It appears increasingly obvious that the only folks who don't understand just how dismal a failure the Metropolitan Service District (Metro) really is are the people who run the show in the country's only elected regional "government". 

Gee.  This was supposed to be a "model" for the rest of the nation.  Ever wondered why, thirty-plus years later, nobody else has followed that "model"?

Led by bicycle-happy councilor Rex Burpholder (no, wait…) ahem…that's supposed to be David Bragdon, but it doesn't really matter.  Rex is the guy who grabs the headlines, telling us all that we need to live close to where we work so that we can ride bikes or walk or take (cough) Mess Transit to get to and from where we need to go.

There's just one teeny little problem there: Metro's "planners" have "planned" most folks right out of Portland.  Who has a million bucks to drop on one of Homer Williams' tower condos?  And who really wants to live there?  Sure, there's a shiny streetcar, maybe an aerial tram/

But when you earn forty or fifty grand a year, and you want a three-bedroom, two-bath home with maybe a bit of yard for the kids to play in - what are you going to do?  Pretty much what many are doing.  Leaving Portland.  In droves. 

The folks at Metro rely on "planners".  They love them to death, and hire more and more of them at high salaries and great benefits.  "Planners" are the be-all and end-all at Metro. 

And when the feds stuff Burpholder's grant application back in his face, noting that all they're "planning" are bike paths and fixed rail - no road expansion - why, Rex just can't believe how insensitive the feds are to our needs.  Buy a clue, Rex.  Your "plans" don't even come close to addressing our needs - they only serve as a blueprint for your desires.

We don't care about your desires.  And if they involve exchanges of bodily fluids, we really don't want to hear about it.  If you get off on your bicycle, that's fine and all.  Just quit trying to herd the rest of us around to conform to your view of the perfect lifestyle.  We don't try to force our views onto you, so give us the same degree of respect.

You've become the poster boy that illustrates just how far out of touch Metro is with the people it claims to "serve".

Build some roads.  Fix some potholes.  And by the way - we don't need any more stinkin' condo towers.  Quit pricing us out of places to live.