Author: EngineerScotty

  • Ray LaHood endorses CRC

    In an interview with KGW-TV’s Tracy Barry (who also scored an interview with President Obama), Transportation secretary Ray LaHood today praised the Columbia River Crossing and stated that “the Northwest could count on big federal support for a new I-5 bridge across the Columbia River if President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act is passed by…

  • November 2011 Open Thread

    It’s November. The smell of winter is in the air, baseball is done for the year, the Blazers are about to start the seasonlocked out, and everyone’s counting down the days until the holidays. So whether or not you think TriMet are a bunch of turkeys, it’s time for another open thread. Plenty of transit…

  • The proposed Metro UGB expansion into South Cooper Mountain

    In this month’s open thread, it was noted that Metro was considering an expansion of the urban growth boundary, which will be voted on at Thursday’s council meeting. Metro staff proposed a recommendation containing a list of ten sites (three industrial, and seven residential/commercial); of these ten, three were initially endorsed by the acting Chief…

  • The American Conservative and the 50th anniversary of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

    This year is the 50th anniversary of Jane Jacobs’ masterpiece The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Influential conservative magazine The American Conservative (a conservative political organ which hasn’t been given over to Tea Party reactionaryism) has an interesting article commemorating the occasion. Of particular interest to Portlanders, even if you disagree with every…

  • New York’s Dollar Vans: Could they work here?

    On the off chance the prior post ruffles too many libertarian feathers, here’s an interesting article on New York City’s dollar vans–small vans (14 passengers) which essentially provide bus service on routes that the MTA doesn’t serve. The vans in NY are quite popular (as are the similar “public light busses” in Hong Kong, some…