PORTLAND FUTURE: WHAT TO EXPECT

What I want to see happen

How many times have I driven over the Willamette River and looked at the Eastside thinking of what a Portland future could be?

Every time.

Early morning works best, especially if you’re leaving town for a short time.

When I get back I don’t expect the freeway to be buried and all sorts of shops and food to pop up and take its place.

That could never happen, right? At least not in a couple days.

Just before the sun decides to cast its glow in the early morning, one side of Portland looks cared for. The other side looks like an afterthought.

Portland history is full of afterthoughts, but the Eastside is a glaring example. All low buildings and traffic ramps and empty streets in the gray fog does not a pretty picture make.

But what would be a giant step forward for a Portland future is dealing with the road needs.

Somehow Seattle is getting rid of an eyesore. They recognized a need.

Portland future needs the same vision.

The 405 is a good example. Dig a huge traffic trench and cover it. Done deal?

The Willamette looks forlorn in the wrong light, and makes sense to bar access. But we like water access, river access.

How many beaches have room on the Willamette? Some pathetic little stretch under a bridge.

It’s not the 39th Ave beach on the Columbia. Or Broughton Beach.

Put the Willamette in better focus in a Portland future that makes sense for the people. Sure it might be daring to take a swim, but isn’t it a good idea that it could happen?

If Portland is a drive-by city on the way to someplace else, why not make it easier for drivers to get through. Do they even care about the westside view from I-5?

Ask around and you’ll hear the same thing: “Portland has changed. We don’t go there anymore. The garbage, the homeless, the this, the that.”

Any excuse to stay in the bubble works.

Look, I’m not saying Portland future needs an infusion of jackasses from out of state, but here we are.

Roll out the welcome mat, the river mat, and show those who doubt what a determined city can do best: use the natural resources that remain just out of reach.

The river was once, and still is, a huge transport corridor. Along with trucking and air freight, the river moves the city.

Why not move the people, their hearts and minds, their picnic baskets, and open up the east bank.

What better way to show the beauty of Portland future in the making?