American Dream

Jack Bogdanski, author of Jack Bog's Blog, intercepted letters from the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) to Portland business leaders supporting the So What District's aerial tram fiasco. As you may recall from this space before, the tram was supposed to cost $15 million, current estimate is up to $55 million.

The letters make the following points:

• Not a dime of the cost of the tram comes from Portland's general fund. No, but a lot comes from TIF money, which means it comes out of property taxes that would otherwise go to schools, fire, police, etc.
• The tram will be able to move 980 people per hour with cars going every five minutes. Yes, if you can jam 82 people, some in wheelchairs, into it at a time-- and if 82 people actually want to go.
• The tram has spurred $2 billion in investment in Portland. This is the old "every dollar spent after we decided to build something was only spent because we decided to build it" lie, taken straight from the light-rail playbook.
• If we couldn't have the tram, we would move part or all of our hospital to the suburbs instead of keeping it in Portland. In other words, the whole point is to feed the egos of Portland leaders, not to be responsible to taxpayers.
• The best line: "The tram already is 45 percent complete and is delivering on its promise." How can it deliver on its promise if it is only 45 percent complete? The only promise made about the construction was that it would cost $15 million and it certainly delivered on that promise, and more!

For even more howlers, read the comments (scroll down) to Jack's posting. Jack himself points out that the author of the letter earns $600,000 a year and lives in a property-tax-free home provided for him by OHSU.

It is time for the American Dream Coalition to start taking on TIF, which is funding many of the inane "transit-oriented developments" and other smart-growth fantasies around the U.S. If you have any good TIF stories, please forward them to me.