Portland Streetcar leader gets Obama Promotion

Chandra Brown was just appointed to be the U.S. Commerce Department's deputy assistant secretary for manufacturing.  That's good for her, but United Streetcar, the company she was just head of (as President since 2007 and CEO since January), has delivered one streetcar to Portland and it's not even in operation.  That's the payback for the city that basically sponsored them existing as a division of Oregon Iron Works.  Right now there is a backorder of the entire set Portland was expecting to open their Eastside Loop with.

Even worse for Tucson, AZ is that they're waiting for a set of streetcars as well.  These aren't some crazy new design that's never been tested either.  These are a Czech design that's been used successfully, but apparently it's a little tougher to use licensed blueprints than it might sound.

I have to wonder how a company that hasn't actually delivered anything they promised gets promoted to a cabinet appointment?  How does a company with such a failing record end up with their CEO getting this kind of promotion?

The future of technology

It's an interesting time that we live in.  With the opening of the new East Side Loop of the Portland Streetcar, I've been thinking about how transportation technology has changed the American landscape over the years.  Transportation alone has so many up and coming technologies that when you look back to a hundred years ago, it's difficult to imagine how much might change in the next hundred years.

The streetcar era of the late 1800s and early 1900s built cities.  It helped shape the core of most of the American west, and helped create suburbs all over the country.  Portland's suburbs were built around the interurban trains of the era, starting with horse drawn streetcars, through the electrification era, and eventually replaced them with buses.  It's a common story from San Diego to Seattle.

But Portland has brought the streetcar back to America.  With cities like Tucson, Washington DC, LA and more looking at building new systems Portland has put ourselves in a unique place with Oregon Iron Works subsidiary United Streetcar being in our own backyard.

But is the pro-train, anti-freeway plan for Portland the best long term option?  Is the situation Portland has created of hoping people will use mass transit really the best option with the technology that it seems could be commonplace in the future?

Google is working on the autonomous car which currently has 480,000 accident free miles under its belt.  Between that and improved battery technologies, at what point will a self-driving plug in hybrid that gets 200+ mpg hit the market?  There are hurdles to overcome to achieve that, but if that happens, and it seems possible, what will that mean for the market of high speed rail, mass transit, or even cab drivers?

It seems that we're about to face a change in the way transportation is handled in multiple ways in a short period of time.  Will cities that have favored investments in mass transit as opposed to highway capacity regret their decisions as these changes occur?

There is the possibility that because of increased efficiency of roadways with self-driving vehicles you can fit more vehicles on the roadway, but you have to wait until there are enough self-driving vehicles that you can ban human driven vehicles from the freeway.  At that point if the systems are advanced enough, why not get rid of speed limits and just let anyone with a self driving car go as fast as the car decides it can safely go?

If the car can go 130 mph, that also raises questions about the need for high speed rail.  With station stops how much demand will their be?

It will also destroy the cab driving industry, the rental car industry, and drastically reshape the insurance industry.  If automated vehicles become popular enough why would someone even buy their own car?  Just pay a fee for miles traveled and take a cab/rental (same business once you remove the driver) and pay as you go.

Given that a hundred years ago the idea of taking a vacation on a long weekend to the opposite coast was considered crazy, maybe we should start trying to pay better attention to the technologies that are going to be sneaking up on is in the coming decades.  While many people enjoy driving a car, we should be also planning for how we accommodate cars of the future.

Car Crash on Holgate

Nice work Portland Police on handling this one.  It's only the second in a week, but I guess that's what happens when you live on a major Boulevard in Portland.

Mostly I'm just glad everyone (except the telephone pole) was okay.

If I had to drive past that every day I might want to hurt myself.  Or maybe others.

I really have to wonder who thought that is a motivational sign.

How far can you fall?

Neighborhoods

It's nice living in a decent neighborhood.  Just last night I witnessed a car collision where a young woman drove into the back of a large pickup.  I probably shouldn't say much more, but at least things seem to have worked out.

