There will be an answer, let it be

An alert reader pointed me to this story, explaining how Portland's "urban renewal" crew, once overlords of city policy, now find themselves out of vogue and running out of things to do. So they're proposing that East 122nd Avenue be turned into one of their real estate "tax increment" developer welfare zones. It will turn out like the Pearl District! Sure it will.

I remember back in the mid-2000's, when the city's "urban planning" types proposed turning that busy car-packed commercial strip into something more pedestrian-friendly and "vibrant." This was early in Admiral Randy's reign on the City Council. His was the contrary view that it's all right for Portland to have a few streets like 122nd, with car dealerships and strip malls. And they ought to leave the street alone. On this, he was right, and he was more or less in charge.

Nowadays, of course, 122nd is a darn dangerous place to be, at the mercy of gun violence on both sides of the street, especially around the MAX train. There are so many problems that need to be addressed before they slap another Attempted Pearl up there, on the City Hall credit card. As my reader put it, how about first "renewing" the desperate Third World tent city that used to be Downtown?