Sunday, February 13, 2005
Portland planners get it wrong again
Portland open to 'big boxes' near airport
Cascade Station was passed by a emergency vote of the Portland city council
because it was so important.
Bechtel (Trammell Crow Co) was given the property (on a 85 year + option lease) in exchange for building 1 mile of the 5 1/2 mile PDX Max line. Bechtel was paid to build the other 4 1/2 mile line in a emergency vote that didn't allow any other company to bid on the project.
Planners promised a vibrant mixed-use area of offices, shops and hotels.
It didn't happen and has sat idle for years.
Even with all tax breaks that come with urban renewal, Direct Financial Assistance Products, Pre-development and Acquisition Loans, Fee Waivers, Exemptions and Credits, Tax Exemptions, Bond Allocation, City and PDC Loan Guarantees and Special Initiatives no one wanted to be the first tenant.
Now the developer and city council will allow big box stores which were
outlawed because planners don't like them, probably because customers
and shoppers love them.
Planners don't talk about where all the traffic will go when this project is built.
I- 84, I-205, Airport way and 82 are all ready very congested and this project
has no plans to accommodate the new capacity problems.
The Preserving the American Dream Conference visited Cascade Station on it's Friday tour of the Portland Metro area in 2004. If you weren't there you would have seen new roads & curb cuts for the non existent development. It had green grass, pretty flowers, and benches. Light rail even stops there but the doors do not open .
Cascade Station was passed by a emergency vote of the Portland city council
because it was so important.
Bechtel (Trammell Crow Co) was given the property (on a 85 year + option lease) in exchange for building 1 mile of the 5 1/2 mile PDX Max line. Bechtel was paid to build the other 4 1/2 mile line in a emergency vote that didn't allow any other company to bid on the project.
Planners promised a vibrant mixed-use area of offices, shops and hotels.
It didn't happen and has sat idle for years.
Even with all tax breaks that come with urban renewal, Direct Financial Assistance Products, Pre-development and Acquisition Loans, Fee Waivers, Exemptions and Credits, Tax Exemptions, Bond Allocation, City and PDC Loan Guarantees and Special Initiatives no one wanted to be the first tenant.
Now the developer and city council will allow big box stores which were
outlawed because planners don't like them, probably because customers
and shoppers love them.
Planners don't talk about where all the traffic will go when this project is built.
I- 84, I-205, Airport way and 82 are all ready very congested and this project
has no plans to accommodate the new capacity problems.
The Preserving the American Dream Conference visited Cascade Station on it's Friday tour of the Portland Metro area in 2004. If you weren't there you would have seen new roads & curb cuts for the non existent development. It had green grass, pretty flowers, and benches. Light rail even stops there but the doors do not open .
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