Friday, January 13, 2006
Portland prepares for more deadly light-rail lines
Portland's Fifth and Sixth Avenue transit mall is open to pedestrians, buses, and on certain streets cars. Now Portland wants to build a light-rail line down these streets, even though it is going to create more dangers for pedestrians and clog up the bus traffic. Fortunately, Portland's transit agency is fully aware of the risks and is nobly willing to take them on behalf of Portland pedestrians.
This light-rail line is expected to be more deadly than most because the street layout requires the rails to weave from lane to lane. Such weaving would not be necessary on any other street. But, the transit agency says, "a political commitment had already been made to businesses in the area."
What that means is, the businesses on Third and Fourth avenues as well as Broadway (Seventh), Eight, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh all said, "We want light rail, but if you put it on our streets, we are going to move out of downtown." The reason they said this is that construction of the original bus mall destroyed numerous businesses on Fifth and Sixth and the streets never recovered. So the goal for a business is to be one block way from light rail, not to be on the line itself.
Meanwhile, the family of a wheelchair light-rail rider is suing Portland's transit agency for killing him in 2004. The man was leaving the light-rail train but his wheelchair was not clear of the car when the train left the station. The car knocked his wheelchair to the tracks, where he was crushed by the train. If the transit agency were a private company, they would sue it for millions of dollars, but they are suing for only $100,000, because this is the liability limit on public agencies in Oregon. Just one more subsidy for light rail.
Postscript: Planners for Portland's transit agency explain to skeptics that traffic on the bus mall will be fine because cars, buses, light rail, and pedestrians will "all move in a carefully designed ballet of motion that will be designed to minimize accidents." That's fine if everyone on the street is a trained dancer. But just imagine if ordinary people tried to perform the Nutcracker or Swan Lake.
This light-rail line is expected to be more deadly than most because the street layout requires the rails to weave from lane to lane. Such weaving would not be necessary on any other street. But, the transit agency says, "a political commitment had already been made to businesses in the area."
What that means is, the businesses on Third and Fourth avenues as well as Broadway (Seventh), Eight, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh all said, "We want light rail, but if you put it on our streets, we are going to move out of downtown." The reason they said this is that construction of the original bus mall destroyed numerous businesses on Fifth and Sixth and the streets never recovered. So the goal for a business is to be one block way from light rail, not to be on the line itself.
Meanwhile, the family of a wheelchair light-rail rider is suing Portland's transit agency for killing him in 2004. The man was leaving the light-rail train but his wheelchair was not clear of the car when the train left the station. The car knocked his wheelchair to the tracks, where he was crushed by the train. If the transit agency were a private company, they would sue it for millions of dollars, but they are suing for only $100,000, because this is the liability limit on public agencies in Oregon. Just one more subsidy for light rail.
Postscript: Planners for Portland's transit agency explain to skeptics that traffic on the bus mall will be fine because cars, buses, light rail, and pedestrians will "all move in a carefully designed ballet of motion that will be designed to minimize accidents." That's fine if everyone on the street is a trained dancer. But just imagine if ordinary people tried to perform the Nutcracker or Swan Lake.
Portland Tram Wastes Taxpayers' Money
Construction has already begun on an aerial tramway between the Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) hospital in the Tualatin Hills and the Willamette River waterfront, but no one knows how much the tramway will cost. It is already at least 200 percent overbudget.
Oregonian columnist Steve Duin reveals that the tram is the dream of OHSU President Peter Kohler, who wanted an easy way for doctors to get from the hospital to a planned medical complex on the river. The initial $15 million budget for the tram was put together by two people who had no experience at all building such tramways.
Since then, as revealed in this Oregonian article, the tram's budget has tripled to $45 million, with OHSU picking up most of the tab. But at least $5 million remains, and the city and other agencies all say they are not interested in paying that extra amount. Moreover, no one knows the real final price tag. OHSU wants the tram to be finished by September, and the overtime required to meet that deadline will probably increase the cost further. Since they are already short by $5 million, no one wants to commit to covering any extra costs.
Another problem, as noted in this Oregonian story, is that by the time the city council was asked to approve the tram, the city staffers who made the original $15 million estimate knew that the real cost was going to be much higher. But they did not tell the city council, which approved the plan in ignorant bliss. Now they act betrayed, but of course, the same thing has happened with every light-rail line and streetcar line they approved in Portland.
One possible source of additional money is tax-increment financing on the Willamette River properties whose values will supposedly be enhanced by the tram. A problem there is that any property owned by non-profit OHSU, including 19.5 riverfront acres donated to the hospital by the Schnitzers, one of Portland's wealthiest families, is exempt from taxes. Of course, anyway you look at it, it is likely that taxpayers will somehow get stuck for the bill. Once ground has been broken, the city would never consider a proposal to stop throwing good money after bad.
More comments on the tram can be found in Jack Bog's Blog.
Oregonian columnist Steve Duin reveals that the tram is the dream of OHSU President Peter Kohler, who wanted an easy way for doctors to get from the hospital to a planned medical complex on the river. The initial $15 million budget for the tram was put together by two people who had no experience at all building such tramways.
Since then, as revealed in this Oregonian article, the tram's budget has tripled to $45 million, with OHSU picking up most of the tab. But at least $5 million remains, and the city and other agencies all say they are not interested in paying that extra amount. Moreover, no one knows the real final price tag. OHSU wants the tram to be finished by September, and the overtime required to meet that deadline will probably increase the cost further. Since they are already short by $5 million, no one wants to commit to covering any extra costs.
Another problem, as noted in this Oregonian story, is that by the time the city council was asked to approve the tram, the city staffers who made the original $15 million estimate knew that the real cost was going to be much higher. But they did not tell the city council, which approved the plan in ignorant bliss. Now they act betrayed, but of course, the same thing has happened with every light-rail line and streetcar line they approved in Portland.
One possible source of additional money is tax-increment financing on the Willamette River properties whose values will supposedly be enhanced by the tram. A problem there is that any property owned by non-profit OHSU, including 19.5 riverfront acres donated to the hospital by the Schnitzers, one of Portland's wealthiest families, is exempt from taxes. Of course, anyway you look at it, it is likely that taxpayers will somehow get stuck for the bill. Once ground has been broken, the city would never consider a proposal to stop throwing good money after bad.
More comments on the tram can be found in Jack Bog's Blog.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Two killed by buses; only five passengers on board
Two women were killed in one day in bus accidents in Denver. One was a driver of a car struck by a bus, the other was a pedestrian. At the time of the accidents, one of the buses was carrying three passengers; the other one two. So much for the claim that each bus takes so many automobiles off the road.
