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Neither of those stores are in Parkrose. I don't think anyone north of I-84 is walking to Halsey to buy groceries.

posted 2 years, 2 months ago
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Folks - I live east of I-205. The FoPo Fred Meyer is relatively inaccessible except by car, and does not have many of the products I want.

"There's a Fred Meyer on 82nd" is not the answer. There is no grocery store between the 82nd Fred Meyer and the 122nd Safeway. Imagine a swath of Portland from Seven Corners to Mount Tabor, without one grocery store. That's what we have out here.

posted 2 years, 2 months ago
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The market refuses to take risks in neighborhoods like Lents. Even the Foster-Powell Fred Meyer is bare bones and lacks many quality food products. Meanwhile, food consumers buy unhealthy, overpriced food at convenience stores or spend time and money driving to Happy Valley or Sellwood to buy their groceries.

Some think consumers in Lents can't afford to shop at New Seasons. You should see how much they pay for milk at 7-Eleven. I burn a gallon of gas to get to New Seasons to shop.

Don't believe me? Check this story from the Washington Post.

posted 2 years, 2 months ago
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The idea that the Steel Bridge is a sitting duck scares me as a MAX rider. Why can't we fund an earthquake warning system?

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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I couldn't disagree more.

While I certainly think limiting urban road construction is a great idea, there are two critical things a blanket statement such as this overlooks:

- Freight traffic is hugely impacted by lack of capacity, both on the rails and the roads. Oregon has two key bottlenecks — I-5 at the Columbia and I-5 from Salem to Eugene. Both need to be fixed.

- Safety. While cities have burgeoned in population, the West's regional road network looks just like it did in 1970 — and in rural areas, like it did in the 1930s. That means that Bend is connected to the rest of the country by dangerous two-lane roads; there is no convenient and safe way to get to the coast from Portland; there is no alternative to I-5 for regional freight traffic.

The rest of the country has gotten billions, if not more, from Washington to upgrade its regional highway infrastructure. The West has lagged behind in that department, and it costs us money and lives. Rail won't work because there are no convenient rail lines to many cities, while other potential corridors simply are incompatible with rail topographically.

The roads of the West were designed for the 1930s, not today. It's time to upgrade them and give us our fair deal.

posted 4 years, 3 months ago
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Your Excursion vs. Fit example is extreme. The average American sedan weighs about 3500 pounds ?ﾠa Prius weighs 2900. That's a marginal increase in wear.

I guarantee that the studded tires purchased in the last month have caused more damage than all the Hummer H2s in Oregon combined. And maintenance is relatively inexpensive ? the I-5 repaving of 2002, from the Rose Quarter north, cost $29 million... that won't even build one new freeway interchange, much less pay for the Sunrise Corridor, the Newberg-Dundee Bypass, the I-5/99W Connector, Sellwood Bridge, the CRC, US 26 / US 97 widening in dangerous and fast-growing central Oregon, widening of I-5 from Salem to Eugene, etc., etc., etc., etc.

We're not having this discussion in Oregon because our air is dirty ?ﾠwe're having this discussion because we don't have enough money for our roads, because federal funding has created excellent highway networks for the East, South and Midwest but dried up when it was time to upgrade our roads.

We can't raise the gas tax anymore. It's just not going to be palatable to drivers, and it's not fair to drivers of older, or lower MPG vehicles. Everyone should pay the same for their use of highways. If you want to penalize folks for driving Hummers or Excursions, fine ?ﾠdo it at DEQ.

posted 4 years, 4 months ago
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So driving twice as far on a tank of gas isn't enough incentive ?ﾠhigh-MPG drivers should be subsidized too?

You've offered a defense of subsidies for higher MPG drivers. But what about equity?

Roads aren't like water pipes or power lines. Users who use low-flow toilets or fluorescent bulbs put less strain on the system ?ﾠhybrid drivers create just as much traffic as non-hybrid drivers but pay substantially less for their use of the roads.

posted 4 years, 4 months ago
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It seems simple to me. Why should I, driving a 25 mpg car, pay more for maintenance and congestion relief than the owner of a 40 mpg car that creates the same amount of traffic and wear on the road?

posted 4 years, 4 months ago
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Not long ago in Washington County, the sheriff's office released the location of medical marijuana card holders.

