Light rail on 50th

Monday, January 24th, 2005

I knew something was up this morning when I saw all the traffic our our street while brushing my teeth. The construction on the next street over must have been diverting everyone onto our quiet street.

On the bus to work, the driver and a passenger up front were talking about the ripped up street. The driver said that in the ’50s, a trolley ran down 50th street operated by the Portland Traction company. But by the time he had moved into the neighborhood in 1963, it had been paved over. The tracks are still down there, he said, and if the economy generates enough tax revenue for the next ten years, they could have those tracks restored.

The passenger told his story as proof that the economy would NOT be good for the next ten years. He used to work at the shipyard where there were between 10,000 and 25,000 people servicing ships. Now there are just 25 people. The ships can’t get in anymore because of the silted channel and the damn enviornmentalists won’t let them dredge out just 3 feet of sand. Everyone knows that its the dams that hurt the salmon. Taking out 3 feet of sand wouldn’t hurt anyone, he said.

One of Bush’s campaign promises during a stop in Portland was to give money to dredge out the Columbia. 75% of the voters in Portland rejected him, but I think we’re still going to take that money for the dredge project. (Three feet seems like a pretty tight margin of error for a tanker..)