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.

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.

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...

Google Earth Historical Imagery

So, I've recently become hooked on Google Earth's Historical Imagery. There's a lot of interesting things that can be found in it. The jet I posted before is one of them.

Another that I just noticed is Mt St Helens, north of Vancouver, WA. If you watch the northwest face of the mountain over the time span they allow (8/94 to 3/09) you can see the trees re-growing.

I never would have checked for that if not for the Swiss/Italian border issues coming up, but it inspired me to look in my own backyard.

There are other areas that are fun to watch too. Malls, for example just keep growing. South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa CA, Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga NY or the Galleria in Houston TX.

All have seen profound growth nearby, and the growth of they and the areas around them can be easily seen in Google Earth. For anyone who is a fan of Edge City it's an interesting thing to see.