Better Burnside Alliance

Welcome! We’re glad you’re here…

NEWS UPDATE !!! Please click this link to read “Mayor Adams Abandons 2007 Couplet Plan – Alternate Plans in the Works”

Why a Better Burnside Alliance? With the appearance of the reduced scope, split phase West Burnside Couch Couplet Proposal by Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and Friends of Burnside/Couch, Inc. (a Portland lobbying entity), concerned citizens and business owners joined forces to form the Better Burnside Alliance (BBA). We believe that West Burnside should be improved without turning West Burnside and Couch into a couplet (pair of one-way streets).

One Way is the Wrong Way

Video from StreetFilms.org shows how changing a two-way street in Brooklyn, NY to a one-way will affect the street’s character and livability, as well as its residents.

Most advocates believe that two-way streets function better for pedestrians, cyclists, commerce, and livable streets. In fact all across the country, hundreds of cities are changing one-way streets back to two-way.

9. July 2011

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Evaluating the Mayor’s revised Burnside Proposals

Portland Architecture’s Blog weighs in on new sans-couplet design ideas for Burnside…

27. June 2011

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European Cities Creating Environments Openly Hostile to Cars

Excerpts from ”Europe Stifles Drivers in Favor of Alternatives” a recent article in NY Times…
“As he stood watching a few cars inch through a mass of bicycles and pedestrians, Zurich’s chief traffic planner, Andy Fellmann, smiled. “Driving is a stop-and-go experience,” he said. “That’s what we like! Our goal is to reconquer public space for pedestrians, not [...]

26. June 2011

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Mayor Adams Abandons 2007 Couplet Plan – Alternate Plans in the Works

On June 22, Mayor Sam Adams posted comments on his blog regarding new thoughts about the Burnside corridor. He stated that he “will not bring the 2007 $80 million couplet and streetcar proposal back to the Council for implementation.” So the grand scheme couplet with the streetcar is officially off the table!
However, what remains on [...]

10. August 2010

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East Side Leader Speaks About Shared Values

I would like to extend my very strong support to the Better Burnside Alliance in their efforts to stop the West Burnside-Couch Couplet.
While I’m sure there are many well intentioned individuals who think the project is a positive step forward, as a community activist in East Portland who faces multiple transportation and connectivity issues, I [...]

3. August 2010

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One-Ways Bad for Business Says Traffic Engineer

I’m sorry to hear that Portland is seriously considering this change. Portland continually exports papers and messages to the rest of the continent about how forward thinking they are about transportation and planning. To read about their proposal sends the opposite message. Having lead several one-way to two-way conversions myself, I am surprised that the [...]

1. August 2010

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Couplets Kill Spirit of Community

NW Couch Street would cease to be the ideal street party venue it currently is should the West Burnside Couch Couplet Proposal be allowed to proceed as planned by Portland Bureau of Transportation. Changing Burnside and Couch into one-way streets, with NW Couch becoming the major thoroughfare that Burnside currently is, would destroy the sense of [...]

9. July 2010

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PDNA Lends Ear to Couplet Controversy

A chance for your voice to be heard… today the Pearl District Neighborhood Association (PDNA) reprinted a story on their blog by the Portland Mercury entitled The Burnside Couch Couplet Controversy. This is significant because the PDNA endorsed the Burnside Couch Couplet a few years back when it was close to a $120 million dollar “Disneyland” version which included a [...]

26. June 2010

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Listen to Urban Expert Comment on Couplet Concept

Roberta Gratz, award-winning journalist and urban critic, lecturer and author of three books is asked her opinion about the City of Portland’s plans to change Burnside and NW Couch from two-way to one-way streets (aka “a couplet”). This two minute audio link was recorded Wednesday night at the Lab of Museum of Contemporary Craft at an event sponsored by the [...]

24. June 2010

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Asking the Right Question About Burnside/Couch

Check out the conversation today on the Portland Transport blog regarding the Burnside Couch Couplet Proposal. The posting gives a bit of history around the project and the Better Burnside Alliance gets some airtime… “The opposition also now has a web site up and appears to have used the 3-year hiatus to get organized. Round [...]

Older Entries »

Welcome! We’re glad you’re here…

One Way is the Wrong Way

Evaluating the Mayor’s revised Burnside Proposals

European Cities Creating Environments Openly Hostile to Cars

Mayor Adams Abandons 2007 Couplet Plan – Alternate Plans in the Works

East Side Leader Speaks About Shared Values

One-Ways Bad for Business Says Traffic Engineer

Couplets Kill Spirit of Community

PDNA Lends Ear to Couplet Controversy

Listen to Urban Expert Comment on Couplet Concept

Asking the Right Question About Burnside/Couch

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Car Concerns

“The conventional wisdom about traffic just isn’t right. We tend to think that Seattle commuters are tied to their cars and can’t … use alternative modes of transportation… As it turns out, commuters are much more adaptable, flexible and wilier than we give them credit for.”