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 [...]

This week, the Congress for New Urbanism will be in Portland for its Transportation Summit 2009. The purpose of this gathering will be to discuss potential reforms to transportation policy, and I will be in attendance. Given the sorry state of my iBook, I suspect I won’t be doing any live blogging, but I will [...]

Will 21st century public meetings law in Oregon be bound by 20th century definitions? The City of Lake Oswego seems to hope so.
Oregon has a reputation as a state with a high degree of transparency, thanks largely to its open meetings laws (see ORS 192.610, or the Oregon Department of Justice’s Public Meetings Handbook). Yet [...]