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I live in Sellwood/Westmoreland and I'm lucky because I don't have to commute, via transit or otherwise, but I am a firm supporter of public transportation. 

Right now there are 3 huge transportation projects right around my neighborhood:  portland-milwuakie lightrail, sellwood bridge and the Lake Oswego Streetcar.  it concerns me that there appears to be very little if any integration or larger scale planning on these projects together: the projects seem to be in their own worlds. 

To Mayor Adam's credit, by pushing streetcar across the Sellwood Bridge he's forcing some integration.  However, he's doing that without any analysis of whether or not it makes financial sense to put streetcar along Tacoma Street for that 1 or more mile between the Sellwood Bridge and 99E and a future Tacoma Station for the Milwaukie MAX line.  I would argue that we should do this analysis before spending $6M or more putting rails across a new bridge.  Would it make more fiscal sense to have a bus along Tacoma?

posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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The Sellwood Bridge has been considered by Sam Adams as the most important transportation project that is facing Portland.  Multnomah County owns the span of the bridge and is managing the $330m reconstruction project. The span itself if going to cost not more than $170m. The state owned west side of the bridge, OR Rt 43, is looking to cost $130m and includes a rock cut of 80 feet and a huge footprint that includes space for the future expansion of Rt 43 into four lanes of thru-traffic at some undetermined time.  The east side of the bridge, SE Tacoma St, is city owned and no money is being spent to integrate transportation traffic east of SE 6th Ave. Safety is an issue on SE Tacoma, having 4 pedestrians struck by vehicles over a recent 18 month period, including a 4 yr old boy.

Aside from the political turf battle between Cogan and Adams regarding financing for the project, what is each candidate's perspective on the project's overall priorities in terms of the price tag for these 3 elements:  span, west side interchange, and east side neighborhood?

posted 2 years, 8 months ago
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My parents took me to a UCC Congregational Church growing up. It was the strongest community I had in my childhood and am grateful to have had it, but the experience left me without belief in a God. I am empirical by nature and in my profession as a physical therapist I practice using an "evidence-based" philosophy: using those treatments that I understand work to improve patient health. In my mind and in life practice, I cannot prove or disprove that a God or Gods exist, so where did that leave me in terms of faith?

The only meaningful religion I've found that doesn't proclaim a God above is Buddhism. To me, Buddhism is about how I choose to live my life: in as thoughtful and as loving a way as I can learn how to.

posted 4 years, 8 months ago
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My father and mother both lived the traditional American Family: he worked and spent a great deal of time at work. my mom was at-home and stopped working as a teacher to be home with the kids and never went back. my father's role modeling for me gave me a self-image and expectation that I would provide for my own family financially. I never had a great role model for how men express emotion or communicate about emotional issues.

As a full time stay at home dad, I struggle on this issue and try very hard to make sure my own two boys learn how to express themselves, how to communicate and how to love others as fully as possible.

posted 5 years ago
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Gov Kulongoski has a proposal to set aside Marine Estuaries off the Oregon coast to protect marine life from over-fishing and to provide a boost to the fishing industry in Oregon through overflow of larvae and eggs into non-estuary areas. Will this no-take zone program, if it moves forward, be done in vain in light of ocean acidification?

posted 5 years ago
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