With less than 24 hours to go before the council hearing on the Columbia River Crossing, the hot gossip around city hall is this: The Oregon Department of Transportation is threatening the city council.
As in, vote for the CRC’s locally preferred option tomorrow, “or [ODOT] won’t fund anything else” in the city of Portland, according to my source, who heard this second hand. ODOT staffers are also reportedly telling council members that their vote tomorrow is only happening because the two states are allowing it (and votes at the five other local jurisdictions) as “a courtesy.”
I caught wind of similar threats being floated around at Metro, as that body was deliberating this project last month. There, no one wanted to go on record saying ODOT reps told them this. I’m trying to find someone at the city brave enough to tell me just what ODOT’s saying.
Meanwhile, ODOT’s letter to the city, promising that Portland will continue to have a say as the project moves forward–aka, the magic letter that the mayor and four commissioners can point to when they vote for the project tomorrow–is expected to land at city hall this afternoon. I’ll share it as soon as I have it.
No wonder Leonard wants to vote for it. He’s been bullied.
JUST BUILD THE BRIDGE PLEASE AND GIVE MAX ACCESS. THANKS.
Why don’t they expand the I-205 bridge instead? It would make so much more sense. People in Vancouver have much more of a cultural affinity with people in Gresham, Troutdale, and east Portland than they do with the real city of Portland. And the interstate through traffic could be routed around the city instead of through it. The pollution and noise would be less noticeable in an area that’s basically already been ruined.
Amy,
Wow. Why would you report a second-hand rumor? Why not check it out first? Does putting the rumor on the Mercury’s blog absolve you from reporting fairly and accurately?
First, ODOT staff is not threatening city commissioners. ODOT has ALWAYS been aboveboard and transparent in our dealings with our partners–and the City is an important partner in many transportation-related activities throught this area, not *just* the CRC.
Nor did ODOT threaten Metro last month, or any other time.
The City’s active participation is critical in the effort to advance and deliver a much-needed project, with a result we can all be proud of. ODOT and the CRC staff has WELCOMED criticism–in fact, considering the several citizen-led Task Forces, and thousands of hours of community input from people in both states over a period of YEARS, there is simply no other project in this region that has engaged the public to the extent the CRC has. To now publish an admittedly secondhand RUMOR that all of sudden we’re now employing big sticks in the back room…
wow.
Your ‘rumor’ is not merely second-hand; it’s just plain false.
–Dave Thompson
ODOT Public Affairs Manager
Yeah yeah, Dave. You’re paid to say that.
Dave, I think I made it pretty clear that this is gossip and a rumor. We report almost everything (we don’t like to keep things from our readers), and report it as accurately as possible—in this case, that it’s a rumor that I’ve been unable to verify. That’s entirely fair.
Sadly, it IS true. Sad and disturbing.
“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.”
– Aldous Huxley
Wow – Vancouver has more of a ‘cultural affinity’ with Gresham and Troutdale?
First off, what does that mean? And how exactly is this measured?
Depending on your answers, that may be one of the snobbiest things I’ve ever heard.
Nothing about this is making any sense. 12 lanes with rail, so they move the congestion to where…wherever the freeway shrinks back into six…for how many billions? Mean while, an existing rail line sits a little way down river…not making sense.
Oh it makes perfect sense, if you look at it from ODOT’s point of view. There is a ton of money to be made on this deal.
Expanding the freeway here doesn’t make an ounce of sense. People are driving less with gas prices, not more. I live in North Portland and already get a lot of traffic past my house from Vancouver commuters. If this bridge is going to be built I’m thinking of moving before there is constant traffic at my door.
More single occupant vehicles can get across the border faster, only to back up, like they currently do, at Rose Quarter. No doubt many will exit early and instead go through my neighborhood.
I thought Portland was supposed to be different from the other auto-hellhole cities like LA.
No, this is Portland: the land of a wink and a nod with a few dollars under the table. It’s the “City that Works” after all.
Well Fazbott that’s the problem. Portland isn’t like other cities yet we have this city across the river that really doesn’t think like Portland but their residents work here. They don’t understand what an urban growth boundry is so they sprawl and live further and further out every day.
