The Dark Side of Portlandia
I know a lot of Ricochet readers are long-suffering residents of liberal bastions where it often seems as if everyone around them has collectively lost their minds. As someone who originally hails from Oregon, all the recent hype praising Portland as America's civic ideal finally sent me over the edge. I've written a long story about the cultural and political degeneration of the city for The Weekly Standard that I hope serves as a cautionary tale. Given that it's the favorite city of urban planners and New York Times travel writers, the Obama administration and progressive politicians across the country want to turn your town into the next Portland. And that should be avoided at all costs if you value the most basic indicators of livability such as affordable housing:
The rush to praise Portland’s smart-growth policies has been strangely unimpeded by their results. Oregon’s urban growth boundary is defended from criticism as if it were the Maginot Line of American environmentalism, but, tellingly, its supporters don’t even pretend it makes for prudent economic policy. Rather, it’s just one of those things that make Portland’s culture so darn special. A 2010 article in Good magazine—a publication of environmentalist bent, chiefly notable for employing Albert Gore III—described it this way:
Along with creating dense neighborhoods, encouraging mass-transit use, and irritating free-market zealots, the growth boundary saves farmland close to the city. The resulting proximity between country and town defines life here. Portland is a small-to-medium city with a frequently dismal economy, a single major sports team that hasn’t won a championship in 30 years, and world-class access to premium local produce. Ambitious small restaurants crowd the city, bedazzling visiting food critics from New York; some Portlanders follow the local pinot noir harvest the way people in Greenwich, Connecticut, track hedge funds. None of this could exist without the boundary.
Portland is indeed surrounded by thousands of square miles of prized Willamette Valley farmland, and a glance at a map will tell you that there’s a long way to go before sprawl is a major concern. Of course, you’re a free market zealot if you oppose the growth boundary, even though it might have something to do with Portland’s “frequently dismal” economy, because—well, have you tasted the arugula? It’s world-class.
If you want to credit the growth boundary with preserving the state’s farmland, then you should also have to defend the havoc it’s wreaked inside the city. In 2010, consultant Wendell Cox did a quick survey of the urban growth boundary’s effect on property values in Portland. “The land adjacent to, but outside, the urban growth boundary (on which development is prohibited) was assessed at approximately $16,000 per acre,” he concluded. “The land adjacent to, but inside, the urban growth boundary (on which development is permitted) was assessed at approximately $180,000 per acre, approximately 11 times the price of land that is virtually across the street.” Tough luck for Portland’s homebuyers.
But there's much more than that! To entice you to read the whole thing I'll just mention that the story has lots of salacious political scandals, a discussion of the the television show Portlandia, vegan strip clubs, and liberal America's fascination with light rail is finally explained.
- Comment (30)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (3)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
Jan '11
Re: The Dark Side of Portlandia
"New Urbanism" is the city planning version of environmental fascism, and unfortunately, while the theoretical underpinnings are thoroughly leftist, there is often an unholy alliance between them and developers who want local government tax subsidies and other taxpayer funded goodies. This is an important issue, as many conservatives are sucked into the idea that local communities are being smothered by sprawl and the inhuman use of cars, and get bamboozled into supporting such ridiculous schemes. In California, these efforts were spearheaded by "Redevelopment Agencies" which promised to revitalize neighborhoods but instead just lined the pockets of developers with projects that are supported less by the free market and more by elitist social engineering theories.
And, by the way, Mitt Romney was a huge advocate of this kind of crap in Massachusetts. But I'm sure he's flip flopped more than a few a times on the issue yet, so we can all rest assured.
Edited on February 26, 2012 at 8:59amMay '11
Re: The Dark Side of Portlandia
I can't wait until the environmentalists find an endangered cricket or a puddle of water (pardon me, of "wetlands") on all that fabulous farmland Portland is preserving, and turn it into a scene from Steinbeck, as they have already done with California's Central Valley.
Sep '10
Re: The Dark Side of Portlandia
billy: Mr. Hemmingway,
Have you ever visited Tulsa
I used to live in Tulsa and while I will concede your points about the roads, you really miss others.
You gloss over housing but let me illuminate. Median household income in Tulsa is 39k and the median house is 117k. In Portland these numbers are 48k and 292k. And in this stat lies their doom. While Portland's population growth is higher than Tulsa's (this is probably true even if you throw in Tulsa's suburbs), the stat to look at is % of children in the population. Portland lags Tulsa because families squeeze reproduction to pay the rents. This reaches its apogee in the Bay Area where I worked for some time. There you see more dogs than children.
I find it hard to argue against balance and planning. I suspect Disneyworld is also far superior to Tulsa, but it is not the answer either.
Edited on February 26, 2012 at 7:41pmRe: The Dark Side of Portlandia
I visited the Pacific Northwest recently, and was awestruck to see a bare-breasted woman walking casually in downtown Portland. Only in Portland.
Aug '11
Re: The Dark Side of Portlandia
JonWake, this whole nation is being run "by an oligarchy that cares more about their own special pet projects and feeling good about themselves" than they do about either the will of the people or the good of the community by any objective standard. It is hubris by the governing class. Unfortunately, we in Portland and in Oregon are in the lead in this rush toward the cliff. It is not easy being conservative here in Portland.
Sep '10
Re: The Dark Side of Portlandia
JonWake: ...
Its just a real shame that Sam Adam's special bridge for bikes only got cancelled. · 13 hours ago
Your mention of Sam Adams reminded me of a long-forgotten incident. I was having breakfast at a local eatery a few years ago and overheard someone at the next table say that he didn't know much about Sam Adams, but since he liked the name and the beer, he's vote for Sam Adams. Not sure what that says, but made me chuckle. All part of keeping Portland weird, I guess.
Sep '10
Re: The Dark Side of Portlandia
cbc:
...
Unfortunately, we in Portland and in Oregon are in the lead in this rush toward the cliff. It is not easy being conservative here in Portland. · 44 minutes ago
Hang in there. Your town has some great features. I always enjoy my time here.
May '10
Re: The Dark Side of Portlandia
Your piece reminds me of my home town: Davis, CA. Reknown for its bikes, its Toad Tunnel, and its Noise Ordinance, it is locally refered to as The People's Republic of Davis. It was a great town to grow up in 50 years ago, but the same kind of well-intended liberal policies have now made it a great town to be from.
Oct '11
Re: The Dark Side of Portlandia
And the misplaced priorities persist. See Portland's Roads to Ruin in today's Oregonian.
Mar '11
Re: The Dark Side of Portlandia
The whole article had a lot that shocked me. I would never have believed that Portland has almost twice as many strip clubs as does Las Vegas.