Welcome to the Comment of the Week, where we highlight good comments in order to inspire more of them. You can help us choose our next one by replying with \u201ccomment of the week\u201d to any comment you think deserves recognition.<\/em> Please note: These selections are not endorsements.<\/em><\/p>\n Given that it delved into policy, last week\u2019s story about the struggle to get a sidewalk built on SW Gibbs Street (Traffic impact studies: shouldn\u2019t pedestrians and cyclists count?<\/em><\/a>), got a surprising number of comments. Many readers weighed in with relevant insights.<\/p>\n But only one commenter went \u201cmeta.\u201d qqq read the story, in part, as a response to long-running debates in the BikePortland comments section. What a good reader! And who\u2019s to say what the author was thinking.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what qqq wrote:<\/p>\n Besides the great reporting uncovering the craziness of this particular situation, I love this for touching on so many things that have come up in other articles:<\/p>\n \u2013the disjointedness of City government \u2014 while some of PBOT is busy on biking and walking projects, another arm is reviewing projects under the premise that biking and walking are irrelevant to transportation<\/p>\n \u2013there\u2019ve been lots of \u201cneighborhood associations are all NIMBYs\u201d comments, but here\u2019s one that brought up an issue with PBOT reviews whose correction will help the whole city<\/p>\n \u2013one roadblock to testifying or commenting about issues is the \u201cleave it to experts\u201d stance, but here\u2019s an example of a neighbor having obvious technical knowledge that allows them to identify a problem with PBOT reviews that all of PBOT has apparently been unaware of or unable or unwilling to fix<\/p>\n \u2013the way City processes are set up so it\u2019s easy for bad things (PBOT\u2019s approval of no sidewalks) to slip through unless it \u2014 almost by chance \u2014 gets noticed by a neighbor or someone outside the review process who knows how to object<\/p>\n This line from the article really sums it up well:<\/p>\n \u201cIt is difficult to understand why the fate of transportation infrastructure near this economic engine depends on conversations between a PBOT middle-manager and a neighborhood volunteer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Thank you qqq! You can find qqq\u2019s comment<\/a>, and many other informative comments too, under the original post<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lisa Caballero has lived in SW Portland for over 20 years. She is on the Transportation Committee of her neighborhood association, the Southwest Hills Residential League (SWHRL) and can be reached at lisacaballero853@gmail.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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