Month: May 2024
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How “anti-social” capital varies by city
The number of security guards is a good measure of a city’s level of “anti-social” capital We thought we’d take an updated look at one of our favorite indicators of “social-capital”–the number of private security guards as a share of the local workforce. Having lots of security guards is likely an indicator of distrust and…
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The Week Observed, May 24, 2024
What City Observatory Did This Week A costly cargo cult in Portland: A proposal to spend $30 million per year subsidizing the revival of container shipping operations at the Port of Portland is misguided effort based on outdated economic thinking. Portland was never more than a very minor player in containerized shipping, handling less than…
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Cargo Cult Comeback: Cost–$30 million a year
Portland’s $30 Million Container Shipping Folly Cargo cults are a well-documented sociological phenomenon: Cargo cults were religious movements that emerged among indigenous people in Melanesia during the early to mid-20th century. The cults were inspired by the arrival of European colonizers and the material goods they brought. The islanders observed the seemingly magical ability of outsiders…
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The Week Observed, May 17, 2024
What City Observatory Did This Week The Oregon Department of Transportation can and should mitigate the negative impacts of its highway construction projects, including social and economic impacts. ODOT’s massive $1.9 billion I-5 Rose Quarter highway project is billed as “restorative justice” because it would construct caps over the freeway that decimated Portland’s historically Black…
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Oregon DOT can and should mitigate past damage from highways
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has proposed a $1.9 billion freeway widening project for Portland’s Rose Quarter. The agency proposes to cover a portion of the freeway in what it calls “restorative justice” for the Albina neighborhood, that was decimated by decades of earlier ODOT highway building. But ODOT claims it can’t spend highway…
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The Week Observed, May 10, 2024
What City Observatory Did This Week Another Oregon Department of Transportation exploding whale.* The cost of one of OregonDOT’s megaprojects, the expansion of the I-205 Abernethy Bridge over the Willamette River south of Portland just jumped $750 million, now triple the amount the agency said the project would cost when it moved forward five years…
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The Interstate Bridge Replacement is Two Years Behind Schedule
The $7.5 Billion Interstate Bridge Project is two years behind schedule IBR’s Draft SEIS was supposed to be complete in December 2022—It now won’t be done before December 2024. This two-year delay means the environmental review has taken twice as long as IBR promised Not to worry, because the consultants will continue billing, and their…
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Abernethy Bridge Cost Triples to $750 million
Oregon DOT’s I-205 Abernethy Bridge rebuild, advertised as costing $248 million, will really cost $750 million The project’s estimated cost has tripled in just over five years, and still has further cost overrun risk ODOT’s plans to cover these cost overruns would mean cancelling dozens of other projects around the state, and/or a huge statewide…
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The Week Observed, May 3, 2024
What City Observatory Did This Week Beware of phony claims that highway projects are “On-time and Under-Budget.” For highway departments, the key to being on-time and under-budget is Orwellian double-speak. Oregon DOT projects are always on-time and under budget–because the agency simply “disappears” its original schedules and budgets. Delayed, half-finished projects are officially described as…