Driven Crazy

I drive a lot. This is completely against the Portland belief that we reduce our carbon footprint by walking, biking, or taking public transportation. I drive because I network with people, and I like fact-to-face contact. However, there are times when even I don’t drive in Portland. Fact is, Portland is having major road issues. It seems as if several of the downtown streets are either in repair, being upgraded with trolly tracks, or reduced to one lane because of building construction. Sometimes it’s a nightmare, however, this is why I am writing today's thoughts. Because I love Portland, I believe in public transportation, and encourage as many people as possible to consider alternate forms of transportation, such as the MAX or trolly, especially if getting there is within walking distance to a destination.

If this were some other city, the transportation wizards would tear down buildings and add another lane in the road. This only leads to more congestion. So I say too bad if we are stuck in traffic. Most drivers are sitting, fuming, in their cars alone. They don’t even carpool. Too bad. We have to get use to public transportation or biking, or heavens to betsy--walking, to get where we need to go.

Ideally with city planning, we should be ten minutes from where we live, work, and shop. Which is the concept of the Pearl District. Not every part of the city should be high rise condos, but the idea that we can live, work, and shop within ten minutes is a great idea.

So when I go crazy driving around the construction, I blame myself. And I hope it becomes so bad that we all will consider alternate means of transportation. It is much healthier on our nerves, and we get to see this gorgeous city just a little bit better.