That’s what you would have seen if you had taken a recent official tour of Portland’s light-rail line given by TriMet for the Milwaukie city council.
TriMet wants to build a light-rail line to Milwaukie, a Portland suburb, but the council is aware that residents strongly oppose it. They have voted against light rail the last couple of times it was on the ballot and they once voted to recall their mayor and most of their city council when those officials were promoting rail and transit-oriented development.
Now the crime issue has come up, giving opponents a new argument for killing the project. So TriMet offered to take the city council on this tour to show how wonderful it would be to have light rail in their community.
The first thing to note (which the linked newspaper article managed to leave out) is that the tour did not go by light rail. Instead, as confirmed by the Antiplanner’s faithful ally ORTEM, they used a TriMet bus. But the council still managed to see some interesting sights at light-rail stations.
First, the found a woman trying to buy a ticket — but the ticket machine was broken. In fact, they found many broken machines. No wonder people don’t bother paying to ride.
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Next, one of the councillors interviewed a security guard who TriMet had recently hired to protect riders from gang members and other criminals. The councillor asked him what he would do if he saw a fight. He said he would try to break it up, but if he couldn’t he would call the police. If, that is, he had a radio — but TriMet didn’t have enough radios to equip all of its security personnel.
She asked him if he would let his 16-year-old sister ride the light rail by herself. This made him nervous because several TriMet officials were listening, but he answered that he would not.
TriMet wants to build the Milwaukie line next to a schoolyard, which has school parents upset. On the tour, TriMet tried to assure officials how safe the light rail is. “No one can hear it,” they said, trying to defuse the noise issue. But of course, that’s one reason why so many people get killed by it. Not to worry: TriMet will help teach the kids how to safely ride it.
While looking at a school next to an existing light-rail line, tour members are treated to the edifying sight of a man climbing through a broken down fence and peeing on a tree. Just another typical day on the light rail.
It appears that the tour didn’t go to the Gresham stations that have been subject to so much crime lately, nor did it go after dark when most of the crimes take place. After all, they wouldn’t want to put any of the city council members at risk.
These people should have to ride the rails just like the rest of us to see what it’s like. Have them try to get from one place to another using LRT. Let them try to find a way to leave the house with just enough time to drive and park the car and catch a train. And then let them sit in seats sized for the junior high students. Let them try to pull out a laptop to get work done. All of these things would be great so they’d get an idea what it’s really like to ride LRT.
Mr. O’Toole,
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your post. I am one of the Councilors who had the opportunity to take that tour. I am the Councilor who asked the questions you mention above. I just want to clear a few things up.
Several of the Council members are planning on taking another ride within the next two weeks to the Gresham and Hillsboro stops. Again, we plan on doing it at night, as we did this tour. (If you had read my report on my blog (http://milwaukieissues.blogspot.com)you would have seen my full report on the ride and the problems we all saw. Yes, the verification machines were not working. Yes, there was concern by the security guard without his communication device connecting him to dispatch. Yes, there was a problem for a non-English speaking woman who did happen to be at the right place at the right time for Tri-Met officials to help her.
I also had the opportunity to interview a teacher and asked him about the impact of light rail on his school and children. He was the one who told me that the school managed to incorporate the system into helping their students learn. It wasn’t Tri-Met. Teachers take opportunities and help students learn. That’s what good teachers do.
Yes, we did take a bus. Yes, we did ride light rail and see a small portion of the big picture. But, many of us expect to do more.
There is crime in the world, in our country and in our neighborhoods, and we continue to hope that sanity will prevail (sometimes with some help). But our society is bigger than a transportation system. As we continue to look into the issue of light rail in the Metro region, my hope is that you also look at how we can all find ways to work at improving the socio-economic situation for all people so that someday things may be better for those folks you seem so worried about on light rail. In this time of giving, my hope is for you to find a little Christmas spirit.
Sincerely,
Deborah Barnes
Milwaukie City Council
Your point of view may be a tad bit extreme, but I sure like reading your articles!
check out my rant on this subject:
http://amargul.blogspot.com/2007/12/dont-get-rid-of-your-car.html
Light Rail is not the only contributor to crime into the neighborhoods.
Salem’s recent reduction of bus service (due to budget cuts) has significantly reduced the number of daytime prowlers we once suffered in my neighborhood.
We no longer see street people exiting a transit bus and then deciding what direction to travel.
Extending the every 1/2 service to every hour was all it took.
Ms. Barnes,
Perhaps you would enjoy reading about a program that does just what you seem interested in. It is called Wheels to Wealth.
http://www.cascadepolicy.org/?page_id=252
Owning a car has more of an impact on one’s income and wealth than a college education. Making people more transit dependent will simply shackle them to slow growth. This is especially true of inflexible rail transportation. Milwaukie should be advocating for HOT lanes instead of MAX. The McLoughlin HOT lane corridor would be a model that would make Milwaukie the envy of the region.