Month: August 2023
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Rose Quarter: Death throes of a bloated boondoggle
For years, we’ve been following the tortured Oregon Department of Transportation Plans to widen a 1.5 mile stretch of I-5 near downtown Portland. The past few months show this project is in serious trouble. Here’s a summary of our reporting of key issues Another exploding whale: The cost of the Rose Quarter has quadrupled to…
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The Week Observed, September 1, 2023
What City Observatory did this week Rose Quarter: Death throes of a bungled boondoggle. For years, we’ve been following the tortured Oregon Department of Transportation Plans to widen a 1.5 mile stretch of I-5 near downtown Portland. The past few months show this project is in serious trouble. Here’s a summary of our reporting of…
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The Week Observed, August 25, 2023
What City Observatory did this week Metro’s Climate-Denial Regional Transportation Plan. Portland’s regional governtment, Metro, has published a draft Regional Transportation Plan, outlining priorities for transportation investments for the next two decades, and ostensibly, aiming to deal with transportation greenhouse gas emissions, the largest source of climate pollution in the region. But unfortunately, the RTP,…
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Metro’s Climate-Denying Regional Transportation Plan
Portland Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) does nothing to prioritize projects and expenditures that reduce greenhouse gases Metro falsely asserts that because its overall plan will be on a path to reduce GHGs (it wont), it can simply ignore the greenhouse gas emissions of spending billions to widen freeways The RTP’s climate policies don’t apply…
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The Week Observed, August 18, 2023
What City Observatory did this week Climate fraud in the Portland Metro RTP. Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan rationalizes spending billions on freeway expansion by publishing false estimates and projections of greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation is the number one source of greenhouse gases in Portland. For nearly a decade, our regional government, Metro, has said it…
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The climate fraud in Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan
Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan rationalizes spending billions on freeway expansion by publishing false estimates and projections of greenhouse gas emissions Transportation is the number one source of greenhouse gases in Portland. For nearly a decade, our regional government, Metro, has said it is planning to meet a state law calling for reducing greenhouse gas emissions…
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The Week Observed, August 11, 2023
Must Read Some Texas-sized greenwashing for highway widening in Austin. TXDOT is aiming to spend close to $5 billion to widen I-35 through downtown Austin, and to sweeten the deal, they’re producing project renderings showing lengthy caps over portions of the widened freeway. One hitch though: while TXDOT will pay to build the highway, it…
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The Week Observed, August 4, 2023
What City Observatory did this week Eating local: Why independent, local restaurants are a key indicator of city vitality. Jane Jacobs noted decades ago that“The greatest asset a city can have is something that is different from every other place.” While much of our food scene is dominated by national chains, some cities have many,…
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Local flavor: Independent restaurants indicate city vitality
Which US cities have the most independent restaurants? One of the chief advantages of cities is the range of consumption choices they afford to their residents. In general, larger cities offer more choices than smaller ones. One of the things that makes a city special and distinctive is its food and culture. Too much of…