| Subject: The Lady and the Tram (Portland) |
Author:
James Bohne
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 08:19:00 05/25/05 Wed
A while ago I wrote an article entitled "The Lady and the Tram". It seems other people have picked up on the theme. :)
source: http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=5006
The Lady and the Tram
Sarah Graham has designs on connecting Pill Hill with the city's south shoreline.
BY ZACH DUNDAS
No question, it's bold: a hyper-modernistic aerial tram sweeping down Marquam Hill, vaulting over I-5, connecting the city's largest employer with its most ambitious urban development.
Fittingly, controversy has dogged the proposed tram--and its driving forces, the nonprofit Portland Aerial Transportation Inc. and Portland's Department of Transportation--from day one. Some say the project is glorified welfare for Oregon Health & Science University and developers. Other critics just doubt anyone will ride the damn thing.
With the tram up for a City Council vote May 6, WW caught up with Sarah Graham, the Los Angeles architect who won an international competition--Portland's first in two decades--to design the tram. Graham, a Portland native who's worked around the world, talked about the political heat, the tram's broader implications, and what Stumptown can learn from the rest of the world.
WW: What's the most striking thing you've learned about Portland?
Sarah Graham: What's really impressive is the character of an amazingly civic-minded community. It's incredible to me how much the public knows about this project. In L.A. or New York, some people would know, but here they're all paying attention, and people show up.
Aren't there drawbacks to that?
Sure. It means the process takes an enormous amount of time.
Is that frustrating?
Throughout the whole process, we've been continuously encouraged to do a great project. And that's amazing. Usually more public involvement means pressure to tone things down. And that hasn't happened here. The PATI board, the degree to which they've been supportive, has been amazing. [PDOT] is pulling resources out of the woodwork.
Is the controversy we've seen over the tram unusual for a project like this?
Not at all. To have an aerial tramway in an urban area, over a neighborhood, is incredibly radical. But we get intelligent questions, and interest, and an informed body politic. And the Department of Transportation--this is a huge risk for them. They're on the line.
People have made a lot of noise about the tram's cost. The old saying about Portland is that it wants to go first-class, but pay steerage rates.
Every client we've ever had wants a Mercedes and wants to pay for a Mini Cooper. So far, here, no one is chickening out, and that's incredible.
Are there other cities Portland can and should learn from, as far as its urban-planning ambitions are concerned?
Barcelona. When they had their Olympics, they put an enormous amount of money into public spaces and transportation and the city's buildings. They used it as an opportunity to affect a lot of things--places where Olympic visitors never went. And they were criticized for spending too much. But since the Olympics, their visitor rate has more than paid for all of those improvements. And I think it's probably the greatest city in Europe right now. Whereas, look at Atlanta or Los Angeles. They had the Olympics and took the approach of, "We won't lose money if we only buy paper garbage cans." They didn't lose money, but the city got almost nothing back.
Is there a lesson there for cities that are never going to have the Olympics?
The lesson of Barcelona is, use projects you do to push through broader improvements. The neighborhood is correct in not being willing to put up with this much infringement without getting a lot back.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 