What City Observatory Did This Week
Repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results. The I-5 Rose Quarter project is over budget at $2.1 billion, just lost more than $400 million in federal funding, and failed to get any additional funding from the recently adjourned Oregon Legislature. And the Governor says she’s only going to ask for money for basic maintenance functions at the state transportation department. Nonetheless, the Oregon Transportation Commission voted to continue the project, even though, as the Commission Chair noted, “With that said, everyone in this room needs to understand that beyond that, there is no money… We are not saying that we are going to move forward with a complete Rose Quarter.”
As City Observatory’s Joe Cortright testified to the Commission prior to the vote, proceeding with the project without funding in hand is a recipe for worsening the department’s already perilous financial state.