Comments on: Lake Oswego residents probably love the planned streetcar project

By: Mona Ellison, Reality-based Liberal

Mona Ellison, Reality-based Liberal — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 07:52:51 +0000

To Ellie McPeak:

Streetcar opponents are neither “uninformed” nor “confused.” We are, however, fed up with your nauseating arrogance and condescension. Which consultant are you referring to? The one approved by Jack Hoffman and told that the public is “uninformed” and “confused” and “needs more information” so he parroted exactly what he was told to say in the Council session in order to give streetcar supporters an excuse to delay any survey?

Thank you, Brian Lantow, for your factual response.

By: Brian Lantow

Brian Lantow — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:33:10 +0000

Having served on the Metro LO-Portland Alternatives Committee (LOPAC). Many LO residents actually seemed well-informed about the scope of this project. Many believe that the economics of this is about landing a large federal subsidy (in the hundreds of millions) for a highly questionable rail extension that creates additional opportunities for additional large subsidies for transit-oriented commercial and residential development.
As the project gets more focused, it does appear that more LO residents are opposed (the West End Building-To-Nowhere-mistake doesn’t help the case). People don’t recall this, but residents of LO had the opportunity to prioritize a streetcar about 6 or 7 years ago in a city-sponsored survey. I can’t recall the exact scoring, but it landed very, very, far down the list (not helpful at the time to streetcar supporters). As this was before our current recession, and as large-scale projects nationwide are being subjected to greater scrutiny
(or even cancellation), I expect that with transparency about the true costs of this project any survey will reveal further lack of support.

By: Ellie McPeak

Ellie McPeak — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:58:31 +0000

In addition to Rob LeChevallier’s comments, a key element in asking the public what it thinks about the project is to be sure everyone is talking about the same thing. As Rob notes, there are proposed changes to lower costs. If the end of the line, at least for now, is at the top of Foothills Road, the Park & Ride proposed at the Albertsons property on State Street, which worried neighbors in the Old Town and North Shore neighborhoods who believed it would create traffic problems, becomes a non-issue. As the consultant pointed out, the public is uninformed and confused about the project. Since the design and route changes haven’t even been decided, I think a survey in four months is premature.

By: Rob LeChevallier

Rob LeChevallier — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:24:13 +0000

The reason for the delay is not changing “minds” on the streetcar it is to allow cost information to be further developed as part of the Foothills framework plan which is being rolled out this summer. Based on preliminary feedback the consultants and developer believe that the costs of the streetcar and the environmental impact an be substantially reduced by having a single track in some key sections and by ending the streetcar at public property at the top of Foothills road. For your readers will be a public information session on the Foothills development on July 14th. The streetcar is an integral part of redeveloping the waterfront from State Street down to Foothill park. This is old industrial land that contributes little to the property taxbase. This is an exciting project which your construction customers should be interested in as it brings badly needed jobs in this economy.,