P age B?
O ctober 9, 1996 • T he P ori land O bserver
The Death And Resurrection
Of Light Rail Part III
by
P rof . M c K inley B urt
“Clang, clang, clang went the trol
ley” sang the gaily costumed dancers
who requested you to "Meet Me in
St. Louis ’ as they frolicked their way
through that Broadway musical re
prise of a great and glorious W orld's
Fair at the turn of the century The
“Gateway to the West" was host to
the world.
But nostalgia aside, we must ask
ourselves, "do we really understand
the processes and underlying m o
tives that drove America’s clean,
economical urban transit system to
the brink of complete destruction?
High-octane vapors may have had as
much to do with degenerating lungs
as tobacco; that could be factored
into my observation that "the free
ways expedited a frantic exodus from
the cities, leaving the urban infra
structure in economic and social
shambles.”
I delighted in the opportunity to
extol the virtues of several light rail
systems as you undoubtedly con
cluded the past two weeks. The death
and destruction of two urban transit
systems in particular will be o f great
interest; there is only a shadow left of
that vibrant, ebullient "Red Car Line
in Los Angeles-nothing at all of "The
Portland Traction Company.”
For a well-documented account of
what happened in these ‘massacres’,
I again refer you to James Howard
Kuntsler, “The Geography of No
where,” Touchstone, 1994 (Simon &
Schuster). Drawing from “Automo
bile Age”, the archives of the Ameri
can Association ol State Highway
and Transportation Officials, Robert
W alker's benchmark study, “Urban
Planning in Thirty-one of the Nation’s
Largest C ities" and many court
records, he makes a frightening case.
In the particular case we review pp.
90-92.
"In 1925, with the acquisition of
the Yellow Coach Company, the
General Motors Corporation under
took a systematic campaign to put
streetcar lines out of business all
over America...erected a byzantine
network of subsidiaries and holding
companies to buy up the lines, scrap
the tracks and convert the routes to
buses. As the great depression deep
ened, GM formed Atlantic Grey
hound."
“In 1932, General Motors formed
the United Cities Mobile Transit
Corporation' (UCMT) to create a
market for its products by taking
over streetcar lines in small cities and
converting the lines to buses. UCMT
wasdissolved in 1935 after the Ameri
can transit Association censured it
lor trying to dismantle Portland,
O regon's electric trolley lines, but
this didn't stop General Motors.”
Perhaps Port land’s daily press with
all its manpower and vast resources
can provide us with an account of
those subsequent strategies employed
by this giant corporation in its suc
cessful efforts to replace clean and
economical light rail with the ubiqui
tous 'horseless carriage’. Could be,
since readers called to say that right
after my first article appeared, other
articles promptly appeared with my
“new spin on the trolley car.” But
back to Kunstler, we have this, pp.
91,92.
I hat same year [as the Portland
catastrophe] the mammoth company
joined with the Omnibus Corpora
tion... in a scheme to replace New
York C ity’s electric trolley system
with buses. The conversion of Man
hattan was largely accomplished in
an eighteen-month period, despite a
hue and cry among riders.”
"In 19.36. a combination of G en
eral Motors parts suppliers, Stan
dard Oil o f California and Firestone
I ire And Rubber formed a company
called National City Lines... pro
ceeded to buy and dismantle street
car systems in San Jose, Stockton
and Fresno, California. In 1943, an
other NCL affiliate, American City
Lines, converted trolleys to buses in
nineteen more cities, including Pa
cific Electric's ‘Big R ed’ trolley lines
in Los Angeles.”
"A federal grand jury indicted GM
for criminal conspiracy in the Los
Angeles case in 1949, but the even
tual fine of $5(MM) was about equal to
the com pany’s profit on the sale of
five chevrolets. By 1950, General
Motors had converted more than 100
electric streetcar lines to gasoline -
powered buses.”
"I know that I was scheduled to
conclude the series this week but I
have been threatened with bodily
harm (smiles) on the part of some
readers unless I explore some of the
new considerations that must be en
tertained in evaluating the "true na
ture of urban development and the
economic confines of A m erica’s in
ner-cities and euphemistic ghettoes.”
