October 2009
FEATURES
The Southwest Portland Post • 5
Politicians make speeches at MAX Green Line grand opening at PSU
still has a long way to go, “This is a very
important landmark,” she said.
In addition to Nolan and Burdick,,
speakers at the PSU grand opening event
included Congressman Earl Blumenauer,
FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff, Metro
President David Bragdon, Clackamas
County Commission Chair Lynn Peterson,
and a representative from Governor Ku-
longoski’s office. Dancers from the Cami
Curtis Performing Arts Center wrapped up
the celebrations with a dance to The O’Jays
“Love Train.”
By Lee Perlman and Don Snedecor
The Southwest Portland Post
The ceremonial Green Line train pulled
into the PSU Urban Center station wel-
comed by PSU President Wim Wiewel and
Mayor Sam Adams, along with members
of the Last Regiment of Syncopated Drum-
mers and PSU cheerleaders.
The grand opening September 12 of
the MAX light rail Green Line, linking
Clackamas Town Center to Portland
State University, was a time for celebra-
tions and speech making by many area
politicians, including two with a South
Portland constituency.
As a band and PSU cheerleaders
lent the gathering a victory rally atmo-
sphere, State Rep. Mary Nolan (D-Port-
land) was very much in the mood.
“There are places where transit is
considered fringey, not really grown
up, not something you can count on,”
Nolan said. “But here in Portland, in
the 21 st century, transit is a fundamental
part of how we define ourselves. This is
the coming of age of our communities.
This is how we will grow, how we will
create neighborhoods, communities,
industrial areas and parks.”
In keeping with other speakers, No-
lan noted MAX’s role as an economic
development tool, and said that the
system has been a catalyst for $8 billion
worth of private development along its
route. “That’s how we do things,” she
said. “We will continue to show the rest
of the country.”
Part of the funding for the first MAX
line, from Gresham to downtown, was
State Rep. Mary Nolan (D-Portland) speaks at the MAX Green Line grand opening Sep-
tember 12 at PSU. (Post photo by Lee Perlman)
obtained during the 1970s when the
City officially abandoned plans to build
the proposed Mount Hood Freeway
through southeast Portland.
In those days, “Killing a freeway
was not a popular thing to do,” State
Senator Ginny Burdick (D-Portland)
recalled. Critics called MAX “Whoops
on Wheels,” a reference to Washington
State’s disastrous experiment with
nuclear energy development, she re-
called.
At one point the decision to tunnel
through the west hills seemed “tech-
nologically impossible.” “Baby, things
have changed!” Burdick declared.
The next MAX project, now in final
planning stages, will bring the rail line
south from PSU, through the South
Waterfront, across the Willamette River
via a new bridge, and southward to
Milwaukie.
The next after that, in early planning
stages, would be a line along Southwest
Barbur Boulevard to Tigard. Referring
to this latter, Burdick said, “The odds
are looking good.”
She added, “We’re buying into not
just cars on rails, but a vision of a com-
munity where we’re not so car-depen-
dent. It’s a miracle! We’ve come a long
way.” And, although rail development
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