April 2013
FEATURES
The Southwest Portland Post • 5
Councilor Stacey says primary goal of Metro is less driving, more transit
SOUTHWEST
CORRIDOR PLAN
By Lee Perlman
The Southwest Portland Post
“Metro is a feast for me,” Metro
Councilor Bob Stacey told the South
Portland Neighborhood Association
last month. “It’s not where citizens
look for services, but it’s the center
of planning.”
Stacey is newly elected to District
6, which includes Southwest Port-
land from downtown to Southwest
Barbur Boulevard.
Metro Councilor Bob Stacey (District 6)
His background includes time
spent as Portland Bureau of Plan-
ning director and executive direc-
tor of the land use advocate group
Thousand Friends of Oregon.
“My self-appointed job is to pre-
serve the (existing) Urban Growth
Boundary,” Stacey said. “We can
either push it further out into the
countryside, or we can be sensible
and accommodate growth within
it.”
“The reason we have potholes,
don’t have sidewalks and don’t
have other amenities is because
we’ve invested so much on the ur-
ban edge.”
Another problem is that the Or-
egon gasoline tax, a chief source of
transportation-related revenue, is
decreasing. “Oregonians are driving
less and driving more fuel-efficient
cars,” Stacey said. “We need to push
our dollars further or find new
sources of revenue.”
A primary goal of Metro is for
people to drive less, Stacey said,
“and we can drive less if we have
choices that let us do it.”
Metro is seeking to create such a
choice through the Southwest Cor-
ridor Plan, which will create a light
rail or bus rapid transit route along
Highway 99W from downtown
Portland to Sherwood. Stacey is on
the project’s Steering Committee.
A map associated with the proj-
ect contained a series of red cir-
cles denoting major destinations.
South Portland board member
Bill Danneman noted that Oregon
Health and Sciences University oc-
cupied such a circle.
Stacey responded, “What the map
was intended to convey is that this is
an area that we need to have a plan
for serving. It doesn’t mean that this
facility needs to be served directly.”
“There are lots of circles, they
don’t all fall under one option, and
you couldn’t serve them all with
one option,” said Stacey. “What
you need is a network, with the
rest served by buses. For OHSU, the
question is how you do that. There
are open minds on the committee.”
Another board member, Jim Gard-
ner, questioned the use of Southwest
Naito Parkway in some options.
Gardner has long been an advocate
of the South Portland Circulation
Study.
The 35-year-old plan would re-
move much of the roadway near
the Ross Island Bridge, shrink Naito
back to a local street, and use the
land thus reclaimed for other uses.
Gardner said he feared the pro-
posed route would interfere with
this. He was also concerned about
the assignment of certain “bundles”
of improvements to certain options.
“I wouldn’t discourage you from
making that point,” Stacey told
Gardner.
According to Stacey, “We made
a purposeful decision to put some
projects in some bundles to make
comparisons. We don’t have the
money to do everything on the proj-
ect list. If you say that this needs to
be revised, you need to make that
point.”
The Southwest Corridor Plan
process has also been criticized by
others, including Southwest Neigh-
borhoods, Inc. board chair Mari-
anne Fitzgerald. “Marianne made
a strong point that people didn’t
see the draft bundles until the day
before,” Stacey said.
“They showed intense work by
staff rather than more inclusive
engagement of the community. But
every one of the projects had been
vetted with the public in the past.”
“What about projects left out?
Well, no irrevocable decision has
been made not to include such proj-
ects. It’s fair criticism, there wasn’t
enough time for people to dive in
and dig. Hopefully, there’ll be more
later on.”
Southwest 26th Avenue and Barbur Boulevard is one of the potential light rail or rapid
transit stations in the Southwest Corrdor Plan. (Post file photo by Don Snedecor)
Get your Game On and get this Steal of a Deal!
Save 69 % Plus 2 FREE Gifts!
T he Grilling Collection 45102FJK
4 (5 oz.) Top Sirloins
4 (4 oz.) Boneless Pork Chops
2 (4 ½ oz.) Stuff ed Sole with Scallops & Crabmeat
4 Boneless Chicken Breasts (1 lb. pkg.)
8 (3 oz.) Gourmet Jumbo Franks
4 Stuffed Baked Potatoes
Reg. $166.00 ... Now Only
49 99
$
Plus 2 Free Gifts
to every shipping address.
FREE 6-piece Cutlery Set
& a FREE Cutting Board.
Limit of 2 packages. Free Gifts
included per shipment. Off er expires
4/30/13. Standard shipping and
handling will be applied per address.
To order: www.OmahaSteaks.com/off ergc35
or call 1-888-902-8359
©2013 OCG OmahaSteaks.com, Inc. 15118
make a real
connection
Call Livelinks.
The hottest place to meet
the coolest people.
Try it Free!
503.416.7435
Ahora en Español 18+