Sunday, July 10, 2005
Portland area growing, but so what?
The Portland area is growing faster than the U.S. as a whole, says this article, which tries to alarm people with just how fast that rate of growth is. To put it in perspective, Las Vegas is growing three times as fast as Portland and several other urban areas, including Raleigh-Durham and Phoenix, are growing twice as fast.
The main reason this article came out, I think, is because the latest Census Bureau population estimate for the city of Portland (as opposed to the Portland area) shows a decline from 2000 to 2004. Metro, Portland's regional planning dictatorship, doesn't want people to feel like growth isn't a problem, so it is raising alarm bells at the supposedly fast pace of growth.
"Over 1,000 people are moving to Washington County every month," says a smart-growth advocate in the final paragraph of the article. "Metro needs to figure out how we can accommodate their living, employment, shopping and recreation needs."
Now wait a minute. Why does Metro need to figure that out? Las Vegas, Raleigh-Durham, and Phoenix don't have regional planning dictatorships, and they are doing just fine regarding livablity, jobs, retail, and recreation. None of them, for example, were in the top ten most unemployed urban areas in the last five years, while Portland was number one for much of that time. I haven't been there lately, but I suspect you can find plenty of places to shop in Las Vegas. And, discounting the climate, in what way is Portland more livable than Phoenix?
I hear this over and over again: "Our region is growing and we need more centralized planning to figure out how to accommodate that growth." No, you don't.
The main reason this article came out, I think, is because the latest Census Bureau population estimate for the city of Portland (as opposed to the Portland area) shows a decline from 2000 to 2004. Metro, Portland's regional planning dictatorship, doesn't want people to feel like growth isn't a problem, so it is raising alarm bells at the supposedly fast pace of growth.
"Over 1,000 people are moving to Washington County every month," says a smart-growth advocate in the final paragraph of the article. "Metro needs to figure out how we can accommodate their living, employment, shopping and recreation needs."
Now wait a minute. Why does Metro need to figure that out? Las Vegas, Raleigh-Durham, and Phoenix don't have regional planning dictatorships, and they are doing just fine regarding livablity, jobs, retail, and recreation. None of them, for example, were in the top ten most unemployed urban areas in the last five years, while Portland was number one for much of that time. I haven't been there lately, but I suspect you can find plenty of places to shop in Las Vegas. And, discounting the climate, in what way is Portland more livable than Phoenix?
I hear this over and over again: "Our region is growing and we need more centralized planning to figure out how to accommodate that growth." No, you don't.
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