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About The Southwest Portland Post. (Portland, Oregon) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2011)
EDItoRIal 2 • The Southwest Portland Post The Southwest Portland Post 4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509 Portland, OR 97206 Fax: (866) 727-5336 email: news@multnomahpost.com Portland to Lake Oswego streetcar is screaming good deal for region Regarding the story, “Will a streetcar from Portland to Lake Oswego cost $458 million?” by Lee Perlman, The Post, Janu- ary 2011. I am a resident of Lake Oswego. I live two blocks from the proposed Albert- sons terminal in Lake Oswego. I am volunteering with an organiza- tion called Next Stop Lake Oswego that is advocating the streetcar option. I am a high-tech marketing professional that has worked in the region since graduat- ing from OSU in 1984. My personal reasons for wanting the streetcar are three fold. The streetcar and the development that will be tied to it will attract younger families to Lake Oswego, a demograph- ic we are desperate for! It will provide a comfortable form of transportation for me and my family to get into Portland to enjoy what the city has to offer. It is a screaming good deal for the region. It is a $500 million project that we will pay less than $100M for. It will create permanent jobs in the Foothills area of Lake Oswego and over at United Streetcar in Clack- amas where the cars will be built. The consortium of Metro, TriMet, City of Portland, Clackamas Co., Multnomah Co. and the City of LO paid around $2 million for the Willamette Shore right-of-way about 20 years back. The asset is now valued at around $100 million. Its value is included in the cost of the project because its value is used for fund matching through the Fed- eral New Starts Program. We will never again have this in- expensive option to take advantage of additional ca- pacity in the congested Highway 43 corridor. You might want to look over this breakdown of the funding so you can represent the cost of the streetcar as accurately as possible. Recognize that this early in the project the cost estimates are just that, estimates. It is unfortunate that the streetcar gets portrayed as the expensive option when, in fact, over the life of the project it is the most economically viable due to substantially lower operating costs and environmental benefits of electric propulsion. M arch 2011 Garbage trucks are leaking hydraulic fluid throughout the area The local funding requirements for the project are well below the funding required for the enhanced bus. That said, what is really missing in the current analysis is an accounting of the development money that will come to the area due to the streetcar. The enhanced bus will not bring any development moneys based on past experience and the consensus of the potential developers of the Foothills district. Frank Hall Lake Oswego Deeper Sedation Dentistry... Dr. Little at West Hills Family Dental Center now offers DEEP SEDATION DENTISTRY. It’s MORE EFFECTIVE than just a pill. Residential & Intermediate Alzheimer’s Care Its about what we can do, not what we can’t. We use and appreciate the services of Waste Management of Oregon. Although we use only monthly trash service, we have trucks on our street every Friday. We are concerned that these trucks that come up our hill to remove our trash, our recycling and our yard debris ironically all leak hydraulic fluid onto the street. We have also noticed this problem of hydraulic fluid spilling on the streets when walking the dog in nearby neighborhoods. When it rains, these puddles of oil run off our hilly west side streets into the storm sewers. This is an environmental problem in that each one of these leaky rigs is a point source of pollution. I have spoken to the drivers who say the trucks are old and are to be replaced. In the meantime, however, Waste Management has a responsibility to maintain these trucks or take them out of service. A contract with the City of Portland that includes such things as the agreed- upon lifespan of their equipment does not constitute a license to splash oil on our neighborhood streets until the replacement date arrives. We’ve written to Waste Management and asked them to please fix these hydraulic fittings so they quit leaking. If this continues we will need to report this to Portland Environmen- tal Services and the Oregon Depart- ment of Environmental Quality. David and Meg Thompson, Hayhurst (Additional letters on Page 7) well be … and well informed Bowman’s Hillsdale Pharmacy Call and find out why West Hills Family Dental Center is different. 503-291-0000 • www.fearfreedental.com 6256 SW Capitol Hwy. 503-244-7582 • email: hdrx@pcez.com •Walk-In Adult Immunizations •Experienced Compounding Pharmacists 4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509 Portland, OR 97206 Phone: (503) 244-6933; Fax: (866) 727-5336 general email: news@multnomahpost.com web address: www.swportlandpost.com Editor & Publisher: Don Snedecor Reporters/Writers: Polina Olsen and Lee Perlman Retail Advertising Manager: Harry Blythe Graphic Design: Leslie Baird Design Printing: Oregon Lithoprint © 2011 by The Southwest Portland Post. All rights reserved. The opinions of the artists and authors contained herein are not necessarily shared by the publisher. Deadline for news and advertising is generally the 20th of the month prior to publication. Please call for current deadline information. Advertising rates are available upon request. The Post has a circulation of 7,000 in Multnomah Village and the surrounding neighborhood business districts including Burlingame, Capitol Hill, Garden Home, Glen Cullen, Hillsdale, South Portland, Raleigh Hills, West Portland and Vermont Hills. The Post is published on or about the 1st of every month. Subscriptions are $14 per year. Back issues are $2.50 each when available. All major credit cards accepted. The Post is printed on recycled newsprint using soy-based inks. (503) 292-7874 6630 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. Portland, Oregon 97225 www.marquiscompanies.com www.mygnp.com