I've said it before and I'll say it again: Portland isn't well-respected among urban and transportation planners because it's always been in league with the nation's larger, denser cities with big legacy transit systems. Rather, Portland is notable because just 35 years ago, it was the very opposite--and yet has come close to that league today by prioritizing, funding and commiting to building over several decades significant rail transit and bike path systems from scratch, increasing density by limiting sprawl and directing growth inward to repurposed in-city districts, and even tearing down freeways for open space. The Portland of 30 years ago was more like Indianapolis than Boston--today, it's somewhere in the middle, and that's considerable progress, worthy of praise.
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"You need both a public and a private position." --Hillary Clinton, speaking behind closed doors to the National Multi-Family Housing Council, 2013
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