Action Alert!

 Peter DeFazio, chair of the sub-committee on Highways and Transit along with Congressman Kurt Schrader, (5th congressional district) will be riding the streetcar from Lake Oswego to Portland in an attempt to gain support from the residents of LO and Dunthorpe for yet another tax wasting boondogle. They will leave the station in LO at aprox. 4:15 Wed. June 2nd and travel to Portland arriving at about 5:30. This is our opportunity to show our leaders how we really feel. Get a sign and stand anywhere along the train tracks or in LO at the station.

The Portland Streetcar cost $25,750,000 per mile to construct, travels at 7-12 MPH, with each vehicle costing $2,900,000 and now they are trying to foist another one on Lake Oswego.

Those of us who attended the meeting at Forest Hills School last night heard from John Charles of Cascade Policy Institute www.cascadepolicy.org , who warns us not to listen to planners about the actual costs. For Westside Express Service (WES), TriMet predicted a capital cost of $102 million, but the actual cost was $161 million. They also predicted first-year operations cost of $4.88 million, while the actual cost was $6 million.

Streetcar infrastructure serves only one mode; it doesn’t accommodate freight, autos, emergency service vehicles, pedestrians or bikes. Thus it will be unused 99% of the time. Not to mention the huge expensive bureaucracy to maintain it.

Those who hope the streetcar will help with congestion along the 43 corridor are living in fantasy land. It will increase congestion anywhere it crosses a public street, not to mention the unsightly proposed parking structure in downtown LO.

Join your neighbors for a Tea Party style protest Wed. June 2. Please forward this email along to everyone you know, especially those in LO or Dunthorpe.