Comparison of Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, by Alan Durning

Sprawl is not inevitable--it is the result of urban planning, public transportation and highway construction decisions.

>EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Suburban Sprawl

Population growth and suburban development patterns are increasing our dependence on the automobile :

• Between 1970 and 1990 greater Seattle's developed land area grew twice as fast as population. By the end of this period nine square miles of open space was being overtaken each year and nearly 70% of the tidal wetlands had been lost. Greater Seattle has 400 square miles of rural land development planned by 2020, despite a statewide growth management act.
• Although there is considerable growth taking place outside the city, Greater Vancouver converted less rural land to urban uses for every additional thousand residents than any other Canadian metropolis and it was sprawling at 1/3 the rate of Seattle, despite comparable population growth.
• Portland's suburbs are hundreds of square miles of low density sprawl, taking over some of Oregon's most fertile land.

Urban Design Models

Sprawl is the problem, but revitalized cities are the solution. There are areas within the Pacific Northwest which could serve as models for future development, where the car is one of many convenient transportation modes :

• The best places in the Pacific Northwest to be a pedestrian are Vancouver's West End, Victoria and downtown Portland.
• Vancouver is a continent-wide leader in arresting sprawl--with inward, rather than outward growth. The West End; a tree-lined square mile of residences, offices and shops between downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park; is the Northwest's best model of urban livability. Most of North America has sought to provide access through greater mobility. The West End has provided it through greater proximity.
• Downtown Portland is the best case of urban planning in the western United States. Between 1970 and 1990 the share of downtown workers riding transit rose to more than 40%. Car traffic stabilized, even though the number of jobs downtown increased by half during the same time period. These trends are in part due to : Portland's moratorium on downtown parking growth, the decision to turn an expressway into a riverfront park, and the conversion of a parking lot into a town square.

Unique Transportation Ideas

There are unique ways of dealing with transportation issues :

• Washington's Commute Trip Reduction Law took 120,000 cars off the road every weekday in its first two years of operation. Seattle corporations have unique ways of meeting these requirements. Nordstrom guarantees a ride home to any worker who commutes without a car and has a family emergency. Key Bank matches workers with the branch closest to their home, reducing commute lengths by 17% over the first year of the program.
• Portland has many innovative methods of making transit more attractive and faster: tv monitors with up-to-the minute bus schedules, trackside wheelchair lifts, ticket vending machines on the platform and shelters at all stops.
• To encourage car-less travel, in 1994 Portland put a fleet of 450 community bicycles on its streets. This inspired Salem, OR and Victoria, BC to follow suit. Boeing has had a similar system for decades, allowing workers to leave their cars at home, even if they have to "commute" between buildings in Boeing's giant production facilities.

Parking

It is important to consider parking when dealing with transportation issues. Zoning requirements for parking spaces have resulted in an abundance of free parking and have further encouraged auto dependence

In the US, employers may provide parking worth up to $155/month as an untaxed fringe benefit, compared to only $60/month for transit fares. Tests of cash-out parking in LA show that as many as 2/5 commuters would take the cash and leave their cars at home.

Offices of government agencies in greater Vancouver encourage auto dependence by giving away parking worth CAN$26 million/year.

Portland recently permitted the construction of a downtown low-income housing project without any off-street parking, a waiver that likely shaved more than $10,000 off the cost of each apartment.

- The Car and the City, by Alan Durning -

<24 Steps to Safe Streets and Healthy Communities

from Alan Durning, The Car and the City

1. Read The Car and the City on the bus. What you see depends on where you sit. Good urban design creates public spaces that are safe and inviting; bad design results in a menacing public realm. But the difference is hard to see from the driver's seat.
2. Make streets in a grid. Put in diverters. A grid allows better traffic flow than the sprawl model of cul-de-sacs, feeder roads, connector roads, and highways. Diverters slow cars but allow bikes and pedestrians free movement.
3. Lay out small blocks with small lots. Compact scale creates a diverse but comfortable environment for foot travelers.
4. Surround the sidewalk with greenery. Good landscaping makes walking a pleasure.
5. Mix offices, shops, and homes. Blending these usually compartmentalized land-use categories allows proximity to replace mobility.
6. Install bike racks. Lack of bike racks is a major obstacle to bike use.
7. Build new high rise neighborhoods in depressed industrial zones. Well designed high-density neighborhoods are the essence of walkable cities. Underused industrial land is available around many city centers.
8. Fight urban crime. One-third of low-density dwellers in greater Seattle would be willing to live in a medium- or high-density neighborhood if they felt safe there.
9. Factor auto-dependence into mortgage qualification rules. If proximity allows households to shed their second or third car, they can save an average of $300 a month, enabling them to make larger loan payments.
10. Surround downtown with pedestrian voters. If business districts are surrounded by high-density, pedestrian-oriented communities, a pedestrian voting bloc will emerge to counter the motor lobby.
11. Don't exempt gasoline from retail sales tax. Gas taxes are user fees that pay only for roads. Sales taxes support the general functions of government, yet many states and provinces exempt gas on the spurious basis that it is already taxed.
12. Eliminate the mortgage interest deduction. The interest deduction is an incentive to buy bigger, more expensive houses -- often suburban mansions. It is one of the largest handouts in the U.S. tax code and a huge indirect subsidy to sprawl.
13. Calm traffic. Speed bumps, traffic diverters, and street-narrowing curb bubbles all slow traffic; fast traffic deters pedestrians and cyclists.
14. Complete the pedestrian infrastructure. One-third of Seattle streets lack sidewalks. Sidewalks should be wide enough to allow three people to walk abreast comfortably.
15. Build front porches. Front porches encourage walking and add to the sense of community in a neighborhood.
16. Fill in suburban neighborhoods. Raising density is the key to better transit and more local shops. Residential neighborhoods can begin by allowing "mother-in-law" apartments.
17. Hold a community meeting to develop a shared vision of the future. Change is fiercely resisted when it seems imposed by others.
18. Sell insurance by the slice. Pay-at-the-pump insurance lets drivers buy only the insurance they need. It also eliminates uninsured motorists.
19. Deregulate parking. Americans end 99 percent of auto trips at "free" parking spaces. But they're not actually free - someone pays for them. Deregulating parking would induce market pricing for most parking, allowing drivers to only pay for what they used.
20. Use parking meter proceeds for neighborhood funds. Charging for curbside parking ensures that drivers pay rent for their use of public rights-of-way. Using the proceeds for neighborhood improvements keeps the revenue in the community.
21. Ask your employer to take back your parking space and give you a $2,000 raise. Free employee parking is a tax-free fringe benefit worth $2,000 a year or more. Non- drivers get no similar benefit.
22. Exempt buildings from the property tax. Shifting property taxes off of buildings and onto land promotes re-development of urban neighborhoods.
23. Shift taxes off work and onto pollution. Partially replacing income taxes with fuel and vehicle use taxes helps both the economy and the environment.
24. Give The Car and the City to the person beside you on the bus.