Posted: 7/12/2007 4:31:00 AM EDT
Man, I've been in a class at my distribution center this week, and commuting from Philomath to Portland........burnt to say the least. I'm so glad I only live 4 blocks from my store, cause if I had to do this drive everyday, I'm sure I'd be playing bumper cars with someone.....and I thought Texas had bad road rage
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Tell me about it. This summer I'm taking a class at PSU and I commute from east of Sandy to Downtown PDX. I drive to Gresham for about 30min then ride MAX for over an hour, then walk 9 blocks. At first I thought that the MAX wouldn't be so bad but I was wrong, I now have now hope left for anyone that lives in Portland, it's turned into a major shit hole. 
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I use a commuter van from Salem to Portland. It's not bad. Takes about 35-45 tops to downtown. Coming back is a trick. If we leave Ptown at 445...we hit traffic. If we leave at 5 we don't hit traffic. it just varies but anything can screw it up. If I know traffic is gonna suck...I just hang around for happy hour at Kells and a movie at Lyoyds or Pioneer and wait for it die down. Fuck all that shit waiting and honking and other crap. I avoid jams and shit like the plague. I would rather be anywhere than deal with it. |
| I used to commute from hillsboro to NW industrial. It wasnt too bad as I had a 2 mile ride to the max, then get off at the zoo and ride the bike down to work. Probably the best commute I have ever had. Its really nice in the rose gardens at 6 am. But man when I used to have to go all the way to NE 80th and columbia, that sucked ass. Commuting sucks though, and portland is definitely not my favorite place to be. |
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I miss Tom McCall and that whole opinion that people should just visit us. I live on a 5 acre cherry farm in South Salem and even here with farmland left and right we have McMansions being built left and right of me. Sucks ass..this whole development crap and the people coming in are a bunch of liberal fuck tards  Man...I'm just a gun nut who used to live in the hills but now the city is coming to me. Seriously thinking of Montana or somewhere else if I can sell off my properties and rental properties and give an adios to all this mess. I have only 1 good neighbor who digs hunting and shooting but everyone else is a dedicated Dean and Hillary fan from the ass on up. On to commuting.....there has to be something better than this....but I choose to live in Salem and I choose to commute to Portland. The commuter van works good for me and someone else is driving and footing the gas. In the end, I save a ton of money and also wear and tear on my car. I hope others can do the same thing and use a commuter van or share a ride, or take the fucken bus or something but these gonzo SUV"s being driven by all these people bug the hell out of me. I mean I drive an SUV 1987 toyota 4runner but that thing is a 4 banger with 23 mpg range and its small and clean not these giant beomanths people drive right now. I just see this thing all the fucken time on the I-5 corridor, an SUV with 1 person. Not sounding like some liberal or anything but its not making any sense anymore. Share the road, share the ride or this thing is going to get worse. Building another fucken lane on the road ain't gonna help. I watched Virginia and maryland do that going from 4 to 8 to 12 lanes going into the junction into DC and it still bumper to bumper traffic. DOESN't WORK amigos. Need something else. The MAX, BUS, commuter vans or share a ride...fuckers...its getting crowded and I am one angry gun nut who lives in the hills  |
No offense but you sound EXACTLY like a liberal... wanting to tell others how to live. Why is it ok for you to want to live out in the hills but not others? Is it just because they don't carpool? How does the size of their SUV make them ANY different than you? The good work is in the city. If more people lived in the city things would be slightly better. Urban sprawl does cause some traffic congestion but I'll take it. I don't really feel like moving out to the country and getting a tractor and some cattle just yet. |
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So how would a conservative deal with it?? ohhh sure neighbor...move right in...ohhh stop my shooting and hunting??? oh really...?? stop my farming too ??...oh you want my land also ??? sure go right ahead Is that how a conservative deals with it?? Fuck that shit...then stop calling me that either.... People who buy SUV's are not using it for what's intended for. and then people whine about the gas prices....the other day at the costco some lady with a ford excursion is crying nearly when it takes about 120 bucks to fill up her SUV that gives what...8-10 miles. Some guy in a hummer was the same way......because I watched him at the local ARCO and then he sees the prices and then he heads to COSTCO to fill it up with the cheapest gas there is nevermind that they recommend SUPER instead of regular. I see contractors and construction workers and farmers with SUV's , fine thats the intended purpose. Not for commuting on the freeway at 90 mph which I see very often with a single lady in there fat as hell drinking her starbucks and talking on the phone all at the same time. Yeah I am a member and contributing tax payer.....while we live as a community some are not thinking of the consideration of others. I've lived in my place for over 25 years. My parents had this place before it and I got it from them. That's not being considerate. That's not being considerate when a city just comes and takes over everything without any consideration for the rural population. The same with the state nearly passing bill requiring those next to planning zones of cities to cap their wells and start using some kind of water system or authority. That nearly passed...ALMOST...if not for a bunch of demos and reps thinking..thats a stupid bill. The City of Salem and its counselors and elected officials