A Streetcar Named Sustainability

As an investor looking to live more sustainably, the streetcars running on NW 11th Avenue in the Pearl District caught my eye. Powered by electricity, their bright colors, expanse of glass, and sleek quaintness offered a distinct alternative to the automobile. I had a visceral response to my first ride, I realized I could live without a car and escape the road-rage addled lifestyle that dehumanizes Orlando.

I bought a unit next to a park and near a streetcar stop.  Perched over the street trees, my balcony offered a glimpse of the western hills, a commanding view of the Go by Streetcar sign and a pleasant vista framed by congruent architecture and centered on the streetcar line. Close to nature and with easy access to the lifeblood of the city, I was invested in a new future.

The first night in my condominium I was startled by the noise of a streetcar gaining speed. The gentle strain of its engines reminded me of the sound a wave makes as it gains strength, and it revived a timeworn instinct to quickly mount a surfboard. Those days are past, but I took solace in the mechanical resonance as it signaled the challenge of a new adventure, living without an automobile.

I was bemused by detractors claiming that streetcars do not allow residents to forsake their cars and do not provide a legitimate transportation need. I expected this line from the Cato Institute’s Randall O’Toole. The Koch Brothers fund the ultra conservative think tank, and O’Toole myopic anti-environmental, anti-regulatory research parrots Koch Industries' profit motive.  It also posits the same dated logic that developers used in the 1960s to turn vast tracts of water-logged Florida into the nation's most sprawl consumed and unsustainable landscape.http://www.cato.org/blog/portland-model-nation

I was surprised, however, when Portland State professors David Banis and Unter Shoebe, labeled the Pearl District streetcar "a vanity transit that brands this neighborhood as accessible." (Portlandness, 2015, 36) Aaron Goulb, a Portland State University professor of urban planning, classified it as a “place making tool” not “a transportation tool.” Unlike buses, they it does not “transport a lot of people quickly.” http://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/index.ssf/2016/06/portland_streetcar_targets_com.html

Given the fact that buses do not travel quickly in the Central City and their routes are often circuitous, I found the streetcar the most efficient means of transit. Streetcars are not particularly fast, and I settled into a routine where I walked more than I expected, nearly 12,000 steps a day. However, when the weather was inclement, the trip was longer than a mile, I was in a hurry, or I had to transport heavy or bulky objects, I chose the streetcar. I’ve moved three chairs, two large vases, three floor lamps, an end table, and the goods to outfit a kitchen and two bathrooms on a streetcar. I could never have done this on a bus. Dr. Goulb undobutedly poured over a bevy of statistics in his research, but I wonder if he ever tested the experience he quantified.

Buses are integral to a transportation system, but they have limited appeal. People who will not ride a bus will ride a streetcar because it is fun, offers a better ride, and it follows a straightforward route to Portland’s iconic destinations. In addition, once riders learn to navigate the streetcar system, they are more willing to take a bus.http://brokensidewalk.com/2015/streetcars-vs-buses/

As noted in a recent PBS special, the streetcar’s superior ride and permanence was crucial to the Pearl District being named one of “Ten Towns that Changed America.” Streetcars and rail, not buses, fuel transit-oriented-development (TOD), and Portland’s $251 million investment in its streetcar network spurred $4.1 billion in real estate development. In comparison to a low-density single-family home subdivision, the value of Central City TOD real estate is 72 percent higher per square foot, it consumes 93 percent less land, and its greenhouse gas emmissions are 72 percent lower.

Efficiency of electric streetcar compared to SUV

Twenty years ago, Portland set the parameters for TOD with the LUTRAQ study, which assessed the impact of a proposed freeway, the Western Bypass, on land use, transportation, and air quality. The  research team concluded that investing in a transportation system and synergizing its components (railcar, streetcar, bus, autos, bikes, pedestrians) would secure a better return of public funds. The Western Bypass was nixed and public dollars were invested in providing the infrastructure to spur TOD.http://www.friends.org/resources/reports

Studies are now underway to extend streetcar spurs beyond the urban core. Historically such investments keyed suburban development. In Portland, Laurelhurst exemplified an “addition” that harmonized streetcars, sidewalks, street trees, and homes.  Residences were located within a quarter mile of parks and streetcar stops, which provided access to nature and the city.  A century later, this development pattern has not only proved profitable, it is much more sustainable than the suburban development the Cato Instiute champions.

On a purely functional basis, buses may serve more riders, but urban planning is an art not a reductive science. Aligning sight lines, integrating public uses, and spacing and orienting buildings must delight the eye, and offer a variety of experiences that add value to a community. In this task, it is essential to ply a city's history because envisioning the future rests on employing and celdbrating the colleted wisdom that defines our humanity .