The Tigard City Council is going through the motions of adopting a new land use plan for the 827-acre area known as the Washington Square Regional Center. When adopted, it will replace the existing plan, which was approved in 1999. If you were not aware that there was a “regional plan” for the Washington Square […]
While much of the region is stuck at home under the governor’s “stay home, stay safe” order, the Metro regional government is charging ahead with a $7 billion “T2020” transportation package focused on an expensive and unneeded light rail line. Unlike Metro’s recently passed taxes for housing services, T2020 will impose hundreds of dollars in […]
You may have noticed companies and public agencies using the words “renewable energy certificates” or RECs in regard to the alleged source of their electricity, but rarely do they explain what they are. Only that purchasing RECs on your behalf is a good thing. But what exactly is a REC? And what benefits do we […]
In the next week or so, Portland area voters will receive their November ballots. One of the items is Measure 26-203: a $475 million bond measure by Metro, the regional government for the Portland area. Metro wants the money so it can buy more land for its so-called parks and nature program. Measure 26-203 will […]
TriMet recently marked the ten-year anniversary of the Westside Express Service (WES), the 14.7-mile commuter rail line that runs from Wilsonville to Beaverton. Sadly, there was little to celebrate. WES ridership has been falling steadily since 2014, and there is no prospect that the line will ever meet the opening year forecast of 2,500 average […]
Portland-area motorists who have to regularly cross the Sellwood Bridge may wonder why the new structure is twice as wide as the 1925 bridge, yet has the same number of travel lanes. The answer is simple. Portland transportation planners don’t want to solve traffic congestion problems; they prefer to make them worse. We know this […]
ABC’s Shark Tank may be coming to the Portland region—not in the form of a reality TV special, but as a taxpayer-funded project that positions the Metro regional government to act as a venture capital firm. Rather than investing in the success of growing businesses, however, the Sharks at Metro plan to fund temporary pilot […]
The TriMet Board recently approved a plan to replace its entire fleet with battery-electric buses (BEBs) by 2040. If implemented, this will cost taxpayers $553 million more than buying diesel buses. It might be worth the premium if battery powered buses were cleaner or more reliable, but they aren’t. King County, Washington has been testing […]
As Clackamas County Chair, I have grown increasingly disappointed with other regional government leaders prioritizing billions in light rail mass transit over fixing the traffic congestion problems that our county residents are so frustrated with. Worsening traffic congestion affects not only Clackamas County’s businesses but our residents who commute in and out of the county […]