are all related to developers or were developers from the Mayor's husband all the way down. Look at the traffic going to West Salem...bumper to bumper because everyone lives on Doaks Ferry in West salem. its bumper to bumper for miles and everyone is complaining about the need to build a new bridge. they built a new high school and now its overcrowded 2 years later...Salem Keizer lamenting that it could use another high school....da fuck??? Same with the Marion County commissioners, some of them are transplanted out of staters and its not a conspiracy, its really happening that way. No one is being considerate anymore. No one is being neighborly anymore. It's me me me. My brother lives in Valencia, CA just outside of the grapevine going into Los Angeles. Bought his house in 1996, I remember going there and seeing that there was nothing but desert and lakes with some coyotes back there to add to the scenery. Today, its nothing but houses for 3 miles. They built a high school and middle school 2 blocks from him and 3 elementary school and yet those are now overcrowded and they need to build 3 more. His taxes went up 40 percent over the last 10 years....and for what?? Is that quality living? BTW.. to add further salt to the wound, they closed the local rifle range near his area because the planning commission says its dangerous( LYING FUCKS). Today they are building luxury condos in the area. I'm not bashing anyone and everything except the whole system.......and it comes down to really really really stupid piss poor planning by really stupid people with their own agenda instead of the community at hand. Portland the city itself is trying, I admire that for trying with the MAX, and buses and other stuff. They are piss poor with the housing plans but they are trying their earnest with the traffic plans. I don't like them at all..being every one of them is a closed card carrying member of the marxist party. But letting people do their own thing..fine....just don't try and usurp my lifestyle which has been fine for a long time before you moved here. thats all. |
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Produbi - I don't think Portland does a good job with traffic. They not only do not maintain the current road net they don't build new ones. The push for a new bridge to Vancouver is not for traffic its for the light rail. How many times has that thing been voted down? Its spending transportation dollars on shit like the Tram, trolleys, bike paths, light rail and the neverending construction at the airport. Not roads where the vast majority of transport takes place. Now the City commissioners are bitching about road congestion. I mean how could the result of their inept policies be anything else? |
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Well I'm just saying they are trying....TRYING is a big word but they are trying. And they are trying to get people to stop using their cars. Personally if I could bike to work or commute or not use my car...fine...so be it...can be more healthy too. but road congestion yes...they are feeling the wrath but not from people that actually LIVE in Portland but those are that using it. The bigger question is...who's gonna pay for it? |
| People who drive pay their way through gas taxes, licensing and regulation. Bicyclists, on the other hand, pay nothing but do take up the roads that motorists paid for and paid nothing. I don't care about bicycles other than the fact they leach off the rest of us. Why can't they pay their own way? Why have the buses and light rail never turned a profit? |
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good question.... for that I don't have an answer. But like it or not.. Bikers are here to stay..... I don't like them using the road anymore than anyone else. I am scared of others. I used to run on the country road. Doing my PT's but I stopped that with the liberal fucktards and their SUV's driving 70 MPH on the country road.... Kinda saw the light of day when a Tahoe was on the wrong side of the road and it came screeching to a stop in front of me...I had to dodge it into the ditch before the fucktard WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR SLAMMED RIGHT INTO THE TREE. With her Kerry/Edwards and FAGGOT rainbow shit in the back of the SUV she gets out....and starts calling...never bothering about my fate..... I was so pissed......I really contemplated hitting her....and then she sees me..... ARE YOU OKAY...... DO YOU THINK I AM OKAY BITCH????? You are on the wrong side of the road and you nearly tried to kill me. I filed a po po report with Marion County but that didn't go anywhere...she was sited for excessive speed and from that day on.. .I just take my truck to the park and run there....fuck the country roads.... At least the damn rednecks in my neck of the woods see me and move out of the way and are considerate but not these fucktards in their mcmansions.... same for bikers.....I would be more worried about other cars than bikers... way too many biker car accidents with the same for pedestrians...people just need to slow down dude... seriously slow down.. |
Ummmm.....wow.....I leave for a day with a minor rant about commuting, and come back to this Driving back wasn't too bad the last few days, cause I hit the back roads to Forest Grove to 99. A little longer, but at least I get to KEEP MOVING! Today was the last day, so I'm glad about that, but now I'm stuck working every day until the 23rd.......boss is on vacation all next week (and he had the bright idea this year to open at 6am!). This is where I'm glad I'm on (EDIT) hourly not salary cause I'll have TONS of OT this month. |
I don't even know where Philomath is so back to the hijack.  I own two 4 wheel drives and no other commuter car. I don't take the bus. I don't take the train. I don't ride a bicycle. So I will say to anyone that thinks I should drive some vehicle they choose for my uses the same thing I say to the libtard hippie at work who thinks we should all watch Al Gore's video and ride a bicycle to work to help the world... .
