In all the times it has been on the ballot, Clackamas County has never voted for Portland light rail. But Portland planners were determined to run a light-rail line into the urban heart of the county, so they persuaded the county commission to give them $20 million of the $1.5 billion cost of the 7.7-mile rail line.
Residents, who had previously recalled several city commissioners from office over light rail, didn’t take this sitting down. Instead, a group that calls itself “Clackistanis” put a measure on the ballot directing the county commission to spend no county resources on light rail without voter approval. The commission responded by scheduling a $19 million bond sale to take place a few days before the vote.
Rail opponents filed a lawsuit attempting to stop the measure. The county responded by canceling the bond sale just a day before the Oregon Supreme Court issued a restraining order against the sale.
The loss of $20 million is not going to stop a $1.5 billion project that is already under construction. But anti-rail rebels now have a play book to stop future rail projects, such as one proposed to Tigard, Oregon, and one proposed (but withdrawn, probably only temporarily) to Lake Oswego, not to mention the Vancouver Washington project. Through a combination of local initiatives, referenda, and lawsuits, they can probably keep any Portland suburb from cooperating with regional planners’ efforts to expand the system.
Historic note: The Antiplanner used to live in the Clackamas County community of Oak Grove and knows some of the Clackistanis, including Thelma Haggenmiller, the lead plaintiff on the lawsuit against the bond sale. When I first moved there in 1989, I knew Portland wanted to build a light rail into the county, and my main concern was that it should be built efficiently, using an existing right of way for what had been the world’s first interurban electric line between Portland and Oregon City. I was too busy working on other issues to think much about it, but in 1995 a couple of students from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Public Administration (as I think it was called then) came to work for me as interns.
I asked them to take a look at light rail. They said, “We love the idea of light rail.” I told them to keep an open mind and go interview people about it. With no further direction, they went off and came back a week later.
“It’s awful!” they said. “It’s way too expensive, and the planners do everything they can to marginalize opponents.” Thus was my entry into transportation politics.
Update: Bojack reports that Clackamas County got around the opponents to a bond sale by borrowing $20 million from the Bank of America. At the very least, county commissioners who supported the deal face stiff re-election campaigns this November.
“It’s awful!†they said. “It’s way too expensive, and the planners do everything they can to marginalize opponents.â€
Pretty much sums it up. If you go to the stories Randal linked to, as well as the others he didn’t, you’ll notice what appears to be many shills promoting the light rail and denigrating opponents as “teabaggers” and such. I strongly suspect that some of these agitators are paid by the firms that stand to benefit from construction, if not by Metro itself.
the highwayman Reply:
September 12th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
You’re called teabaggers because, you say you hate big government, though you depend it.
If some one is promoting a gold plated rail line, the problem is the gold plating, not the rail line.
Iced Borscht Reply:
September 17th, 2012 at 4:19 pm
Who here identifies as a Tea Partyer? I certainly don’t. What is the point of your blanket statements/insults if they have no basis in reality?
the highwayman Reply:
September 23rd, 2012 at 4:56 pm
I didn’t come up with the term tea party.
194 million dollars a mile………..no thank you. For that much money we could probably pave the streets with gold.
FrancisKing Reply:
September 12th, 2012 at 5:54 am
Don’t give them any new ideas.
C. P. Zilliacus Reply:
September 12th, 2012 at 10:40 am
194 million dollars a mile………..no thank you.
LazyReader, Maryland’s Md. 200 (InterCounty Connector or ICC), as-built cost is about $2.5 billion, which works out to about $155,250,574 per mile for the 16.103 miles that are currently open to traffic (there’s a little over 1 mile left that is now under construction, which is included in the $2.5 billion cost, but not included in the open miles, so the per-mile cost, once the entire thing is open, will be less).
In spite of the above, the pro-rail and anti-highway industry in the Washington, D.C. area screamed and yelled that the per-mile cost for the ICC was far too expensive for a transportation project.
Wonder what they would say about light rail in Portland?
metrosucks Reply:
September 12th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Bear in mind that the ICC will carry way more people and be far more useful than the Milwaukie boondoggle could ever be.
The highest use of 99E, (Mcloughlin Blvd) is a little over 50,000 cars per day. Trimet first claimed 5000 new riders per day, but now rail shills are claiming 25,000 trips per day. I can’t imagine the sort of rose-colored world where some light rail line magically cut traffic on Mcloughlin by half (!).
the highwayman Reply:
September 12th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Though tolls on the ICC will only cover about 20% of the roads expenses.
It is good that they are raising money through bonds. But why sell them? The money has to be paid back by the taxpayers, so it would be easier and cheaper all around to make it, in effect, compulsory taxation (0% interest).
It is good that the raising of taxes to pay for large schemes has to have voter approval. If only we had that in the UK.
metrosucks Reply:
September 12th, 2012 at 11:48 am
It would be much harder to raise taxes directly to pay for the boondoggle.
Frank Reply:
September 12th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
People in Portland have no problem voting to raise taxes, especially people who are non-productive.
metrosucks Reply:
September 12th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Fewer of those in Clackamas County, though.
The Antiplanner wrote:
Residents, who had previously recalled several city commissioners from office over light rail, didn’t take this sitting down. Instead, a group that calls itself “Clackistanis†put a measure on the ballot directing the county commission to spend no county resources on light rail without voter approval. The commission responded by scheduling a $19 million bond sale to take place a few days before the vote.
Randal, regarding that bond sale – what (or who) was going to pay back the principal and interest on those bonds?
I think it safe to assume that the bonds were not going to be paid back out of fares collected from light rail patrons in Clackamas County (or any other county, for that matter).
metrosucks Reply:
September 12th, 2012 at 11:05 am
They were going to be regular taxpayer-paid bonds, CP. But rumor has it that the bond sale was canceled because no one was going to be interested in the bonds after the rebellion.
JimKarlock Reply:
September 13th, 2012 at 3:25 am
I advocate that the Clackastanis file a new initiative forbidding the repayment of any bonds issued to pay for light rail.
Thanks
JK
the highwayman Reply:
September 16th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Now would they do this kind of bullshit if were about streets instead?
MachineShedFred Reply:
September 20th, 2012 at 11:00 am
They wouldn’t have to, because people actually *use* streets, and streets can be used for more things than just transporting people – for example, you can use a street to deliver goods, increasing both usefulness and economic exchange.
the highwayman Reply:
September 23rd, 2012 at 5:04 pm
So rails can be used to transport goods too.
I could have mentioned storm drains instead of streets and your response would have still been political bullshit!