where is tom mccall's zombie when we need him to fix land use policies?

Isn't that Emily Harris, not April Baer?

+1

I think the vast majority of folks who attended or listened to the debate realized just how fortunate Washington County citizens are to have Sam at the regional table.

Undoubtedly, most who attended or listened to the debate realized just how fortunate Washington County citizens are to have Sam Adams at the regional table.

Steve R.,

You're right! This is what happens when I read April Baer's Twitter feed while trying to post anything about OPB. Name changed, thanks.

"Up or out". It will be both of course. The mistake of our system is the assumption that what makes sense in inner Portland makes sense in Hillsboro. Of even in east Portland.

It costs more to build the services, (the roads, the sewer, the schools, the parks, etc) into those areas then the developers can sell the lots for*. It is only worth building on the land if you can get someone else to pay for building the services, but cities have gotten smarter over the years and become less willing to bill existing property owners for new development. That is why there are 15,000 acres of vacant land. As such, if Hillsboro adds this land, the only way they'll actually convince anyone to build on it is if they either raise taxes or cut existing services. (Anyone want to guess which tactic Gresham took on that 20 years ago? I'll give you a hint: They've got the lowest number of police officers per capita of all the cities in the metro area. And their crime rate reflects that.)

*Don't believe that? Look at the CRC. We've got a bridge right now with some problems, but if we spend $4B and add another 45,000 cars, it will still have very similar problems. Looking at the current Portland commuters to houses ratio (1:3) in Clark County, those new 45,000 cars works out to around 135,000 more houses. If Clark County made developers pay for the costs of development, they should kick in $30k ($4B/135,000) for each new lot to pay for the bridge upgrade. They should also pay money for the local streets for those houses, and some more money for the new I-84 interchange that will be needed if we do the bridge, but the bridge alone would add $30k per lot. Unfortunately, newly developed lots in Vancouver doesn't believe in paying for their share of development, they want everyone to pay, including the people of Portland. And then they have the nerve to complain that "Portland is too expensive." Yeah, it is, when I have to subsidize their lazy asses!

I vote "Side to side or back in time"

There are multiple problems with the Up not Out mantra.

One is that infill development is also very expensive. PDC, TriMet, and the City throw a lot of money at subsidizing taller buildings with more density. South Waterfront has been hugely expensive to the public, and we're still building infrastructure down there, even as the buildings sit empty.

Speaking of which, why are those buildings empty? Doesn't everyone want to live in a dense urban environment? Surely if density is the wave of the future, those buildings would be filling up as soon as they're built, with thousands of people clamoring for more?

The fact is that despite the claim that everyone wants to live in such a place, we have years of condo and apartment inventory sitting in the very center of the city right now. A majority of people, even in Portland, if given the choice would prefer to have more space (say a home on a 50 x 100 sf lot). This is a very important point: people in Portland love density and transit FOR OTHER PEOPLE, not themselves.

Another point that almost everyone misses is that it's not economical to build dense structures in the suburbs. They don't pencil out. Ever wonder why smaller cities and towns don't have buildings over three or four stories? Because if you build one, you'll lose money.

Need proof? Read the beginning of Sarah's article about getting off the MAX in Hillsboro to find parking lots and a Taco Del Mar. That station has been there more than 10 years. Where are all the transit-oriented mixed use buildings? Where are all the condos and walkable urban amenities? If one could build those in central Hillsboro and turn a profit, surely the recent real estate boom would have been the time to do it. Look at the Beaverton Round. How many public subsidies did it take to get it built? Why has it still gone through multiple foreclosures and lost a ton of money and remains partially undeveloped? Even if the UGB isn't expanded when do you think the people of Beaverton will be stupid enough to try to subsidize that kind of density again?

We have to build up and out and acknowledge that A) Portland and the suburbs are not the same, and B) it's very condescending and domineering for Portlanders to try to tell these other cities what to do.

no matter Blabby, Sam has lost all credibility and his opinions are irrelevant to Portlanders, let alone suburbanites. Portland city government is currently a joke, led by The Five Stooges.

Sam just doesnt get it. What a loser. Four years wasted with this idiot as mayor.