar.
There is a delegation from Cincinnati due in Portland to get first-hand research.
Posted by Chris Smith at 7:02 AM
Comments
February 17, 2006 3:02 PM
J Says:
Cincinnati should take advantage of their unused subway under downtown so they can have a rapid transit system for a fraction of what it would cost to build a new one now. Even the high platform stations are there.
February 17, 2006 3:31 PM
Bob R. Says:
For detailed information on the Cincinnati subway, see:
http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/subway.html
- Bob R.
February 17, 2006 5:25 PM
John Schneider Says:
"Cincinnati should take advantage of their unused subway under downtown so they can have a rapid transit system for a fraction of what it would cost to build a new one now. Even the high platform stations are there."
Just so you know -- Cincinnati has only two miles of subway tunnels, and they don't penetrate the core of downtown. The Regional Rail Plan that was defeated in 2002 would have used the tunnels for the first two miles of the Westside Line, but it's a common misunderstanding that Cincinnati has a network of unused tunnels sitting under downtown. Wish that we did.
Beyond that, there's sentiment among transit advocates here that rail should run at grade and not be elevated or buried.
- John Schneider
February 18, 2006 4:06 AM
Justin Says:
Wow. Portland really is the Mecca of urbanism in the US. Too bad we don't have a sales tax to capture some of the money spent by tourists like these guys... we'd be a whole lot better off by letting outsiders fund our educational system!
February 18, 2006 7:40 PM
Ray Whitford Says:
Personnel Opinion: (What isn't on the Internet) Oregon gets a Sales Tax only if tied to Property Tax and/or Income Tax percentages (if one goes up during the good times, one or both other others goes down (kickers?) and in bad times the property taxes go up and income/sales tax goes down plus we have a rainy day fund that covers the difference).
Oregonians need to look for more balance and consistency in our tax code in under to keep the education and infrastructure investments stable.
Ray