And an economist at a local univer
sity is certain that he can get a large
grant to pursue “this new spin on
industrial policy and its social impli
cations.”
So, we will do it ‘one-more-once’
with a couple of added tid bits con
cerning black inventors who were
pioneers in their patented contribu
tions to light rail. Pandora's box may
have a gold lining.
Classrooms linked on Internet
Classrooms across America are
being wired for the Internet, but
educators say computers will be of
little use to students unless teach
ers know how to use the technol
ogy to leach daily lessons.
To help, a coalition o f educa
tional o rg a n iz a tio n s, teach ers
unions and technology companies
launched a grassroots initiative
Tuesday to recruit 100,(MM) com
puter-literate teachers to voluntar
ily tram five of their teaching col
leagues.
So far, 4,(MM) teachers have
signed up.
They arc registering by elec
tronic mail and the 21st Century
Teachers Internet homepage —
http://w w w .2lct.org. The site on
the World Wide W eb — the graph
ics-oriented part of the Internet —
contains a list of resources for edu
cators and will connect them with
other teachers involved in promot
ing and using educational technol
ogy.
“T oday’s students still need to
know the three R’s, the old basics,”
Education Secretary Richard Riley
said. "But they also need to under
stand how to use the three W ’s — the
W orld Wide Web."
Barbara Blevins, a reading spe
cialist at Thurgtxxl Marshall Elemen
tary School in Manassas, Va., said
computers force students to sharpen
their decision-m aking skills and
solve problems to find the best infor
mation available.
What our kids have Iodo is man
age information that it coming in at
a rate that’s almost unimaginable,”
Blevins said.
No Need to Drive Across Town • IVe Honor Competitors Coupons'
c |omfort £J u to
Q jepair
Foreign & Domestic
Minor & Major Repairs
fa c to ry Trained Technician • 2 Shops Same Location
TUNE-UP
BRAKE
SPECIAL
SPECIAL
OIL LUBE
& FILTER
$29^5 I $56^! $14 95
« cycle only
r«KJ M 9 9S
Includes plugs & scope
check. Check cap, rotor
& filters. Other cars
slightly more.
| Turn rotors or drums, replace |
Up to five
quarts of oil
shoes or pads, inspect
hydrolics, repack wheel
bearings if applicable
OPEN MON FRI 7-6 • OPEN SATURDAY 8 4
2 6 5 3 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. BLVD. 2 8 7 -3 0 2 2
Blazers Boys & Girls
Clubs Brick Sales
5250 NE MLK
- —— — — — — n
PURCHASER’S NAME:
A D D R E S S ;________
_____________
DAYTIME PHONE #:
—
_
_
• — I
I
_
[
PRINT IN BLOCK LETTERS the name as you wish it to appear on ■
your brick:____ ___ ________________ _ _________________ I
You have room for 24 characters includmgspaces.
I
PLEASE PLACE MYORDER FOR
BRICKS AT $50 EACH. |
METHOD OF PAYMENT: Charge my: □ VISA □ Mastercard |
□ Check enclosed,
Card Number:
.
payable to:
Boys & Girts Clubs
Name on Card:
-----
— |
M p Îf.
I..
A S 1 1
of Portland
SIGNATURE:
I
0 Please bill me.
MAIL TO: Bricks, 7119 SE Milwaukie Ave. Portland, OR 97202 I
Exp Dal°^ S 0 , 1 BS i
- . — — — — — — — — —I - . — . . — — _
—
W 0 RW
TIGER WOODS
MAKES GOOD
Yankees-Orioles
series postponed
Managers Joe Torre of the
New York Yankees and Davey
Johnson of the Baltimore O ri
oles have had ample time to set
their pitching rotation for the
American League Championship
Series. Maybe too much time.
Tonight’s opening game at Yan
kee Stadium was postponed due
to inclement weather It has been
rescheduled for Wednesday at 4
p.m. EDT. Game Two is sched
uled for Thursday at 3 p.m.
