The author and I have lived in the same places, almost on the same timeline, except SF actual. > Since then, I’ve come back to Portland, and the options to get

The author and I have lived in the same places, almost on the same timeline, except SF actual. > Since then, I’ve come back to Portland, and the options to get around without a car are better again. Portland has a pretty good bike share program, an above average light rail system, and an okay bus network. Plus, my neighborhood is pretty walkable, with a 73 walk score. Portland's friendliness to biking has dropped in recent years. Pedestrian deaths have risen quite a bit, which makes people not want to use our many bike lanes. Some background: https://bikeportland.org/2023/03/15/city-counts-reveal-data-behind-portlands-precipitous-drop-in-cycling-371407 https://bikeportland.org/2023/03/15/city-counts-reveal-data-... There's two main theories that I think reflect the whole truth: - PBOT built a lot of bus and train infrastructure. Turns out they designed it in a way that can be hostile to biking. - We eliminated our traffic division and around that time pedestrian and motorcycle fatalities greatly increased. I'd also like to point out that walkability in Portland mostly correlates to how rich/new (almost the same thing in Portland) the area is. Portland has a lot of old neighborhoods and they don't really have a density strategy, meaning they'll just build in density anywhere including demolishing most of a street and compounding a whole two lane street with dense housing. The thing I've learned from this is that density needs to be integrative; it should be smartly built among SFHs and should not the the majority or only housing on an existing street. That's to say, if you take a street designed for 10 homes and then you turn it into quadplexes bad things happen to traffic, much less the vibe of the area. My street is a good example of how to do it right, they capped the dense housing so it could only occupy half of the street. We have condos for a quarter of the street, quadplexes for a quarter, and SFHs for half. Why does this matter? Portland ties paving of roads and building of sidewalks to new construction. It's a perverse incentive that resulted in there being sidewalks and a minimally paved road up to my house. Everything thereafter is a gravel road in the middle of Portland. It's dangerous during Portland's rainy season, but the city doesn't really care. This is their carrot. When we asked the city to come in and pave the road and finish the sidewalk so that folks can get to our deli/grocery store easier, Portland responded that we could raise money and build our own on their land and we still needed to pay the exhorbitant city permitting fees. On the other hand, Portland does an excellent job with mass transportation. Just outside my neighborhood you can catch a bus to anywhere around Portland, including the train, which in three hours can take you to Seattle. It's really nice.