Portland keen to teach green
The city's environmental record is something the bay area could emulate.
By CHRISTINA REXRODE, Times Staff Writer
Published October 23, 2007
Thanks to their tight leash on suburban sprawl and their plethora of public transit, workers in Portland, Ore., spend a little less time on the road than most other Americans.
Economist Joe Cortright figures that the shorter commutes of his fellow Portlanders translate to a couple of billion dollars saved each year in vehicle costs, gas and productivity. Today, he'll speak in Tampa about how workers here can whittle down their own daily drives, and why that's good for the economy.
Cortright is not the first to expound on how green living can be good for the wallet. But applying Portland principles to the Tampa Bay area could be an uphill battle. Portland, after all, is often called the nation's greenest city. St. Petersburg doesn't even offer curbside recycling.
Cortright, 53, is undeterred.
"You don't have to get to where Portland is," he said in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times.
Good thing - Portland has some serious advantages in the green game. Here's a closer look:
1. Established public transportation: Since the '70s, Portland has invested heavily in light rail, streetcars, buses and bike lanes.
"It's not easy or inexpensive," Cortright said, but leaders have come to believe that it's worthwhile.
In Tampa Bay, the regional transportation authority has a budget of zero dollars, plans for light rail have been repeatedly shunted, and many leaders seem to prefer new toll roads over any kind of public transit.
2. A different mind-set: About 6.4 percent of Portlanders use public transit, compared with 1.4 percent here, said Phil Winters of the University of South Florida's Center for Urban Transportation Research.
Younger residents are generally more likely to adapt to public transit, but Cortright theorizes that Tampa Bay's older population could actually be a boon in this arena: Older drivers will adapt to public transit out of necessity when their doctors tell them to stop driving.
"There's a significant portion of (Tampa Bay's) population that shouldn't be driving," he said, "or at least, it's better for us that they not be on the road."
3. Smart growth: Portland is known as a walkable city with lots of mixed-use developments. That's largely because, since the 1970s, Oregon has divided its land into urban areas, where high-density development is encouraged, and rural areas, where development is severely restricted.
The Tampa Bay area, on the other hand, is the epitome of suburban sprawl.
If you want to pick up a gallon of milk, you've probably got to get in your car. That's because this area has been built up only in the past few decades, Cortright said, "when all people did was think about driving around in cars."
He thinks it's not too late to make Tampa Bay more walkable, if retailers get on board.
The bay, by the way, is not an excuse for the area's above-average commute length, Cortright said. Most cities have some kind of geographic obstacle: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Louisville sit on rivers; Seattle bumps up against Puget Sound.
Sara Hendricks of USF's transportation center is also optimistic that Tampa Bay residents can curb their driving.
As proof, she cited plans for light rail unveiled last month by Hillsborough's Metropolitan Planning Organization, and efforts by North Tampa's New North Transportation Alliance to court a car-sharing company called Zipcar.
Cortright says his vision is achievable, especially as fuel costs rise.
"People tend to put this in stark and unrealistic terms, like, 'Oh, you're going to make me live without a car,'" he said.
"Well, 90 percent of the households in Portland own a car. It's just that their trips are shorter, and they have options to not take the car."
Living on the road
Tampa Bay workers drive an average of 28 miles to and from work each day - about 4 miles more than the average American worker. How other cities stack up:
Houston: 39 miles per day
Atlanta: 31
Miami: 24.9
Cincinnati: 24.8
Los Angeles: 23
Washington: 23
Cleveland: 21.9
Portland, Ore.: 20.3
New York: 16.9
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
.FAST FACTS
Studies aren't big on Tampa Bay
Economist Joe Cortright is no stranger to the Tampa Bay area. His consulting firm, Impresa Inc., has conducted two studies on the region. "Tampa Bay: Things Look Different Here" was released a year ago this month. Its major conclusions: We're older, less entrepreneurial and less involved in the community than residents of the country's other major urban areas. Oh, and we've got a flood of retiring baby boomers about to move here.
In 2004, Cortright released "The Young and the Restless: How Tampa Bay Competes for Talent." It was not encouraging, either: It found that the area is doing a lousy job of attracting skilled 25- to 34-year-olds.