“If you want to start a popular uprising against the bridge, Washington is probably the place to start.”
Welcome to Comment of the Week, where we highlight good comments to inspire more. You can help us choose our next one by replying with a “comment of the week” to any comment you think deserves recognition.
BikePortland has run 14 “Comment of the Week” features since we recommitted to doing them earlier this year. Is it too early to repeat the commentator?
No it’s not, not when their commentary is as good as Ross Williams.
We’ve been posting a lot about the interstate bridge replacement project, most recently last Friday with Nobody’s Happy with the I-5 Bridge Project. And that’s a good thing? Your comments in response to the IBRP posts are an impressive display of knowledge and information—about bridge design, climate change, induced demand, etc. But Williams’ comments keep coming to mind because, well, he understands politics.
Here’s what Ross Williams had to say about the politics of victory:
I think [Metro Council President] Lynn Peterson’s list of “everyone” includes the people whose support is necessary for the project to move forward and the people who have the ability to prevent it from moving forward if they’re unhappy enough with the proposal. Perhaps he believes, or at least hopes, that anti-design activists don’t fit into that second category. She needs to be proven wrong. It is not a matter of intellectual debate but of power.
Since most Oregonians rarely use the bridge, the people with the most stake in the outcome are in Washington. So if you want to start a popular uprising against the bridge, Washington is probably the place to start. Unfortunately, opposition to tolls and light rail is far more likely to kill the project than climate change concerns fueling highway expansion.
Thank you for that bit of realpolitik Ross! You can read Ross’ comment and the entire comment thread below the original post.
Lisa Caballero has lived in SW Portland for 20 years. She is on the Traffic Committee of her neighborhood association, the Southwest Hills Residential League (SWHRL) and can be reached at lisacaballero853@gmail.com.
