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When even The Oregonian notices, Tri-Met's light rail system has big problems. The Zero routinely cheers on light rail and condos, while steadfastly ignoring the fact that Oregon's business climate essentially ensures a declining job market. That's why the high-end condos in SoWa are suddenly transmogrifying into "affordable apartments". Nobody's buying the condos, because the jobs aren't here. So they're suddenly becoming apartments, in the misplaced hope of luring baristas in to rent them.
The Crime Trains and condos are all part of the grand Plan to make the Portland metro area a "walkable" community. It's kind of hard to walk with a knife in your gut, but nevermind - the "Planners" will figure something out.
Feeling uneasy about last week's broad-daylight stabbings on MAX? This news probably won't help: After two straight years of double-digit declines, crime on TriMet's light-rail system is on the rise again.
Tri-Met and Metro are on the bleeding edge of "Planning", and they're "creating" new jobs as a result of their efforts: there's an emerging field of transit criminology. How cool is that?