Realistically it is the unfortunate truth that riding public transportation or biking isn’t possible for Vantuckians because of the distance and time involved.
They want their bridge goddamnit so they can build more cheap houses and strip malls and so their commute won’t take over an hour like it does now. Vantucky wants the growth they get from having a commuter population and that is more important to them than the enviornment or reducing auto traffic.
If you want the honest truth we don’t have it that bad. Go spend a week driving around in Houston, LA or DC and tell me we have it bad.
“No wonder Leonard wants to vote for it. He’s been bullied.”
🙂
Reading Amy Ruiz is like reading gossip notes passed along in 4th grade. Never once have I read anything that discussed the opposite side’s point of view. And, to be honest, many of Amy’s “reporting” has been based on false information and “second-hand gossip.”
Dave,
Respectfully, Id like to point out something you wrote:
“with a result we can all be proud of”
That, in my opinion, is the issue here. And also the reason why rumours like this one, true or not, are easily believed.
ODOT has only one option for us, and its an option antithetical to the spirit of Portland and common sense. If ODOT were to actually present real solutions for a bridge, I think youd be a lot less likely to read “rumours” like this one.
It’s a shame that so many people in Portland and Vancouver can’t get along, but I know why. We both have our preconceived notions about the other.
It’s VERY snobby to call those of us that live in Vancouver “Vantuckians” (like we’re all a bunch of hicks) and to assume we want a big new bridge just so we can sit in traffic to work at jobs where we pay income taxes but see little benefit from them. Similarly, citizens of Vancouver tend to tread a little further right of center politically, and may seem to care less about environmental issues posed by the bridge than about moving people and goods from state to state.
I love visiting Portland from my home in Vancouver; no where else nearby can I get my urban fix via the eclectic, fun shops, Saturday Market, and wonderful restaurants. What I don’t love is the traffic, and a new and/or improved bridge would help alleviate that and bring more of us “Vantuckians” – your next-door-neighbor tourists – to Portland to spend our money.
So why don’t we stop sticking our noses up at each other and try to find a way to work together to improve our region and our quality of life.
Portland doesn’t own or even maintain the existing bridge and won’t be responsible for the new one. What is Portland willing to spend on a new one since Sam thinks he should manage it? It’s a state bridge owned by 2 states and is governed by federal standards.
When past visionary’s realized over 40 years ago the growth this area would see they created the I-5 freeway to replace Highway 99. For those of you too young to realize this, we had to drive down Interstate Ave. to get to the old Highway 99 Bridge. They gutted out Portland and built the Marquam Bridge to give us I-5. They then gutted out the east side and built the I-205 bridge to connect I-205 in Washington and Oregon. And finally the gutted out downtown Portland to create I-405 and built the Fremont Bridge.
What they never did was go back and complete the loop by rebuilding the old I-5 bridge. This should have been done years ago.
And none of these bridges had toll booths. I cannot imagine any of these projects ever getting completed had they have to deal with the myriad of issues and concerns being contested today.
We have a million people on their way that will be moving here. This bridge is long overdue. This isn’t a Portland bridge or a Vancouver bridge. Its part of the interstate freeway system.
If this is a problem for some of you then you might consider converting the existing I-5 bridge into a draw bridge. You can lift it up before rush hour. You can ask for Oregon Passports before you let anyone pass over it. You can prevent Oregonians from driving U-Haul trucks full of furniture to Clark County. This will be infinitely cheaper and accomplish all your goals and assuage all your fears.
Oh sorry, I forgot. It’s not your bridge.
We have a million people on their way that will be moving here.
Isn’t part of the issue where they are moving. Are they moving to Portland, where jobs are being created by a dynamic urban environment, or are they moving to rural Clark County where there are no jobs. I think the answer is obvious. It pretty easy for Vancouver and Portland to cooperate. They would extend light rail across the river, build more local bridges for local traffic and limit growth outside the already urbanized areas.
The problem is that is not what Clark County wants. They want freeways that will allow auto-dependent development in rural areas that require people to drive to Oregon to work. And the current bridge proposal is designed to serve them, not Portland and not Vancouver.