Portland Peeves (houses, neighborhoods, college)

[gonpostal]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

I can't tell you what to think and how to feel, Steve, but I can suggest that if what you feel when you see someone sleeping on the sidewalk is anger, that you possibly have a gene missing. The one for compassion. Tell the truth. Do you ever see any of my people sleeping rough out on Burnside? No, because we have no right to do so. The people that you do see sleeping there do have that right and they know that they do. Even so, they are not there because everything is coming up roses for them. I'll go further and suggest that they are still there precisely because anger is the emotion that they elicit. Anger keeps the people who have the power to do something about their situation from doing anything. They blame the victims for their own distress. A change will only come when hearts are softened and compassion and a genuine desire to address the causes of indigence replace denial and anger.

H

I read today Portland is going to move some street people to under the west end of the Broadway Bridge. I have nothing against that but it reminded me of something. Several years ago I read electric meters for PGE. There was a meter room under the west end of the bridge with a bank of meters, I don't remember how many. The first time I unlocked the door to that room I nearly passed out, seriously. Entering the room I stood in three inches of what can only be described as a very ripe water and urine mixture. It seeped into my tennis shoes and soaked my socks. I later found out the city used fire hoses to wash down the excrement and unfortunately some (much) flowed under the door where it simply sat waiting for me. Since we walked our routes I hated wearing boots so I bought some rubber galoshes and carried them with me on that route from then on. I found if I took a big gulp of air, opened the door and rushed in I could read the meters before needing air. Hopefully, that won't be a problem today as I think PGE has installed smart meters throughout their service territory. Don't get me wrong I am not passing judgement on the homeless.

[psichick]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

One of my biggest pet peeves about Portland is the way the city traffic engineers do their job...

IMHO, the main thouroughfares should be for automobiles only, and the lesser streets can be made as bike friendly as they wish.

What they did to Division Street west of 82nd is a perfect example of poor engineering.
But hey.......they got a couple of bike lanes in.
I didn't realize SE Division between 52nd and 82nd was such a heavily traveled bike route?

So good for "image", but so bad for traffic flow.

I've decided all traffic engineers are stupid, in all cities. But then again, most engineers I know are very smart, very anal, and don't have much common sense.

Also, I've come to the conclusion that Portland is trying to do away with cars by making it difficult to drive.

(all is said in jest, in case ppl think I'm dead serious)

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Also, I've come to the conclusion that Portland is trying to do away with cars by making it difficult to drive.

HA.
I know you are being humorous, but in reality that's exactly how it is.
That has been one of the City of Portland's (and Tri-Met's) main agendas for years.
I remember listening to one of Sam Adams (our former mayor) lackeys describing the city's technique on how to deal with traffic congestion.
He said that you don't solve the problem, you make it worse.
Then people get fed up and travel a different route.
That eliminates the traffic because less people use that route, and BOOM, your congestion problem is solved without doing anything constructive.
Then you get federal and state public money to dress it up and make it cycle and pedestrian friendly.

Really.

[Steve Pickering]

Like having to drive two blocks west on Powel and making a U-turn to go South on 205.

[hamellr]

1.) People who complain about the rain after moving here. That never gets old, and this goes all way back to Lewis and Clark. I typically skip the November 1805-Janurary 1806 in their journals because I don't want to read about the weather any longer.
2.) People who complain about drivers here. Yes there are problems, but they are always generalized. In all my travels I have yet to find a single city with BETTER drivers then Portland. Unless you're talking about rural Oregon.
3.) People who complain about the homeless, politics, lack of <whatever they had back at home> who never do anything to fix it.
4.) People who say "How is keeping it weird working out for ya?"
5.) People who complain about the lack of Freeways without knowing the historical reasons that came about.
6.) People who try to make Portland into whatever generic hell-hole they moved from in the first place.

Portland has it's problems, there is no doubt about that. But it does not mean that we can not have civil conversations about those problems and come to a consensus on the fix. If you can not gracefully go along with the majority rule once a decision is made, then perhaps the problem is you and not the majority.

[Leisesturm]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

One of my biggest pet peeves about Portland is the way the city traffic engineers do their job...

