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pleted for several years. Finally, the city found

rail stations for high-density development.

a new developer who finished it--on the con-

Ten years later, city planner Mike Saba sadly

dition that the design would be modified to

reported to the Portland city council, "we

include 700 parking spaces. "The key compo-

have not seen any of the kind of develop-

nent is parking," said the developer.32 Yet

ment--of a mid-rise, higher-density, mixed-

use, mixed-income type--that we would've

vacancy rates remained high after construc-

liked to have seen" along the light-rail line.

tion, partly because the development still had

parking shortages.33

City Commissioner Charles Hales noted,

"We are in the hottest real estate market in

Another development, Beaverton Creek, is

the country," yet city planning maps revealed

located next to a huge light-rail park-and-

that "most of those sites [along the light-rail

ride lot. But the parking is open only to light-

line] are still vacant."28 To correct this, Hales

rail riders. With little or no parking available

to customers of the ground-floor retail

convinced the council to offer developers 10

shops, nearly all of those shops remain

years of property tax waivers for any high-

vacant several years after it was completed.

density housing built near light-rail stations.

Parking problems also plagued Orenco,

Over the next decade, the city experienced a

the pride and joy of Portland-area planners.

boom in high-density developments, virtually

Planners allowed only limited parking in the

all of which were subsidized. Even with the

areas closest to the light-rail station, and

subsidies, planners and developers soon

more parking further away. As a result, the

learned that so-called transit-oriented develop-

areas near the station were the last to be

ments only work if they have plenty of parking.

developed, so most of the residences are not

For example, the state of Oregon owned

within walking distance of the station.34 The

land next to a light-rail station in east

Portland. In 1998, the state sold the land to

developer who built much of Orenco called it

developers at below-market prices and develop-

"our nonprofit wing," implying that his com-

ers received a total of $13 million in subsidies to

pany only built it so it could get permits to

build a $31-million, high-density project called

build more lucrative developments of single-

family homes on larger lots.35

Center Commons. The development provides

less than two-thirds of a parking space per

A survey of Orenco residents by Lewis &

dwelling unit, but residents handle that by

Clark College researcher Bruce Podobnik

freely parking on the sidewalk and in areas

found that most of them liked the develop-

clearly marked as fire lanes.29

ment but that few had changed their travel

habits. "Though some have increased their

Despite those problems, the city considers

reliance on mass transit for occasional trips

the project a success. When asked for a defini-

since moving into Orenco Station, most resi-

tion of success, an official replied, "When the

dents of the neighborhood report using

construction was completed, the project

alternative modes of transportation far less

became a success." In other words, "it's not just

than do their counterparts in Northeast

a matter of `build it and they will come,'" com-

Even when they

Portland," says Podobnik. "A key objective,

ments John Charles of the Cascade Policy

Institute; "simply building it is enough."30

that of significantly altering resident trans-

are next to

portation habits, therefore remains to be

Another development called The Round

light-rail stations,

achieved in Orenco Station."36

is located in the Portland suburb of

Beaverton. Beaverton gave $12.4 million in

One of the most embarrassing failures of

transit-oriented

subsidies to the developer, who was supposed

Portland's transit-oriented planning was

developments

to build a retail-office-housing complex sur-

Cascade Station, an office-and-retail park

rounding a light-rail station.31 Yet banks

only work when

that was supposed to be built on the 120

acres of land given to Bechtel in exchange for

were unwilling to finance a development

they have plenty

the company building the airport light-rail

with inadequate parking, so the developer

of parking.

line. Because the land was immediately adja-

went bankrupt and the project sat half-com-

7