Union Pacific's gearing up to do about $25.5 million in habitat improvements to its intermodal rail yard in Portland's Brooklyn neighborhood. Mostly, the improvements are designed to create new habitat for the $1.2 billion, 7.3-mile crime-train extension into nearby Milwaukie, but they will make improvements toward streamlining some of their own operations, as well. The only remaining roundhouse in the Portland area is scheduled for demolition under a seperate permit issued to Tri-Met.
But in a surprise move yesterday, the wily Clackamas County commissioners canceled their planned underhanded bond sale which was to pay for "their portion" of the crime-train project. The always-sneaky commissioners are keeping mum about their plans, but it seems likely that their bond sale would have run afoul of state law, so they dropped that like a hot potato and are apparently nosing around in search of a less controversial funding mechanism.
Come hell or high water, and regardless of what their constituents think, these Very Smart commissioners are going to find a way to borrow cash to pay "their share" for a project most Clackistanis don't want. They're just trying to find a way to put their constituents on the hook for borrowed funds in a more legally acceptable manner. This fight isn't going to be over until every one of the self-annointed, certifiably smarter than the masses commissioners is expelled from office.
