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O'Toole
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Portland: A Model for How NOT to Run a City
JUDGING PORTLAND BY INTENTIONS, NOT RESULTS
By Randal O'Toole
August 27, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
"Car junkies like me are becoming an endangered species" in Portland, writes British politician Sayeeda Warsi for the BBC. Warsi has fallen for the common trap of judging urban planners by their intentions, not their results.
It is true, as Warsi says, that Portland has spent most of its transportation dollars on rail transit. Yet light rail carries only 0.9 percent of the region's passenger traffic (buses carry another 1.4 percent). In what world does it make sense to spend most of your money on 0.9 percent of your output (and not, by far, the most valuable 0.9 percent)? When over 90 percent of travel is by car, how can autos be considered "an endangered species"? It is true, as Warsi says, that public transit ridership has significantly increased over the last ten years. But he failed to note a significant downslide in ridership in the 1980s, when Portland began focusing on light rail and lost touch with bus riders. As a result, Portland transit today carries a smaller share of commuters and a smaller share of total travel than it did in 1980, before the region's leaders began their love affair with expensive rail transit.
It is NOT true, as Warsi claims, that Portland has "eradicated over 62 million car trips a year." Transit carries 104 million trips per year, 58 million of which were carried by buses in 1985 before the first light-rail line opened. Portland's population since then has grown by about 50 percent, so it is likely that the vast majority of transit riders today would still be riding transit if not a single mile of light rail had been built.
It may be true, as Warsi claims, that Portland "car use is growing at the slowest rate anywhere in the United State." But it was not true a few years ago and it is only true today because Portland's anti-business climate has driven away employers, leading to a stagnation of the region's economy. As Warsi failed to note, even transit ridership has fallen since 2002.
It is NOT true, as Warsi says, that Oregon Governor Tom McCall "took radical steps to prioritise public transport over roads" in the 1970s. That is a strange rewriting of history, crediting McCall (who is regarded, with a bit more accuracy, as the father of Oregon's land-use planning system) with a series of decisions made over several decades by his successors and Portland officials.
It is true, as Warsi says, that Portland has built bike lanes to the airport. But they are rarely used and almost exclusively for recreation, not by air travelers or airport workers. (I have ridden the full length of these bike lanes; they follow a noisy freeway but do not go anywhere that most Portland cyclists really want to go.)
Like many reporters, Warsi seems to have judged the entire Portland area by a visit to downtown. Thanks to subsidized downtown housing, Portland's inner city has undergone a demographic change and is now occupied mainly by young singles and childless couples. Though bicycling is popular among this group, inner-city streets remain jammed with autos. Away from the inner city you will find bicycling no more popular than anywhere else in the country.
It is NOT true, as Warsi claims, that Portland's transportation vision is a result of "true direct democracy in action."
* As noted in update #62, Portland voted down further funding for light rail in 1998 -- but the region is building more anyway.
* Voters also rejected an expanded convention center, but they built it anyway, further demonstrating the contempt the region's leaders have for democracy.
* Two of Portland's suburbs have withdrawn from the region's transit district so that they can provide their own, better, service at a lower cost to their residents.
* Construction of an aerial tramway, another transportation boondoggle, led to a huge political battle whose repercussions will have lasting consequences [Read].
* When Portland Congressman David Wu offered the region federal funds to expand the capacity of the region's most heavily congested freeway, the region's leaders turned him down [Read] because they don't want to risk reducing transit ridership.
If Portland-area voters had a real say in their future, they would certainly not favor the gridlock that is the admitted goal of the region's planners.
In short, Warsi's report is based largely on myths, fabrications, and selective use of data. Warsi is the vice chair of Britain's Conservative Party. Considering his lack of skepticism and analytical skills, it is no wonder that the Conservatives have been out of power for well over a decade.
© 2006 Randal O'Toole - All Rights Reserved
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Randal O'Toole has spent three decades studying government planning, including both rural and urban plans. His work on national forest planning led to the book, "Reforming the Forest Service," which proposes free-market reforms of public land management. His work on urban planning led to the book, "The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths: How Smart Growth Harms American Cities," which promotes free-market solutions to congestion and other urban problems.
In
1998, Yale University named O'Toole its McCluskey Conservation Fellow.
In 1999 and 2001, he was the Scaife Visiting Scholar at the University
of California at Berkeley, and in 2000 he was the Merrill Visiting Professor
at Utah State University. O'Toole is an economist with the Thoreau Institute
(ti.org) and the director of the American
Dream Coalition (americandreamcoalition.org).
E-mail: rot@ti.org
If Portland-area voters had a real say in their future, they would certainly not favor the gridlock that is the admitted goal of the region's planners.
