American Dream

Planner Richard Carson told a North Carolina audience yesterday that Portland has changed from "the Mecca of urban planning" to "Little Beirut." Carson used to work for Metro, Portland's regional planning agency, but now is the planner for Clark County, Washington, which is just across the Columbia River from Portland.

From that position, Carson has seen thousands of people migrate from Portland to Vancouver, Washington (Clark County's main city) seeking affordable housing and relief from Portland's planners. Portland's quality of life and government infrastructure is deteriorating, says Carson. "Oregon’s great social experiment failed to measure up to political reality."

You can read more writings by Carson, who calls himself a "contrarian planner," on his web site. His North Carolina presentation was probably pretty similar to this article.