Fareless Square Suggestion
January 17, 2008
Tri-Met is trying to figure out how to make fareless square work better. On one hand, some people would like to abolish the whole thing. On the other, Tri-Met seems to feel that Fareless Square encourages drug merchants to hang out downtown; all they have to do to relocate is hop a bus.
Fareless Square was a lifesaver for me, when I was a teen. I remember walking home from Washington Park in the middle of the night ( never you mind what I was doing, as a teen, in Washington Park in the night ). When it was raining out, I could get a few blocks’ respite by hopping a bus. It was a lit place I could sit down and not worry about the other predators I was sure were out to get me downtown.
“Before you do away with something that has given our city a great reputation . . . and, in fact, is uniquely Portland-esque, start with the problem — not an arbitrary, idealized, absurd notion that somehow if you just make everyone pay, the system will change,” Uris said.
I’m anti-closing the Fareless Square. And the Portland Mercury seems to agree with me. In my humble opinion, fareless square, even during the nighttime hours which don’t necessarily support shopping and touristing, still have benefits that Tri-Met isn’t considering.
- Posted in : neighborhoods
- Author :russ
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