Where We Live: Blazing the Trail to Smart Growth
Transportation lessons from Portland, Oregan
Forty years ago, downtown Portland, Oregon was losing residents and businesses to housing developments, shopping malls, and business parks in the suburbs. Sound familiar?
But then Portland made a series of decisions: They decided not to build a new freeway. They decided to eliminate a freeway along the Willamette River. And then they went to work, and created a regional public transit authority called TriMet that now oversees the operations of a commuter rail line, a bus system, a lightrail system, and most recently, The Portland Streetcar System. It’s all part of an integrated approach to public transit that’s made Portland an admired example of smart growth.
Today, Where We Live, we’ll take a look at Portland and ask which of their solutions might apply here in the Hartford region and across the state. Rick Gustafson from Portland Streetcar, Inc. joins UConn’s Norman Garrick and the Courant’s Tom Condon in studio.
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Listener Email from Jason
Hi John,
I was really excited that you did a show on suburbia, but I was a little sad that you didn't call out your guests on some of the ridiculous things they were saying. That fellow from Arizona, I believe, was trying to convince us that somehow suburbs are more environmentally friendly than high-density areas because upper-middle class urbanites fly more?????! What on earth was that about? I felt like you let the conversation get sidetracked by odds and ends and little anecdotes, while missing some of the big issues such as the environment, childrens' independence and growth, the personal toll of long commutes, tax and infrastructure implications, and others. Hopefully you will do another show on the topic in the future!
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