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No. 596

July 9, 2007

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Debunking Portland

The City That Doesn't Work

by Randal O'Toole

Executive Summary

move to Vancouver, Washington, and other cities

Though many people consider Portland,

outside the region's authority. Far from reducing

Oregon, a model of 21st-century urban planning,

driving, rail transit has actually reduced the share

the region's integrated land-use and transporta-

of travel using transit from what it was in 1980.

tion plans have greatly reduced the area's livabili-

And developers have found that so-called transit-

ty. To halt urban sprawl and reduce people's

oriented developments only work when they

dependence on the automobile, Portland's plans

include plenty of parking.

use an urban-growth boundary to greatly increase

Portland-area residents have expressed their

the area's population density, spend most of the

opposition to these plans by voting against light

region's transportation funds on various rail tran-

rail and density and voting for a property-rights

sit projects, and promote construction of scores of

measure that allows landowners to claim either

high-density, mixed-use developments.

compensation or waivers for land-use rules

When judged by the results rather than the

passed since they purchased their property.

intentions, the costs of Portland's planning far

Opposition turned to anger when a 2004 scandal

outweigh the benefits. Planners made housing

revealed that an insider network known as the

unaffordable to force more people to live in multi-

"light-rail mafia" had manipulated the planning

family housing or in homes on tiny lots. They

process to direct rail construction contracts and

allowed congestion to increase to near-gridlock lev-

urban-renewal subsidies to themselves.

els to force more people to ride the region's expen-

These problems are all the predictable result

sive rail transit lines. They diverted billions of dol-

of a process that gives a few people enormous

lars of taxes from schools, fire, public health, and

power over an entire urban area. Portland should

other essential services to subsidize the construc-

dismantle its planning programs, and other

tion of transit and high-density housing projects.

cities that want to maintain their livability would

Those high costs have not produced the utopia

do well to study Portland as an example of how

planners promised. Far from curbing sprawl, high

not to plan.

housing prices led tens of thousands of families to

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Randal O'Toole is a senior fellow with the Cato Institute and the author of the forthcoming book, The Best-Laid

Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future.

Now a resident of Bandon, Oregon, O'Toole is a native Oregonian who has spent most of his life in the Portland area.