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This link takes you to Portland Bureau of Transportation’s website where you will find some facts and some not-so-clear “information”. 

After being directed by City Council in 2007 by resolution, (“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the couplet will not be built without a streetcar and that the streetcar couplet will be integrated into the Central City Plan.”) a new reduced scope plan is being driven by Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) to create a couplet that is, for all practical purposes, without a streetcar and without other amenities that were part of the earlier plan.  This reduced scope plan has two phases with Phase II (the streetcar)  to occur, according to PBOT’s Bill Hoffman, “8-10 years after Phase I’s completion, depending upon when the city can get federal funding”.  Part of the proposed funding for Phase I is a 15-year parking bond; the parking spaces must be in place at least 15 years, which could prohibit removing them for the Phase II streetcar construction.

PBOT claims City Council voted unanimously for this reduced plan.  (City council voted for a couplet with a streetcar, not a couplet that might get a streetcar). We cannot find anything on PBOT’s site or anywhere else proving this reduced scope plan was approved by City Council.

A split Phase I/ Phase II plan that puts the streetcar 8-15 years away is contrary to City Council’s intention. It appears that many proponents of the old couplet plan believe that this couplet’s construction would be synonymous with a streetcar.

For more about the city’s couplet plan, see Reasons for Opposing the Couplet Plan.