Sam Adams' Brings Back The Awesome
Posted by: kmikeym | From: December 20, 2006
Sam Adams has earned my vote for whatever he runs for next. When the Burnside Couplet plan was derailed (or "Burnsided") by The Henry it was a crushing blow to Portland's future. But Sam Adams has brought the Burnside Couplet back!
While the initial plan was better for bicycles, this plan includes a streetcar! Additionally Sam Adams says that it will reduce travel times for motorists, provide 240 new on-street parking spaces, save lives by reducing the number of vehicle crashes, and "make Burnside and Couch a transit-rich, vibrant, commercial, mixed-use pedestrian-oriented district."
PDC estimates that new property tax revenues will pay for the entire project in 15 years, and Harold Schnitzer, the largest property owner on west Burnside, has committed to $200 million in development on his Burnside properties.
The comments on Sam Adams' post are exhausting and don't really add to the conversation. Over at the Oregonian they try to rustle up some public opposition, but it seems pretty poor (the opposition I mean, not the article). There are some well balenced letters to the editor published on the 11th.
Howard Shapiro claims that the plan will ruin the "tucked-in atmosphere of leisurely sidewalk dining and upscale shopping." I'm thinking he must be talking about the two or three blocks on Couch from the Henry to Whole Foods, because no one really walks on the other parts of Couch. Barnes Ellis has the incredibly helpful "This is a city, and it's going to have busy streets." Oh. Okay. Thanks Barnes. If that is best the Oregonian can do in finding people against the plan, then I think this plan just might make it!
The streetcar is not about moving people, it's about inspiring development! I read a quote from Homer Williams about how development along the streetcar is worth significantly more than even one or two blocks away. That has to be the reason for the streetcar.
Posted by: Mikey at December 22, 2006 11:16 AM
There's a nice quote from Charlie Hales in a cover Willy Week story a few years back. I'm too lazy to look up the exact quote, but it's something about how the streetcar lets people be participants in the action and streetscape, instead of protecting them from it as private cars do.
I wrote him and pointed out that bikes are the same way and asked him to join the BTA, which he did.
Posted by: freddy at January 2, 2007 5:47 PM
The Burnside couplet plan is a bad idea, in my opinion. I don't understand what they really want out of Burnside Street. It's the last street in downtown Portland that really expresses the independent spirit that Portland thrives on. If they want to get rid of Dugo's and the flophouses around 4th and 5th, and fix the traffic problems, this isn't really a good way to fix that. And what are they going to do with all the trees in the middle of Burnside between 2nd and 9th? Get rid of them? They're going to get in the way of all those one-way drivers changing lanes, you know. Better get rid of them now, right? No. Get some beat cops to walk the streets (instead of driving) in Old Town, quit relying on the security people hired by the Pearl district businesses for law enforcement, and repaint the crosswalks between the park avenues. Please don't endorse wasting millions of dollars on something that's going to push out the businesses that keep Portland's independent spirit alive (http://www.oregonlive.com/O/relationships/index.ssf?/base/living/1171418123176990.xml&coll=7).
Posted by: Andrea at March 5, 2007 3:54 PM
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I've always supported the couplet. But what is with this asinine idea of putting a streetcar along this stretch of Burnside?
Posted by: b!X at December 21, 2006 11:56 PM