Today the Oregon legislature voted to raid a puny pot of money the state uses as matching funds to apply for federal grants for modest rail improvements, directing $ instead for backlogged road maintenance Of course leg didn’t touch the $160m of bonding money queued for a doomed $2b freeway project

I think it's worth noting that Rep. Nosse, who represents arguably the most bike- and ped-friendly district, was the one to motion to adopt the amendment that will defund Safe Routes to School, off-road trails, and rail.

buckle up

tbh I think the Mercury buried the lede, which is that an Oregonian comments section troll / real estate developer appears to be using Councilor Dan Ryan as a mouthpiece

This is a perfect example of why the public meetings law is so stupid. Serial communications among a quorum of councilors are illegal. But lobbyists can talk to as many councilors as they want about whatever they they want.

Mixed feelings about seeing our PBOT Director take part in a conference in Saudi Arabia... Was just talking the other day about how it's still an open wound that the Saudi gov't helped the driver who killed Fallon Smart with his car in 2016 escape justice while he was awaiting trial for her death.

In the 12 months preceding October, Seattle's light rail ridership beat Portland's, per 'metro area' capita, for the first time in history. Going forward, Seattle's lead will rapidly grow. Maybe someone should design a ballot measure to make it a competition and do something about that!

Tiffany Koyama "Peacock" Lane

we're officially entering a very scary time for portland transit. the cuts this year and next year won't be the end, and the combination of rising fares and falling service levels are going to mark the end of our fragile post-covid ridership recovery www.opb.org/article/2025...

I was skimming the Portland '1972 Downtown Plan' to read up on the history of protected viewpoints, and... I owe you an apology Portland planners and politicians of 55 years ago. I wasn't really familiar with your game.

Portland, Oregon was the first city to build a streetcar system in the US since World War II - and unlike many of its successors, it actually built a real network that goes places! youtu.be/bWg-H6s0TiQ

@drmitchpdx.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-W9... www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgJ9... In case you hadn't previously caught it— here's CityNerd's video on SDCs, and also his most recent video, which uses the Portland metro as an example in discussion of transportation demand modeling.

Sen. Mark Meek is spreading blatant lies about HB 2025 to gin up anger and opposition. There is no tolling in the bill. He's a senator, and formerly on the Joint Committee on Transportation! He shd know better. I hope @khanhphamforor.bsky.social (now co-chair of the JCT) calls him out for this.

I'm gonna need Zohran Mamdani to win the NYC Democratic mayoral primary, the Oregon legislature to pass the transportation package, or to find a third source of hope, and fast.

When Portland adopted proportional representation in 2022, experts predicted that new political coalitions would form. They might have been on to something. ⬇️

ICE arrested a transgender woman at Immigration Court, who was seeking asylum in the US after having been raped by cartel members in her home state of Michoacán www.wweek.com/news/courts/...

So, uh, it certainly looks like DOJ intended to file a letter to Judge Liman in MTA v. Duffy, but….it accidentally filed a letter containing its legal advice to the Department of Transportation instead storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Two page fact sheet posted for the 'Regional Rails Futures Study' in this month's JPACT agenda: oregonmetro.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=... Looks exciting— hopefully it builds momentum and something can come of it.

@nomorefreewayspdx.com— Any input on the strength of claims from ODOT that any substantial change to the full scope RQ plan would require NEPA reassessment and federal reapproval for use of the RCN grant money? (and that this would risk the upcoming administration killing the grant funding)