Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, streetcars are still the foundation of cities and suburban areas across the country, establishing a pattern that guided development for over a century. By 1910, you could travel from Boston to Chicago entirely on streetcar lines, just transferring from one to another. Sadly, 60 years later, the streetcar had largely disappeared. Only the St. Charles Streetcar Line in New Orleans remained of this vast network. We had a different vision in the city of Portland. In 1987, I called for the development of a circulator system in the central city that built around the streetcar. I worked with the late Bill Naito, a visionary Portland businessman and developer, who bought old streetcars from Portugal. He brought them to town, thinking that if people actually saw them, it would help promote his concept of their reintroduction. I worked with a gentleman named Rick Gustafson to bring this to fruition. We had a 10-member citizen steering committee, who worked with the city to fashion an approach going forward, and it worked. Within a decade, we had a loop in downtown Portland connecting it. That loop of streetcars was the focus for much of our affordable housing. It changed the dimensions of downtown, where people used the streetcar for short trips rather than vehicles. It guided development in modern Portland. This is part of a national movement reintroducing streetcars. I am proud to have helped lead that with the Portland model.…”