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Re: “Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, and Portland: Behold the Extraordinary Measures Trailer!”
Sean Young would probably concur.
Re: “Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, and Portland: Behold the Extraordinary Measures Trailer!”
His name is Alan Ruck and he is the greatest actor of his generation.
Re: “Well Eff You Too, Travel + Leisure”
Okay, here's the thing. When the Portland Building was built, it was on the cutting edge of a design trend. Now that that trend has shot its wad, and nobody gives a fat fuck about Graves, Gehry, et al anymore, and postmodernism has lost its novelty, we can see the Portland Building for what it is: an interesting idea that ultimately begat an ugly building. Yes, it was a defiant boner in its time, but all the rhetorical Viagra in the world can't help it now.
Re: “How Southeast Portland SHOULD Look.”
Lill Sally: technically, you're right, but you might be splitting hairs here.
Re: “How Southeast Portland SHOULD Look.”
Miz: Go back and read my first comment on this thread, and you will find what I consider to be a cognizant argument, not just against the Mt. Hood freeway, but also for intelligent use of federal transportation funds. If you choose not to accept my comment as such, then that's your prerogative. While it's true that people make a city, those people do not exist in a vacuum, and it's useful to consider what draws and keeps those people. The majority of people living in Portland today, like myself, came here from somewhere else because the quality of life is better than it is in places like Detroit (some would call us yuppie carpetbaggers, but show me somebody who hasn't at some point left the town in which they were born). That quality of life, in the case of Portland at any rate, is determined in large part by wise urban planning which encourages diverse transportation options, preservation of housing stock, proliferation of green space, etc. Nobody's arguing against driving here, just that public policy should not solely reflect the needs of those who choose to employ that mode of transportation.
Chunty: I agree. At the very least, we could really use a few more bridges over I-84.
Re: “How Southeast Portland SHOULD Look.”
Colin, my suggestion that you leave town was purely in jest. Subtext gets lost in the written word, obviously, and I probably should have considered that. My apologies, and you're more than welcome to stay...
Like you, I have little time for knee-jerk reactions to anything, but I don't think that's what's going on here. America is a large country, and when we emerged at the end of WWII as the world's pre-eminent economic power, it seemed as though connecting every corner of the land with ribbons of asphalt was a good idea. The urban renewal schemes of the 1960s and 70s seemed like good ideas as well. Those ideas, while not without merit or benefit, had some unintended consequences. Portlanders, for whatever reason (perhaps due to their own relative provinciality), were a little quicker to realize this than folks in a lot of other cities. My stance on all of this is not that freeways are a bad thing, but that an informed citizenry that steps up and gets involved in civic and policy matters is a good thing, and I think that Portland, as a case study, bears this out. And I have to wonder, if Portland had had significantly more of its neighborhoods wiped out by freeways, would there be any houses selling north of 400K here at all?
Oh and btw, being as we've never met, I'm not really sure what you mean by "people like you." That's beautiful...
Re: “How Southeast Portland SHOULD Look.”
@ Colin: There are roads that lead out of Portland, y'know. If you think our town gets hit hard during a recession, go spend some time in Detroit. Mile upon mile of freeways and a laughably inadequate public transit system are not doing those folks a whole lot of good these days...
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