IMHO, the main thouroughfares should be for automobiles only, and the lesser streets can be made as bike friendly as they wish.

What they did to Division Street west of 82nd is a perfect example of poor engineering.
But hey.......they got a couple of bike lanes in.
I didn't realize SE Division between 52nd and 82nd was such a heavily traveled bike route?

So good for "image", but so bad for traffic flow.

See... "bikes... "lesser streets". You and I may live long enough to see cars banned outright in the city limits of most Metro's. Banned. Outright. Emergency and commercial traffic only. Bicycles excepted. 75% of domestic oil consumption and ALL of the air pollution of our planet is caused by motor vehicles. When enough oil is depleted that the worlds militaries conscript the rest and the air gets bad enough that life expectancy, which has plateaued for the last decade begins to decline, there will be a backlash against the casual use of automobiles. In the meantime, you should, if you get the chance, kiss any cyclist you see full on the lips. They are saving your planet for you one trip at a time.

H

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by hamellr

1.) People who complain about the rain after moving here. That never gets old, and this goes all way back to Lewis and Clark. I typically skip the November 1805-Janurary 1806 in their journals because I don't want to read about the weather any longer.
2.) People who complain about drivers here. Yes there are problems, but they are always generalized. In all my travels I have yet to find a single city with BETTER drivers then Portland. Unless you're talking about rural Oregon.
3.) People who complain about the homeless, politics, lack of <whatever they had back at home> who never do anything to fix it.
4.) People who say "How is keeping it weird working out for ya?"
5.) People who complain about the lack of Freeways without knowing the historical reasons that came about.
6.) People who try to make Portland into whatever generic hell-hole they moved from in the first place.

Portland has it's problems, there is no doubt about that. But it does not mean that we can not have civil conversations about those problems and come to a consensus on the fix. If you can not gracefully go along with the majority rule once a decision is made, then perhaps the problem is you and not the majority.

Hummm. It seems People are your Pet Peeve?

[Leisesturm]

Originally Posted by gonpostal

I read today Portland is going to move some street people to under the west end of the Broadway Bridge. I have nothing against that...

You should have something against that. The population density of the United States is 280 people per sq. mile. There are an estimated 18 million vacant homes throught the country. Any municipality that allows tent cities or homeless encampments is demonstrating tacit approval of vagrancy. In Europe those people would have shelter. Yes, they are bums. Maybe worse. But European meter readers do not have to wear boots to avoid stepping in human excrement. Just saying.


H

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by Leisesturm

See... "bikes... "lesser streets". You and I may live long enough to see cars banned outright in the city limits of most Metro's. Banned. Outright. Emergency and commercial traffic only. Bicycles excepted. 75% of domestic oil consumption and ALL of the air pollution of our planet is caused by motor vehicles. When enough oil is depleted that the worlds militaries conscript the rest and the air gets bad enough that life expectancy, which has plateaued for the last decade begins to decline, there will be a backlash against the casual use of automobiles. In the meantime, you should, if you get the chance, kiss any cyclist you see full on the lips. They are saving your planet for you one trip at a time.

H

Well, OK, but to me, your opinion on this seems a little bit radical.
I guess we will get to see how things turn out.

This is a thread about Portland pet peeves by the way.

Not a thread to soapbox.

Can you just try to have fun with it?

[psichick]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

HA.
I know you are being humorous, but in reality that's exactly how it is.
That has been one of the City of Portland's (and Tri-Met's) main agendas for years.
I remember listening to one of Sam Adams (our former mayor) lackeys describing the city's technique on how to deal with traffic congestion.
He said that you don't solve the problem, you make it worse.
Then people get fed up and travel a different route.
That eliminates the traffic because less people use that route, and BOOM, your congestion problem is solved without doing anything constructive.
Then you get federal and state public money to dress it up and make it cycle and pedestrian friendly.

Really.

I changed my post to reflect yours, so you can change yours.

And OMG, are you serious? He really said that? I was wondering why apartment complexes charge for parking here. My mom said to me, "maybe because they don't want you to have a car, so they're charging you for everything". I thought that made sense, LOL. But then, if that was the case, they should raise registration costs to deter people from wanting cars, right?