We Oregonians do tende to get a bit caught up in this odd sense of the righteousness of our own way of life, as if the fact that the Portland area is better designed than, say, Houston is really something to crow about.
If Portland is really supposed to be so well-designed, why compare it to the worst-designed cities in the world? Why not compare it to European cities?
As a resident of Portland proper, my dream plan to combat suburban sprawl has always been to build up and improve Portland itself enough to draw all or most of the surburbanites into the city.
There are two obstacles to this. One, not nearly enough low-income housing in the city. This could be remedied by city and state government if made a priority. Two, not nearly enough high-density development in the city, particularly on the east side. This could very easily be remedied if Portlanders could get rid of their obsession with limiting the height of new buildings. I understand having aesthetic objections to skyscrapers in general, and with skyscrapers blocking the view of the mountains in particular--but surely sprawl is uglier than skyscrapers, and surely the view of the mountains would be at least as awesome from the top of a skyscraper...
Commenting by HaloScan
