I am a huge fan of public transit. I am 48 and have lived in Portland for 17 years. My first 30 years were spent in the DC area where (when the NIMBYs were finally ignored) we had a great transit system that I used regularly. The best system I ever used however, was not the DC subway but the University of Maryland shuttle bus service. It was free to students (supported by student fees) and it utilized standard city bus size equipment and smaller 28 passenger buses. UM did a study of where students lived and deployed buses to retrieve them and bring them to campus in the most efficient way. These buses also stopped at major Metro stations in the area which linked working UM students such as myself to the entire region without needing to own a car. The system allowed UM to expand the University without having to build more parking facilities. and it provided a lot of students with jobs as bus drivers. Cities should be doing the same thing. As much as I love rail I am convinced buses are the way to go. The secret is to make them too cheap not to use and making them attractive helps a lot as well. I suggest that the fare should be 50 cents anytime anywhere (be it bus, Max or streetcar). I would make them fare-less but this would encourage loitering and that would scare off would be commuters. You live in East Portland where you probably don’t find a lot of support for the phenomenally expensive streetcar. Buses would serve your community much better and cheaper and would win over fans of public funds being used for the good of the public.

Thank you, number one, for making some concreate suggestions. Thank you for providing this opportunity to share what I think. This is the kind of thing I do and should expect from an elected official and it is refreshing to at least see a forum that seems to provide that.

I will admit, though, that I will be watching to see if you respond. I don’t expect you to respond to everything or every point I’ve made nor do I expect agreement but I do expect elected officials to respond to their constituents and not ignore them. I mentioned in another response in another section of your site that I’ve written to city council members and gotten no response. I’ve also written and shared my ideas with our Federal representatives Ron Wyden, Earl Blumenauer, and Merkely. Again, no response. I even visited Wyden’s and Merely’s office in DC a few years ago. Again, nothing. That’s not what I call representation. Needless to say, I advocate voting them out of office. I don’t mind if they disagree and they can explain it but I do mind elected representatives ignoring its citizens. I may be old fashioned but in the day of the really valuable representatives like Edith Green, Wayne Morse, Mark Hatfield, Victory Atiyeh, Tom McCall, Frank Ivancie, and Gordon Smith who had vision for a better life for all and worked to create that better life, there was no such thing as not receiving a response to a letter written to them. Good luck. You’ve made a positive impression on me. I will be closely watching all of the candidates and expressing my observations to my friends, neighbors and relatives.

The next scheme for revenue generation I see on the horizon is compliance with the Federal requirement to cover the reservoirs. I don’t have any complaint with the requirement. I’m certain I will see rates raised beyond what is needed to pay for it, though, just like with the sewer rates for the big pipe requirement.

More and more I hear the phrase, “taxation (in the form of fees and rates) without representation.