Tuesday, October 06, 2009

The future of Portland

Note: As I'm reading this I keep copy and pasting and then finding something much much worse and having to start over. This is very discombobulating. It's an Orwellian read but Portland really is going to force you to ride a bike... for your own good.

Here is the main page with links to the entire bike plan 2030


This image, the Green transportation hierarchy, pretty much sums it up:




A vision for Portland in the year 2030 (page 21)
It is the year 2030, and Portland looks much diff erent than it did a generation ago. In 2030, bicycling is a fundamental pillar of Portland’s fully integrated transportation system.


It is the year 2030, and Portland looks muchdiff erent than it did a generation ago. In 2030, bicycling is a fundamental pillar of Portland’sfully integrated transportation system.


Portland’s thriving economy derives from its fit, healthy employee base. Every business encourages employees and visitors to bicycle and off ers high quality, plentiful bicycle parking. With more money in their pockets and circulating in the local economy due to reduced transportation costs, the business community has come to embrace bicycling as a hallmark of the Portland region.

The rise in bicycle use has been accompanied by a sharp increase in safety for all residents due to the use of international best practices in bikeway design, cyclist and motorist safety campaigns, enforcement of high-risk traffic behaviors and evolution of laws and attitudes. Improved safety is tied to the increasing numbers of cyclists, many of whom have reduced their driving trips and come to appreciate the lower stress experience of pedaling for daily transportation. Related to the decline in driving-related stress has been a burgeoning civic commitment to mutual courtesy.

This vision did not just happen as a result of geography, climate or historical happenstance.
It was carefully planned and fully funded by citizens determined to set a threshold for
sustainable urban living in the 21st century. The vision came about because Portland’s leaders recognized that bicycling could be a significant and incredibly positive means of transportation for tens of thousands of residents...

It reads like a high school thesis paper but is written by people who control hundreds of millions of your tax dollars and have the ability to force behavior on you through social engineering.


One of the reasons that Portland wants to force you into biking is that it's just not fair that poor people can't afford cars:


(Page 5)
Equity in access to transportation is an important measure in creating a sustainable city. With the annual average cost of owning and operating a car now estimated at more than $7,000 bicycling offers a more affordable transportation option that still provides ‘doorto- door’ service.


As inner-city neighborhoods experience continued gentrification, minorities and low income residents are increasingly pushed to the fringes of Portland, where transportation options are often more limited. The relative affordability of bicycle infrastructure and programs can help provide transportation equity to neighborhoods that may not yet have sufficient access to transit service or where walking is impractical.

Some notable sections worth reading:

2.1.4 Putting green transportation first (Page 20)
Specific strategies that could support a green transportation hierarchy include designating car free or car-limited zones, reforming system performance standards to favor the movement of people over the movement of vehicles, and further developing the 20-minute neighborhood concept.

3.2.2 Principles for bikeway design (Page 61)
Attractiveness: Good design and a ‘sense of place’ should enhance the look and feel of the bicycling environment
Portland is actually wants to tell companies how to design bikes...

4.2.3 Road safety (Page 97)
By law, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is responsible for establishing speed zones on all Oregon highways. Oregon cities and counties are not allowed to set or change speed limits but may appeal speed-related zoning recommendations to the State of Oregon’s Speed Zone Review Panel. This system significantly limits Portland’s ability to control speed limits to
make streets safer and more attractive for bicycling.

When have pesky laws ever gotten in the way of totalitarian governments...

The City of Portland’s TSP calls for reducing local traffic speeds through enforcement and design in designated high-density Main Streets, Regional Centers, and Town Centers to levels that are safe and comfortable for bicyclists and pedestrians. With more control over speed limits, the City of Portland will better achieve regional and local objectives while creating improved bicycling conditions.

So ODOT may set the speed limit but Portland will design the street to make traffic go slower.

Throughout this huge document are quotes from Portland notables such as Jeff Mapes:

“Driving a mile to the store for a quart of milk seems to me as much overkill as using a highpowered nail gun to hang a picture.” - Jeff Mapes

I'm so glad that Jeff buys a quart of milk at a time. What about the rest of us who buy two gallons when we go grocery shopping? The answer: move out of Portland. This is scary stuff.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like paradise. I wonder how my business clients will react when I tell them - sorry I had to increase my rates by 1200%. Now that I have to walk or ride my bike to your office (of COURSE I could still drive my car, but with the 23.5 hour per day engineered gridlock, it will take the same amount of time), I can only service one client per day instead of the 12 that I used to service. I'm sure they'll gladly fork over the money and say 'gee, thanks for being so sustainable! That won't hurt business at all!

Anonymous said...

What about that darned RAIN? Who is going to ride a bike in the non stop pouring rain, coming soon and soaking us until June.

Minorities? In 2030 that will be those horrible white people that started this whole experiment in 1776 as Hispanics will be the majority nationwide then as they are in several states now. Sooo this will make it more affordable for the no jobs left for you whiteys, to get their government check I guess?

Or will the whites have to resort to Bike-Jacking for money then?

