For Beaverton, however, it's a different story. They get sort of a Round. Well, depending on how you look at it. Back in 1998, westside light rail officially started up, but plans were afoot for a couple of years previous to the opening. A former sewage treatment facility, situated on the light rail line, was to become a veritable gold mine because light rail would "spur" Transit-Oriented Development (TOD).
A funny thing happened on the way to the mine. It went bust. Even after several millions of tax dollars and other subsidies were provided by Beaverton and the brain trust at Metro, it went bust again. Today, part of it is built, but there are three other buildings and a parking structure scheduled to be up and running by 2009. It's not going to happen, as the owner of the land's facing foreclosure. This is surely an appropriately-named development, the Beaverton Round: it just goes round, and round, and round. Purchase/foreclosure/taxpayer bailouts and subsidies/ purchase/foreclosure/taxpayer bailouts and subsidies/ purchase/foreclosure....
photo: Portland Tribune
Even with bailouts, light rail can't be said to be "spurring" TOD in Beaverton.
It's kind of like the great Cascades Parkway TOD in northeast Portland. That sat vacant for a decade until the City of Portland decided to permit big-box stores (with ample parking) to locate there. It was supposed to look just like Beaverton Round. Does it? Well, not exactly. Play around with the map; you'll notice a difference between the two TODs.
The northeast TOD now houses a Best Buy and an Ikea megastore, and there's nothing "transit-oriented" about this development. The little mix of ground-floor boutiques and upper-story apartments just isn't happening. Golly, this is nothing like what the brain-trust at Metro had envisioned.
Now, of course, Metro's "planning" for the next fifty years - when they couldn't get even a five to ten-year "plan" to work out. This is but one of many examples underscoring the fact that for the last three decades, Metro remains the only "regional government" in the USA. They view themselves as leaders, when what's really happened is that everybody else in the country has looked at them and decided "no way".
You may be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but when bureaucrats are convinced that they know all there is to know, they won't trouble themselves to learn a thing.
