Just five years ago, Portland, OR was shaped much like the typical Great Lakes city. Polluted industrial property obstructed the waterfront along the Willamette River waterfront, vacant commercial property plagued the central business district, and urban living was a rough, daring choice. But the city built a streetcar system in 2001, and now its teaming with new businesses, residents, and street life.
Since identyfing the the original path of the system in 1997, Portland has added 7,248 new housing units, 4.6 million square feet of office, institutional, and retail space, and leveraged approximately $2.3 billion in spinoff private investment - all within two blocks of the streetcar route. To date, the cost of the system itself - which contines to expand due to increasing popularity - approaches $100 million. That's a helluva return on investment.
Imagine that wave of development washing down mainstreet of Pick-A-City in the Great Lakes, USA. It's entirely possible. Dayton and Columbus, OH; Kenosha, Madison, and Milwaukee, WI; Minneapolis, MN; St. Louis, MO; Champaign-Urbana and Chicago, IL; and Grand Rapids, MI all are pursuing or evaluating a major public investment in a streetcar system. A day spent in Portland raises the question: what are they waiting for?
