Why do they keep insisting on calling it "Smart Growth"?

The City of Portland (CoPo) has roughly a forty-six-year history to draw upon; a history which shows that during this time, population growth has been drawn to the suburbs while the core has consistently shown declines - much as we see in virtually every major city in America.  Rather than learn from this long history, so-called "planners" at Metro and CoPo continue their failed policy of high-density, transit-oriented core redevelopment - dangling tax abatements, waivers, and of course, hundreds of millions of dollars in bond debt in an effort to lure developers to build their dream.

The effort has proved fruitless at every turn, yet Metro and CoPo are hardly adept at single-trial learning,  Quite the contrary, in fact - they keep doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different outcome each time.  This is generally regarded as a working definition of the term, "insanity".

Rather than providing infrastructure, they build toys.  If they build enough toys, people will move back into the core - or so they dream.  Well, it hasn't worked yet.  But they keep at it.

Meanwhile, the median cost for a house has risen 60% faster than median income.  Sewer costs have quintupled.  Parking in the Riverplace area, just north of SoWhat costs $10 for 2 hours.  The education system bites.  All in all, the all-important "planners" at Metro and CoPo have managed to build a system that drives people away from the city, and they're not done yet.

Metro and CoPo's land-use policies are based upon a "Smart Growth" paradigm that artificially restricts land availability, which automatically drives housing costs through the roof.  It also encourages "infill" - which means building several housing units on a piece of land suited more for one unit - while deliberately discouraging provision of infrastructure to accommodate the resultant increase in traffic.  The "plan" is to "plan" you into gridlock; thereby forcing you onto transit.  And if you refuse to live in a condo or an apartment, they'll make you wish you'd taken that option by stuffing houses so close together that you can literally reach out of your living room window and grab a beer from your neighbor's fridge.

Yet still, despite all of their "planning", population continues to decline in the City That Works (You Over).  What a surprise!