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St. Johns Bridge Plan Ignores Chance to Reconnect
Editor’s Note: This appeared as an opinion piece today on Oregon Live with a summary in the printed edition of the O. We’re cross-posting it here to allow a little more exposure and discussion. Portland’s Willamette River bridges connect east and west, north and south, uniting neighborhoods into one great city. Visitors marvel at the…
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My Commute: Chris Smith
Editor’s Note: We hope to make ‘My Commute’ or ‘My Trip’ a regular Sunday feature. We’re looking for stories of how people get around the region in creative or noteworthy ways. Readers are invited to submit their stories to webmaster@portlandtransport.com. Perhaps the most salient feature of my commute is that most days, I don’t! I…
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Why Doesn’t “Share the Sidewalk” Work?
America is an entitlement society. Unlike European – or even more strikingly, Asian culture – we don’t share. We don’t cooperate. Every special interest group has their own identity and expects their own separate but equal facility. Non-transport example: look at how Portland solved the dogs in parks problem. Not by getting dog owners and…
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I Play One in the Movies
While I am leery of whole celebrity-as-expert phenomena (look south in fear of the Governator!), actor Tom Hanks does a great job here presenting the simple choices that we CAN make that can make a big difference. As in many things—energy efficiency, water conservation, family amity—small actions can bring about big changes. Read Tom Hanks’…
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Neighborhood Based TDM
My idea is to develop internally-funded, neighborhood-based Transportation Demand Management programs. Portland State University and OHSU have shown us the way. Both institutions collect parking revenues from those who drive into their “neighborhood” and recycle these funds to reduce parking demand. They do this by: Subsidizing transit Investing in bicycle infrastructure Subsidizing car sharing for…