“This newsstand closed due to overwhelming theft.”
Over last weekend, I attended the We Make The Media conference at the University of Oregon’s Turnbull Center. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the future of journalism, both in general, and in the Portland metropolitan region. I have already commented on the experience of attending the [...]

Today — assuming I get this post up before midnight — was the We Make The Media event in Portland. For those who were not following this topic, this was a conference at which the future of Portland’s media scene was the center of discussion. I’ve dabbled as a journalist and a freelance writer off [...]

Government-citizen relations have always had a high degree of tension. It’s inevitable. Citizens feel they lack power to control their lives and perceive the government as monolithic, while government workers feel that citizens are loose canons that can control the process of their work. This mutual misjudgment is the cause of many, many disputes, as [...]

As the CNU Transportation Summit winds down on its last day, I’d like to go over some thoughts I’ve been having about how communications were employed throughout the event. My focus will be heavy on how new media was employed, both good and bad, throughout the conference.
First off, lets start with the trendiest of all [...]

Day three at the CNU Transportation Summit in Portland consisted mostly of discussion of how to refine the Congress’ ideas for a sustainable transportation network. This was the largest of these summits to date, with 180 in attendance.
The Congress’ idea of the network model is an attractive one. It stresses the importance of the “last [...]

Should cities grow and adapt using lessons from the high tech industry? Image: Merger HDR New York, from Flickr user diceliving.
Stan Curtis from IBM Smart Cities presented what was likely the most challenging presentation given today.
Curtis first laid out some key concepts. First, the Earth, as Thomas Friedman pointed out in his book, is [...]

On break between sessions, I have time for a brief update. The most interesting mid-day activities revolved around two issues, first the idea of transportation reform at the Federal level, and second in regards to the history of the misplaced priorities that got us to where we are as a nation today.
Discussing the reform of [...]

According to the CNU Transportation Summit, networks — like Portland’s downtown street grid — may be a better solution to the transportation needs of the 21st Century than capacity improvements to arterials and other hub-and-spoke systems. Image: 1950 Downtown Portland map, collection of Jason McHuff.
After scaring attendees with the eccentricities of Voodoo Doughnuts, day two [...]

A Voodoo Donuts sticker on a commuter bike at OHSU — you can’t get much more stereotypically urbanist Portland than this.
Day one of the Congress for New Urbanism’s Transportation Summit 2009 is now over. I have a small pile of notes and I’m simply not going to get to them all tonight, especially since I [...]

The Willamette Shore Trolley’s ex Portland Traction car 813 is seen here in Riverwood (near Dunthorpe) in 2003. This old railroad line may become an extension of the Portland Streetcar.
Last week, there was yet more grumbling about the Lake Oswego-Potland transit project, this time from Jack Bogdanski. The complaints were, in effect, that the use [...]