The Daily Journal of Commerce is reporting that Metro will “crunch the numbers” for running Milwaukie Light Rail through the Central East Side instead of over a bridge into downtown. It’s a little bit hard to tell from the article, but I get the sense that this is a side exercise by Metro staff at…

According to today’s Clackamas Review article, a petition signed by hundreds of local residents (including the Mayor’s wife) has encouraged the inclusion of an alternate route proposal in the SDEIS process. The new route would run closer to the heart of downtown Milwaukie, perhaps split along Main St. and SE McLoughlin Blvd. The article states…

At a recent Streetcar meeting, we got a briefing on the crossing options (PDF, 3.4M) under consideration for the Milwaukie LRT EIS process. The set to be studies in the EIS will be narrowed soon (indications favor the middle two), so weigh in soon if you have an opinion. Here’s the project page at Metro.

Jim Mayer’s piece traces the trajectory from recalling the Mayor and City Council members to accelerating community support for the Light Rail proposal. A more acceptable alignment coupled with changes in demographics and attitude seem to be the drivers.

Things are looking up for Milwaukie LRT. According to the Daily Journal of Commerce, the $250 requested from the State (from Lottery bonds) for the project is included in the co-chairs’ budget. The Connect Oregon 2 program is also in the budget. “There are two key investments we’re proposing,” Rep. Mary Nolan, D-Portland and co-chair…