George stays with
Falcons
The NFL trading deadline has
come and gone, and quarterback
Jeff George still is a disgruntled,
suspended member of the At
lanta Falcons.
Both the Fal
cons and the Seattle Seahawks
— where George was rumored
to be headed forquarterback Rick
Mirer — announced shortly af
ter the 4 p.m. EDT deadline that
no deal had been reached.
Lance Armstrong
recovering from
cancer
Noted American cyclist Lance
Armstrong revealed today he is
undergoing treatment for cancer
after having a malignant testicle
removed last week. Armstrong,
a member of the 1992 and 1996
United States Olympic teams and
the two-time defending Tour
DuPont champion, had the can
cerous testicle removed Thurs
day, a day after learning that he
had the disease, at St. D avid’s
Hospital in Austin, Texas.
Joyce Christman, who directs a
gifted education program at Bailey
Elementary School in Dublin, Ohio,
recently connected with an astro
physicist working at the South Pole.
She chats on-line with him, dow n
loads his writings, screens out adult
humor and shares his work with her
students.
“This does not replace our in
struction — this is only a tool,” she
said.
As part of the 2 1 st Century Teach
ers initiative, Christman is mentoring
UCLA hoops being
— via the computer — a prospective
investigated
teacher studying at the University of
The storied UCLA basketball
W est V irginia in M organtow n.
program is being investigated in
W.Va.
ternally by the Pac-10 Confer
President Clinton wants every
ence following a report in today’s
school classroom to be hooked up to
Los Angeles Times that gave
the information superhighway by
accounts of the sale of a car from
2000.
coach Jim Harrick to the sister of
As of October 1995, about half
a signed recruit. The u n iv e r
the nation's public schools were
sity issued a statement this after
linked to the Internet — up from 35
noon confirming that there is an
percent from the year before, ac
ongoing investigation by the
cording to the Education Depart
school and conference regarding
ment. But only 9 percent of indi
the report and that there would
vidual classrooms had access.
not be further comment until its
After volunteers inCaliforma held
conclusion.
a NetDay" in March and wired
4,000 classrooms for the Internet,
Griffey wins
grassroots efforts began in other
states to upgrade technology at
seventh Gold Glove
schools. This month, “NetDays” to
Outfielder Ken Griffey Junior
wire schools and classrooms are
of the Seattle Mariners won his
scheduled in at least 35 states.
seventh consecutive American
“When we provide students with
League Gold Glove award, it was
a well-trained teacher and the appro
announced today by Rawlings
priate computer-based learning tech
Sporting Goods. Griffey com
nology, something very exci ting hap
mitted only four errors in 390
pens: Students pursue knowledge
chances and had 10 outfield as
rather than waiting to have knowl
sists. He is joined by teammate
edge pu rsu e th e m ,” says Reg
and fellow outfielder Jay Buhner,
Weaver, vice president o f the Na
who was honored for the first time.
tional Education Association.
$
G raft O livi ros & R yan
A ttorneys at L aw
Gregory P. Oliveros
Attorney at law
Northeast Portland
(503) 282-7285
2 I6 I Northwest Broadway St
Portland, Oregon 97232-1512
(503) 282-7285
Fax (503) 282-8007
Bankruptcy Line (503) 335-3800
Welcome, Tiger. You are no longer
the child wailing to take his place
among men. You are a professional
golfer — and a winner.
So often, reality falls short of ex
pectation and anticipation outweighs
actuality. So far, that is not the case
with Tiger Woods.
This man— still nearly three months
short of his 2 1 st birthday — is as good
as advertised.
Woods qualified for the PGA Tour
with his playoff victory over Davis
Love III at the Las Vegas Invitational
on Sunday. It should be just the start.
Pull your seatbelts tight and keep
your arms inside the car at all times.
We could be heading for a thrill ride as
exciting as the one Jack Nicklaus took
us on from 1962 — when he won the
U S. Open for the first of his 70 victo
ries and 18 major pro titles — through
1986 when he won the Masters for his
last.
Woods is not aplayer— oraperson
without flaws. But his talent and
composure tantalize with the prospect
that he may become the best ever.
