Day: July 8, 2008

[This article was written by Tony Fuentes. Fuentes is vice-chair of the Concordia Neighborhood Association, an avid outdoorsman, a father of two, and a small business owner. He is frequently called upon by city leaders and was a member of Commissioner Sam Adams’ Safe, Sound and Green Stakeholder Committee. Fuentes has a Masters degree in environmental and natural policy from Harvard where he also was a Teaching Fellow in economics.

In this article, he shares his view on how the Columbia River Crossing project would impact public health, natural areas, and our region’s economy.]

Tony Fuentes
(Photo © J. Maus)

I count myself among the many residents of Portland who wants the Council to reject, not embrace, the “locally preferred option” for the Columbia River Crossing. Something must be done, and the proposed mega-bridge is something, but it isn’t the something that we need.

Spending billions of dollars to support expanded use of single occupancy vehicles (SOVs) is a throwback to a simpler time when climate change was science fiction, air pollution was symbolic of a city’s industrial might, and growth was boundless. The reality is that we cannot build our way out of our present transportation challenges with more pavement for SOVs. We have learned this already and we don’t need to relearn this now.

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