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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Portland TriMet Victory Party

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 10:35 AM

Finally, something to celebrate at TriMet! After 12 months of cutting bus lines, axing buses from Fareless Square and raising ticket prices, TriMet staffers and transit bigwigs alike got totally drunk downtown last night to celebrate a major success: the opening of the Green Line MAX to Clackamas.

The minute I walked in the door of TriMet's posh party (held at The Original: A Dinerant), someone handed me a strand of mardi gras beads attached to a flashing green pendant reading, "Green Means Go." Before I could even get the prize necklace over my head, a woman with a Columbia River Crossing nametag merrily recommended I try the a "Green Dragon" martini. Obviously, this was going to be a party like no other.

It wasn't just me and the CRC staff mending bridges over martinis last night. The Green Line has been more than 30 years in the making and its completion is cause for backslapping among transportation groups that don't always get along. ODOT, PDOT, CRC, BTA, FTA, people were mixing at the party regardless of acronym.

The Green Dragon, the bartender informed me, was cucumber infused vodka with mint and something something else I couldn't hear because over the music. But I had spotted Mayor Sam Adams sipping one and because it was an open bar, I tried one, too. Drinking the strong not-quite-enjoyable concoction I turned to talk to TriMet spokeswoman Mary Fetsch and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance's Michelle Poyourow, but a waitress whisked by with another strange offer. "Foie gras fig newton?" she asked, lowering her tray of sliced figs on gray duck liver patties.

By the time the celebratory speechmaking was over and Fetsch was starting to get her groove on, dancing around the Dineraunt, I was starting to seriously question whether the TriMet staffers would be alert, awake and enthusiastic for the 8:30 AM Green Line opening celebration at Clackamas Town Center.

Mary Fetsch and Michelle Poyourow flash the green.
  • Mary Fetsch and Michelle Poyourow flash the green.

 

Comments (9) RSS

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1
Greeat, pat yourselves on your back and eat your Foie Gras while the rest of us stand waiting for a packed bus for 30 minutes.
Don't get me wrong - I love the MAX but for those of us who don't have the pleasure of living close to it I have to roll my eyes at all this celebration while the bus schedules are being cut.
Posted by Wubbles on September 12, 2009 at 12:23 PM · Report
2
Michelle Poyourow quitting the BTA and announcing a competent replacement, now that would be worth celebrating.

P.S. Making your customers suffer because they made a huge, impossibly stupid, bet on fuel prices and toasting to it on the day the cuts kicked in pretty much sums up everything you need to know about their management's attitude.
Posted by fahqueue on September 12, 2009 at 1:32 PM · Report
3
So easily co-opted are you?

Old Town.
Posted by Larry Norton on September 12, 2009 at 4:32 PM · Report
4
I took some pictures of the Lents/Ramona Street Fair celebrating the opening of the Foster Road Max stop. How may I post them/email them?
Posted by Dan Newth on September 12, 2009 at 5:44 PM · Report
5
THAT WAS ONE AWESOME LINE OPENING - CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW GOOD THAT FOIE GRAS WAS?1!!!?!!1?!!
Posted by Commenty Colin on September 13, 2009 at 12:15 AM · Report
6
I wonder how many of these back-slappin' idiots are actually going to ever ride the green line out to the horrible wilds of the city east of 82nd?
Posted by jake on September 13, 2009 at 12:04 PM · Report
7
I think this is the first MAX line I will likely never use.

Next up, right by my house on 99!
Posted by NIG GER on September 13, 2009 at 3:27 PM · Report
8
Hmmm?
I see, patting themselves on the back wooping it up?
These folks aint celebrating:
http://rantingsofatrimetbusdriver.blogspot…
Posted by Al M on September 14, 2009 at 10:33 AM · Report
9
These folks, and hundreds like them aint celebrating either:
http://rantingsofatrimetbusdriver.blogspot…
Posted by Al M on September 14, 2009 at 10:35 AM · Report

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