Yes, the '’Hello World” news con
ference in Milwaukee was pretentious.
Yes. the 'There are still some courses
I can’t play because of the color of my
skin "adforNikewashypcrbolesimplyto
sell a lew sneakers.
And yes. it was unwise to abruptly
pull out ol the Buick Challenge and
insensitive to stiff the Haskins Award
dinner at which he was to be honored
as college golfer of the year
None of that is stuff of which Woods
should be proud.
He has to realize that the financially
rewarding thing to do will not always
be what’s best for his ambition to be
the best ever.
Does the $40 million man — who
has skipped one event because of ex
haustion — really need to play in the
Australian Open next month for a
$190,(MM) appearance fee? Or the
H<?
Johnnie Walker in Australia in Janu
ary?
Woods has to keep his focus on
golfing greatness. It would be very
easy to become the most hyped under
achiever of all time. It would also be
easy to become an ungrateful achiever.
There are many wrong turns Woods
could take that would lead him simply
to "great" and not to “best-ever” sta
tus.
There is a voice that whispers: "He
can't be this good.” But with each
passing week the volume of his ac
complishments drowns out the doubts.
Woods has had the most astound
ing debut since Nicklaus.
Perhaps most impressive is how
Woods won at Las Vegas.
A top-20 finish would have earned
enough money for his PGA Tourcard.
And after a first-round 70 ii would
seem that's what he would play for.
But Tiger Woods is about winning.
He followed that 70 with a 63 to get in
contention.
He then won on Sunday by shooting
a 64 and moving past 10 players who
were either tied with him or ahead of
him starting the round, including Love
and Couples.
Among those right behind Woods
who were unable to mount a similar
charge were Phil Mickelson. Lee
Janzen, David Duval, Vijay Singh and
Paul Azinger.
Woods won with bold shots under
pressure, none better than the 9-iron to
20 feet on the playoll hole. Love,
hitting after Woods, buried his ball in
the back left bunker and was unable to
get up-and-down.
Ashe had in 18consecutive matches
over three years in the U.S. Amateur,
WixxJs applied the pressure and waited
for his opponent to crack.
At Las Vegas he found that even the
pros feel the heat. And he showed that
he s a guy who will be holding some
feet to the tire for years to come.
in B tH
b h re u j d o m o
d u n k s
onci
George, Rice
named NFL Rookies
of Month
Running back Eddie George of
the Houston Oilers and defensive
end Simeon Rice ol the Arizona
Cardinals today were named the
National Football League Rook
ies of the Month for September.
George, the 1995 Heisman Tro
phy winner, was named Offensive
Rookie of the Month. He had 314
yards on 66 carries for a 4.8-yard
l average with one touchdown in
four games in September George
ran for 143 yards on 17 carries in
a win over Jacksonville on Sep
tember 8th Rice, the third overall
pick in the April draft, earned
defensive honors with five sacks
among 18 tackles, two forced
fumbles and a fumble recovery.
H o t i
A irsole
W ell , as a M achine O perator in NIKE’ s
manufacturing division , you ' ll make the
AIRSOLES THAT MAKE NIKE FOOTWEAR THE BEST IN THE
world . Y ou ' ll enjoy a team - oriented workplace that ' s
LIKE NO OTHER. AND YOU'LL SEE YOUR SHOES PERFORM AT
THE HIGHEST LEVEL.
R IR S C H .fC U l i l C H I N L O P E R R T O R
YOU LL NEED AT LEAST 2 YEARS OF PRODUCTION
experience , problem - solving abilities , basic
MATH SKILLS AND THE ABILITY TO LIFT 50 POUNDS.
A long
with an environment that ’ s uniquely NIKE,
YOU'LL EARN A COMPETITIVE HOURLY WAGE AND COMPLETE
benefits , f'o r- c o n s t r ie c n H o n
p la a a n c a ll 1 - 8 0 0 - 8 9 2 - 2 )0 1 .
p u t e n s lo n Ir ilH -P U lF
N IK E
EMPLOYS
O P P O R T U N IT Y
EQUALLY^