Tales of two streets

There are a couple of new articles up this week about changes that Portland City Hall is making to Hawthorne Boulevard and Division Street. The Hawthorne story, behind the firewall of pity in the O, is here; the Division story, just sitting out there exposed in the Merc, is here.

The Hawthorne changes aren't bike-y enough for the spoiled bike children, and they do their share of whining about it. As if we don't have tons more of their nonsense than we need. Look around. Ninety percent or more of Portlanders want to, and do, use a motor to get where they're going. The people who need protection on Hawthorne are the pedestrians. Let's hope the City Hall pinheads did something smart for them.

As for Division, I'm sure the bureaucrats are doing their level best to make life miserable for (a) people in cars, and (b) people who own single-family homes nearby. But interestingly, Tri-Met says it is planning to use new articulated buses and increase service along Division. What? No streetcar that will shut down if it gets below 30 degrees or above 90? That's a new one. Somebody's nephew must have gotten into the bus business.

But have no fear, folks, the buses will be so long that the drivers probably won't be able to maneuver them off Division if there's a traffic tie-up. So they'll be as useless as a streetcar if the road is blocked.