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The Portland to Lake Oswego transit corridor along Oregon Route 43 has been picked by regional government Metro as the next area for some new transit. In February, a community advisory committee said that a streetcar, not buses or cars, would be the best solution for the area. The streetcar extension has been endorsed as the preferred solution by the involved cities and counties since then, but it is still far from reality. And now it’s hit a road block.

Lake Oswego City Council endorsed the streetcar option with some restrictions, including a community survey and a city-wide vote. that at last week’s council meeting, public opinion consulting firm Davis, Hibbitts and Midghall asked to delay the survey.

The consultant’s worry: the people of Lake Oswego have wrong or incomplete information about the project, and this information will make the survey “inaccurate.” The Review article didn’t come right out and say it, but the issue seems to be that people don’t like the project, and the public opinion firm thinks that Lake Oswego should take a little more time to sell the project to its residents (with facts and new research) before it asks them what they think.

This survey, which council agreed to put off till this fall, will likely weigh heavily on Lake Oswego’s endorsement and financial contribution for a potential streetcar project. We’ll have to wait and see if four months is enough time to change some minds.

-Angela Webber