I do love my neighborhood though, because a bunch of people helped grab a broom and sweep up the plastic parts that were left in the intersection.  Even the Portland Police Officer seemed a little surprised.  (He seemed like a good guy, if anyone is wondering.)

At least nobody seemed to be hurt, and the kayaks looked like they could still float.

Trapped in the Bedroom

Sometimes the world likes to send a harsh message to people.  Sometimes it does it on a Friday night.  You probably know the feeling.  You want to grab a beer, maybe have a cigarette.  Of course the bathroom is calling.  But then, something gets in your way.

Maybe you turn your doorknob, and it pops off that metal post thingy, which falls out the other side.  At first you can stay calm.  Maybe an "oh shit" or three.  Maybe a "where the fuck is my cell phone?"

Then you realize that your phone is sitting on the living room table. The same table that your shoes are under.

There are options.

The windows are a little high off the ground, and I'm not sure that I'm not going to puncture my foot, and it had been raining for days.  What else can I do?

I then tried the multi-tool on my keychain.  It just can't quite get a grip, so what can be done?

I remember my wallet, and start trying to use a card from it to pop the latch.  I fortunately found an expired bonus card I broke in half instead of my debit card.

A few minutes later I found a wire coat hanger, and realized that if someone can perform an abortion with one of them, I better be able to open a door with one.  It took me a while, but eventually I found that perfect angle and rhythm to get my door open.

There are more useful things on the planet, but I'll make sure to keep a wire hanger with my towel.

Kayak

Link

If you're going to flip your kayak in the Willamette, apparently it's a good idea to make sure you're not going to drown.

Girl, 13, saves pets from burning home

Her house was on fire and she was home alone, but 13-year-old Max Foster knew just what to do.
“I was the only one and I was freaking out,” said Max. “I just took it step by step.”


I'm glad my rabbit never started a fire like that.

If you're going to shoot yourself, do it right

Man Who Shot Himself Faces Endangerment Charges

Why make up a headline when the criminal does it for you?  "A man who shot himself in the leg with two young children present faces new charges of reckless endangerment on Friday."  Yep, did it himself.

Oh, but wait, it gets better: Police say the .357-caliber revolver apparently fired while Brown was spinning its cylinder while holding a finger near its trigger.

“You’re seeing a three dimensional graphic image of what it looks like,” said Cantrell. “It’s not just a picture in a magazine.”

Keith Cantrell was so impressed by the Body Worlds exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, he volunteered to have his body put on display after he dies.

Yeah, really.  Link.

NW Portland stuck bus on Thurman

Videos of a stuck 15 bus.

Video 1:

Video 2:

Happy snowfall!

A National VMT tax? Now with more tracking!

Earl Blumenauer is once again talking about about switching to a VMT tax rather than (or in addition to) a gas tax, this time at the federal level. Yes this would be a pilot program (full details here), but it will cost over $150 million to do the pilot program. It would also require drivers to have a GPS tracking device in their car, which opens a number of privacy concerns.

The article above fortunately mentions that some of his biggest campaign contributors are Honeywell International and Accenture. Honeywell is an RFID manufacturer (RFID is part of the GPS program) and Accenture is a leader in video tolling technology.

Blumenauer has his own political action committee as well, the Committee for a Livable Future, and Honeywell just happens to be the second largest contributor to them as well. He's best known for being very pro-streetcar (including bringing jobs to a Portland-area businesses under the "Buy American" guise) and pro-bicycle, but I don't think it's a coincidence that he's pushing for something that is so anti-civil liberties that will just happen to benefit major campaign contributors.

Slashdot has a great discussion about the topic as well. I understand his concern about potentially dwindling tax revenues from having more fuel-efficient cars, but pushing for a tracking system does not seem like something that I could see people supporting.

