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Why I Support Bike Sharing in Portland
A number of months ago I signed on to a letter in support of using several million dollars from the regional share of Federal flexible transportation dollars to help jump start a bike sharing system in Portland. And although a number of friends and organizations that I’m normally allied with are questioning that priority, I’m…
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My Bionic Bike Ride
Saturday I joined about 100 other local electeds, planners, advocates and policy wonks for the 7th Annual “Visionaries Voyage” (also known in the past as the Policymakers Ride). This is a yearly bike ride that visits regional open spaces and natural areas and explores existing and potential trail network opportunities. In recent years this has…
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Oregonian Begins to Recongize CRC Reality
No one is going to step up to pay for the current overblown design of the Columbia River Crossing. So how much longer will we keep spending millions per month planning something that shouldn’t, and perhaps more relevantly, can’t, be built? What needs to happen now is: Amend the project purpose and need statement to…
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How Much Do Businesses Depend on Auto Traffic? Less than They Think
Via Streetsblog: A study in Vancouver, B.C. found that merchants perceived that a much higher percentage of customers arrive via auto than actually do. Obviously this will vary tremendously by type of business (Jiffy Lube probably doesn’t get much walk-in business), but this matches my own experience in doing neighborhood transportation advocacy. Merchants tend to…
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Do We Have Enough Cabs?
A post at Sightline looks at comparative taxis per capita, and taxi fares. Portland has a relatively low number of cabs per person, and relatively high fares. Would we benefit from looser restrictions on the number of taxis in Portland? How would we arrive at the optimal number? Do we need a limit at all?…