Seems like these Portland Liberals are reading/studying/copying George Orwell's 1984 as if it IS the new Bible. I'm sure L. Ron Hubbard would be jealous.

For the 1st time in history California has had more people leaving the state than coming in, for a couple of years now.
Obviously the wackos that are ruining Portland want the same thing to happen here for some unknown reason.

Makes me really miss the 1950's-1970's. When everyone had a new car and house and could pay for it, because we had NO illegal immigration (= no deadbeats) and very little legal immigration, us Americans just made our own stuff and sold it too each other. If you were "down on your luck" the Church or Family would help as people didn't want Big Brother to help (unlike nowadays) and Families stayed together and raised solid kids (unlike the messed up Divorced 2x, 3x? kids of today) And any Country that wanted access to our great prosperity of money in hand consumers paid a Tariff or Excise tax. Now us American workers that still have a job pay all the taxes and China/Mexico/India and immigrants do NOT!

And now big Brother says Ride a Bike Jimmy OR ELSE you will suffer and be mocked.

Conservatives that are Vegans, just don't eat meat.

Liberals will make sure everyone feels really bad about eating any meat.

AND

Conservatives ride a bike when they feel like it.

Liberals will make sure that you have no other choice.

Robin said...

being a lifelong Oregonian, the first thing that comes to mind is the rain.

I ride a bicycle and a motorcycle... however, I ride neither when it's raining. I've already been through those days.

I also have to agree with the increase in transportation costs. Take a look at California, they hate diesels. I know of one company that is having to completely redo its fleet of refrigerator units because they do not meet the emission standards of California.

So, companies have to pass that cost which of course increases the cost to the consumer. Great help to the economy.

If it was me... I just wouldn't go into California.

If Portland would like to be a primarily bicycle community, then I would ask them to first take a look at Eugene's downtown mall and what happened to it when they closed it off to vehicle traffic.

the end result is that they finally had to reopen the mall to vehicle traffic in order to try and save downtown.

Oh yes, I suppose I should also point out that the city's councils decision to close the downtown mall to vehicle traffic helped Valley River Center, which has ample vehicle parking and is inside out of the rain.

Which brings up another point... safety.

You're more vulnerable on a bicycle than you are in a vehicle.

And I can go on and on.

On one final point, is health. I'm just picturing all those people being forced to ride their bicycles with their walkers and oxygen attached.

OregonGuy said...

I heartily support plans to increase bike ridership in Portland.

Living in rural Oregon, it has been distressing that the mutton heads who live in the Tri-Met area seem to be able to determine the outcome for any statewide elections.

Requiring Portlanders to ride bicycles will result in either of two things: the dying off of the Left; the conversion of the Left to the Right.

I note with amusement the proposals to provide for bicycle transportation in the current plans to "improve" the Sellwood bridge. Having lived on top of the hill on Taylors-Ferry, the idea that anyone would attempt to cross the Sellwood in winter on a bike is delightful. I suggest we not provide nets. Que sera, sera.

Sunday bike rides are one thing. From Barbur to downtown, then up the hill across Suicide bridge, then down the hill to Olsen, then Multnomah back to Taylors-Ferry was a wonderful ride.

What idiocy to attempt this on a work day. Doubled with inclement weather.

So, create the rules, enforce them.

It will bring new meaning to the term "critical mass".
.

DAVE01 said...

I hate going to that town anyway. Jeez, you guys whine a lot. Oregon follows California a lot in what they do. Of course we will crash our state as CA has done. The idiots that run this state want one big park for us to play in. We won't have jobs or money, but what the hell, we don't need no steenking money. In conclusion, quit your bitching and just do what our all knowing leaders want us to do. They know best.

Mike Terrill said...

Crap like this is why I avoid Portland proper like the plague and stick to doing everything in the 'burbs.

innominatus said...

They won't salt the roads for cars, but I bet they will for cyclists. Otherwise, there'll be a lot of funny wipe-outs on YouTube to look forward to.

MAX Redline said...

I live just a block away from the Portland city limits, but I literally cannot remember the last time I went into the town.

Hal Lillywhite said...

It's interesting that they rate taxis not only above private cars but above mass transit. In fact taxis are less efficient than private cars because a taxi usually has to go empty to where it picks up a passenger.

Bobkatt said...

Hal-I think you misread the upside down pyramid. Taxis are only above high occupancy and single occupancy vehicles not buses.
The reality is that the only way this scenario will play out is if the government manages to make vehicle use so cost prohibitive that people are forced out of their cars. If this were to occur I think that they would only force people and businesses out of Portland.

OregonGuy said...

Bobkatt--

I'm sure jest.

As Max will tell you, all of the planners' dreams for Portland are coming true on a daily basis.

They will not move. They will love their warren.
.

Hal Lillywhite said...

Bobkat, youj are correct, I missed that. Still, taxis are less efficient than single occupancy vehicles and much less efficient than high occupancy vehicles.

Anonymous said...

"Portland’s thriving economy derives from its fit, healthy employee base"

Yeah, right. Portlanders are the fattest, laziest, most out of shape people on the west coast.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like most of the commentors are from outside of Portland. Why do they care what we do in Portland?

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