There are also numerous potential technical problems with the proposal, but there are also a number of Pacific Northwest businesses (hint: Garmin acquired Morrow, an avionics-related company started in Salem, and Garmin employs people in Newport, Salem and Portland) that would likely see a large windfall from this coming through. I have to wonder if his motives are in any way legitimate, or just based on making money for contributors to keep him in office.

Transportation Funding in Congress

Just saw an interesting article from Yahoo about funding for the Essential Air Service program. Apparently it's getting a lot more funding, including for some reason routes like Buffalo NY to Jamestown NY, which isn't more than a 90 minute drive.

There's definitely a need for these services for many areas, but it sounds like there's a bit of waste involved as well.

Also in the article is a mention of another $4 billion of federal funding for high speed rail, in addition to the $8 billion set aside in the stimulus package. Hopefully Washington and Oregon can get enough of that to significantly speed up the Cascades route. I know Washington's mostly ready to go, but Oregon probably has dragged our feet too long to get much.

George Will: Die Already, Please?

Portland is trying to keep screwing with George Will for being a liar. I love Portland Transport, but sorry about the shite reporting. It's what you get from people who think ducks are news.

George Will Hates Portland

Newsweek is running a piece by George Will about Ray LaHood liking Portland and why liberals hate cars. It's really quite entertaining, as it's painfully obvious throughout the piece that George Will has never been to Portland, and probably only knows of us as Little Beirut.

One of the best moments of the piece is when he speculates, "Does he think 0.01 percent of Americans will ever regularly bike to work?" According to a 2007 article it's about .4 percent already.

He may want to take a look at the Pearl District. It's an upscale, urban neighborhood built around a streetcar. It nothing but warehouses and rail lines just 15 years ago, and not the type of neighborhood you'd want to be in unless you were looking for drugs or whores.


The Pearl District Now

As for his claims about how everyone needs a car, well, I don't. If I really do need one Enterprise will pick me up, or I can use ZipCar which has several sites near my neighborhood.

NY Times

So, the NY Times has made a stand about Frugal Portland. It's the Frugal Traveler in Portland, making for more fun than expected. We're Portland. We do that.

The New Old Lompoc and Ground Kontrol made it.

Interstate 505 (Portland, Oregon)

I-505 was never built in Portland, but it still effected large parts of NW Portland in ways that can still easily be seen in the form of ghost ramps and other remnants. Many condos and other such properties have been built on land that was sat on for a while in anticipation of the freeway.


All pictures taken by me, 2009.

Fortunately, Portland came to it's senses before it was built, and instead routed the route along NW Yeon/US-30 instead of NW St Helens via NW Thurman/Vaughn as had been planned. The 1966 Comprehensive Plan shows it extending along this path, for example. This link has more information about Portland's planning past.



The Interstate Mileage was returned to the national system, and US-30 got a reasonable path that doesn't destroy any neighborhoods and still serves regional needs. The US-30 approach ramps to I-405/the Fremont Bridge are the most obvious legacy portions of the roadway other than the ramp stubs on the way to NW Vaughn/Yeon.



Good thing Portland thought things out, or else we'd probably not have this city we have now. I'll take a streetcar over a freeway through what's now my apartment any day.

Go Bills and Sabres and Blazers; oh my!

So, I was raised with the Bills and the Sabres. Don't fuck with them, they're good mammals, just not championship mammals.

Now, I hope to hope for the Blazers. They're trying hard, and may not be my team yet, but I want to like them.

Nope, I don't know basketball, but at least I'm not qualified to play for them.

High Speed Rail, Baby!

President Obama unveiled his administration's blueprint for a new national network of high-speed passenger rail lines Thursday, saying such an investment is necessary to reduce traffic congestion, cut dependence on foreign oil and improve the environment.

The president's plan identified 10 potential high-speed intercity corridors for federal funding, including California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England.

Here's the plan:



Go Pac NW (aka NW Corridor), Go!

Oh, and the California route makes a lot of sense. And the NE one. And the SE one. Well, all of them...