I find it hypocritical that the sheriff's office doesn't mind releasing the location of marijuana farms but is fighting tooth and nail to keep concealed weapons permits secret.

posted 4 years, 5 months ago
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This would be a truly Oregonian solution. A vote. Except here in Oregon, the vote would have four choices:

1. No build
2. Light rail only
3. Wider bridge only
4. Both projects

50% approval needed in all four counties of the Metro area (Clark + ClackMultWash) to pass. And nothing would get done.

posted 4 years, 11 months ago
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Nice fallacy there. 12 lanes at the Columbia equals 4 lanes at the Rose Garden. You mixed your references ?ﾠ12 total lanes at the Columbia vs. 2 lanes in each direction at the Rose Garden.

But to answer your question, I-5 in that area is considered to be 8 lanes total ? 2 southbound lanes each on I-5 and 405, same for northbound.

And the Columbia is essentially at the heart of a major freeway interchange. Freeways get wider at freeway-to-freeway interchanges to accommodate merging and exiting traffic.

So, in answer to your question ? 6 through lanes of I-5 at SR 14 in Vancouver will decrease congestion as traffic heads towards 8 through lanes of I-5 in downtown Portland (just spread across both freeways).

posted 4 years, 11 months ago
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But people ?ﾠwe're missing the overarching point: It is not going to get cheaper to build this bridge. Ever. Look at the Sellwood Bridge. That measly little thing is going to cost $300 million to replace. You think some day down the road a replacement bridge ?ﾠno matter how smart or small ?ﾠis ever going to be cheaper than a bridge we start building in 2010?

posted 4 years, 11 months ago
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Three points ?ﾠ

1, and at present, the most important. I'm baffled by the three Metro councilors who seek to toll the Interstate Bridge and push light rail. It's an insult to the thousands of Vancouver residents who already pay their share in Oregon income taxes and now are being told there will be an extra cost ?ﾠwith no improvement ? to working in Oregon.

Vancouver's car culture is a monster created, at least in part, by Metro. Clark County is Metro's "overflow" for single-family homes, six-lane boulevards and strip malls. As they craft new urbanism in Oregon, they force traditional suburbia across the river. With one fell swoop, a toll, they will not unilaterally change another culture.

That brings me to my second point. The cost of replacing that bridge is only going to go up. If it had gotten done five years ago ? something delayed, in part, because Vancouver was unwilling to accept light rail ? we could be talking $1 billion, not $4 billion. If we stall replacement of the bridge ?ﾠnearing its century anniversary and the only red-light on I-5 from Canada to Mexico ? the cost will only go up.

In last week's Willy Week, the paper cited the cancellation of the Mt. Hood Freeway as an example of how Portland is capable of stopping environmentally unfriendly projects. But look at the other side of that. The Sunrise Corridor would have undoubtedly cost less than $50 million if built in the 1970s. Now, the project, which will be necessary to help move people in and out of Metro's Damascus Land Run, will cost at least $1 billion.

Councilors Liberty, Hosticka and Colette, this must not be the future of the Columbia River Crossing. The bridge, one day, will be replaced. The cost will only go up. How many zeroes are you willing to put on the check?

P.S. Vancouver ? Stop complaining about light rail. It hasn't crushed downtown Hillsboro or Beaverton and it won't kill the Couv either. If you could get a third of your Portland-bound commuters, a realistic goal if the Westside light rail is any indication, to take transit, then what's wrong with that? You'll thank Portland when that day comes that $4 a gallon is a distant memory.

posted 4 years, 11 months ago
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The discussion this morning has been centered a lot around the Californians moving to Oregon. But I think there's an underrepresented portion of folks who moved to Oregon because of Californians' exodus to their states. I moved here from Las Vegas because of what Californians did to that city ? miles and miles of strip malls, increased need for services but a steadfast demand to keep taxes low, no foresight for urban planning and an endless sea of characterless single-family subdivisions. I know of others who have moved or are considering a move here from Phoenix, Albuquerque and Salt Lake because of the same pattern. Portland has little in common with California, and I'm proud that it's my refuge from the "new west" suburbia that has trickled out of California and has turned other cities into endless strip malls.

posted 5 years, 4 months ago
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