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I love the bicyclists: one less person in my lane, making a last minute left, or in front of me at the pump. If they get drunk and run a red it's their ass! |
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The sky high fuel prices are your dollars being given as tribute to ROP regimes so they can kill more U.S. soldiers and continue their slaughtering of non-ROP people all over the world. When I see massive SUVs going to the mall or multi-ton trucks going to white collar job parkinglots, I see an ROP supporter with U.S. soldiers blood on their hands. 
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If you think about it, how much maintenance is needed because of bicyclist? if you were to tax them it would be pennies a year. I am a cyclist (although I do most my riding in the woods), and when I worked in portland, 3-5days aweek I would ride my bike and use the max. And yes I do pay with My gas taxes, My licensing (own 3 cars) and what not. I just simply choose to ride my bike so I can keep in shape and not have to blaze through $100 in gas every 2 weeks. Your argument is lame. Yes there are idiots on 2 wheels and I will be the first to say that I dont cut any cyclists that are being morons any slack, but everytime I drive somewhere (and ride) I see a helluva lot more idiots on 4wheels. |
So is it better to buy a Prius or other Japanese vehicle and send your money to them via Japan? The U.S. uses a small percentage of Arabian oil. Japan and China get nearly 100% of their oil from Arab countries. |
| Maintenance is only part of it. It costs something to build bike paths; it costs motorists a hell of an inconvenience to lose a traffic lane to bicyclists and it costs nothing to the bicyclists. They do not contribute to the building or maintenance of the road, They just leach off the motorists in the name of social engineering. |
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More DEDICATED bike lanes is fine with me. ten times better than adding another traffic lane which all is does is bring more traffic. Ask me how I know. It's been done before. Now the frigging morons in the various counties in Maryland and Viriginia are proposing a MEGA 16 lane freeway!!! It's as if the 12 lane is not enough.....  It's not working dudes.....Keep adding lanes and the traffic just gets worst. Kinda like driving here in Oregon....when the weather gets worst...somehow I seem to notice that traffic is better but when the sun comes out... boom more traffic. |
dude, i would say that 90% of the cyclist on the road own and regularly drive a car. So they ARE paying for the roads they ride on. The only place where you are going to see a higher percent of non-car owning cyclist is going to be in portland, and I be there the % will only drop 10points anyway. It may be an inconvenience, but it sure as hell isnt a major one. Think about it, when was the last time a biker delayed you more than 1min? I know I have followed some cyclist on some narrower roads and I could not get around them for a bit. I think it only cost me something like 2mins off my total commute time. Which can easily be made up. Hell, redlights and slow drivers are gonna screw you over more than a cyclist. Time for you to get your head out of your ass and realize your argument doesnt hold water and that most of these folks pay the same taxes as you and every other car owning oregonian. |
| I guess the complexity of this discussion has left you incapable of rational thought. If bicyclists own cars and drive them the vehicle related taxes they pay support the impact of the car on the roads not the fucking bicycle. Any inconvenience they cause is to much. If the taxes collected for gasoline went solely to the support, construction and maintenance of roads there would be sufficient roads to handle traffic. Here's another difficult concept: ODOT does not build the roads they were created to build and then complains of congestion on the existing roads. How does that make automobiles the bad guy? If you want to ride a bike, fine. Just stay off the roads and sidewalks. |