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Thursday, February 26, 2009

City Hall / Green / Transportation Bridge: Adams' Office Defends Green Reputation

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 12:55 PM

70% of Blogtown readers in our lunchtime poll say they expected more from Mayor Sam Adams on the Columbia River Crossing.

Can a mayor who travels all the way to China to preach about 'green practices' support a 12-lane freeway in his own backyard? Can he now still be considered a "green mayor"?

"Sam is definitely still a green mayor," says Adams spokesperson, Roy Kaufmann. "He has always been about trying to fuse the environmental needs of the city with the economic needs of the city. Mayor Adams has a great relationship with the environmental community and we don't think that's going to change. We have a long time to work out all the details on the project. We're not wavering on our environmental objectives."

You can see from previous Mercury coverage that a 12-lane bridge potentially creates some big environmental problems — like increasing vehicle traffic. Kaufmann and Catherine Ciarlo, Adams' Transportation Director, believe that having Portland oversight of the bridge project is more important than the number of lanes or even tolling.

"The environmental difference between 10 and 12 lanes pales in comparison to the oversight," says Ciarlo. "The ongoing commitment to be able to manage the bridge's environmental goals is the environmental prize." Ciarlo says that with oversight, Portland could do things like changing the relationship between tolling and transit fare to make transit more attractive than driving.

"Using tolling, using transit, using HOV lanes, using van pools all of those are ideas that we have now, but we don't have any way to put them into practice on a broad base level." It's possible to push those alternative forms of transit on the bridge if Portland has enough control of the project. But to get to a "win-win situation," continues Ciarlo, "there were compromises that had to be made."

This is going to be a tough argument for the mayor's office to make, however. So far, only 14% of blogtown readers seem to agree with Ciarlo's perspective, and we're rounding up opinions from environmentalists, right now. So if you have an opinion, call the Mercury newsroom.

 

Comments (11) RSS

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1
More BS lies from Sam Adams. Catherine Ciarlo must think Portlanders are easily greenwashed idiots.
Posted by a.O on February 26, 2009 at 1:08 PM · Report
2
Green also traditionally means dangerously naive.
Posted by D on February 26, 2009 at 1:19 PM · Report
3
There's nothing "green" about a freeway bridge, no matter its size. Portland's hyper-use of terms like "green" and "sustainable" are going to render them meaningless, if it hasn't already.
Posted by GLV on February 26, 2009 at 1:22 PM · Report
4
Well, I must admit that Catherine Ciarlo has done an impressive job getting up to speed on the art of spinning...

But seriously, I am almost more disappointed in her than in Sam, given her roots with the alternative transportation movement.
Posted by carista on February 26, 2009 at 1:30 PM · Report
5
Tolls aren't innovative, they are a given. They've been in use in the northeast for decades.

"Ciarlo says that with oversight, Portland could do things like changing the relationship between tolling and transit fare to make transit more attractive than driving."

This is absolute hogwash. TriMet's board sets transit fares, and ODOT/WSDOT will control toll rates; whether they're dynamic or static, it's state jurisdiction.
Posted by GLV on February 26, 2009 at 1:37 PM · Report
6
"This is going to be a tough argument for the mayor's office to make, however. So far, only 14% of blogtown readers seem to agree with Ciarlo's perspective"

Mercury, you're not making the mistake of believing that this lunch-time poll is even remotely indicative of anything real are you?
Posted by Blabby on February 26, 2009 at 1:41 PM · Report
7
Why isnt a bigger bridge greener? Less time in traffic means less time for engines to idle, faster commutes, less gas burning. When the traffic flows, we all win.
Posted by Demondog on February 26, 2009 at 1:59 PM · Report
8
"Mercury, you're not making the mistake of believing that this lunch-time poll is even remotely indicative of anything real are you?"

Hate to say it, but Blabby is right for once. This bit of info is meaningless, Sarah, so it's not terribly bright to lead off a piece with it.
Posted by A CAT, probably on February 26, 2009 at 2:27 PM · Report
9
Traffic behaves like water, so connecting a 12-lane bridge to the Oregon side of I-5 will be as damaging to North Portland as the Vanport flood of '48.
Posted by Lynn on February 26, 2009 at 3:46 PM · Report
10
If traffic behaves like water, connecting a 12-lane bridge to the Oregon side of I-5 will be as damaging to North Portland as the Vanport flood of '48.
Posted by Lynn on February 26, 2009 at 3:46 PM · Report
11
"Catherine Ciarlo must think Portlanders are easily greenwashed idiots."

Maybe that's because most of them are.
Posted by jake on February 26, 2009 at 4:48 PM · Report

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