The Oregonian had a short piece the other day regarding the reopening of a segment of the Trolley Trail, which was originally a Portland Traction Company line and repurposed into a trail. It was shut down for some time so that workers could use it as a staging area to access the $1.2 billion, seven-mile "Portland/Milwaukie Light Rail" site.
One section of the trail, according to the article, has been "improved" and is now open for public use again. The "improvements" include bright lighting for night use, artwork (of course) and more:
The improvements to the trail include bright nighttime lighting, retaining walls, landscaping and new trees alongside the new 12-foot asphalt path.
That's right: we can't afford to maintain streets, so we need a big new tax for that. But we can afford to pave an area equal to one vehicle lane so that bicycle riders and pedestrians don't have to go down an unsightly gravel trail, like they used to have to do. That was so demeaning! It's sure pretty now, though.
Priorities. It's all about priorities. And cars and trucks aren't a priority around here.
