Update: Portland Business Alliance STILL Whining about "Better Naito"—and It's Backfiring

Note to Portland Business Alliance: NOBODY LIKES A WHINER. Especially when the whining involves a city project that objectively IMPROVES THE CITY.

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The "Better Naito" project opens up one lane (out of four) along the Waterfront for the sole use of cyclists and pedestrians during this busy summer season. As someone who occasionally drives down Naito during morning rush hour, I can attest the Better Naito project adds very little time to my commute (especially compared to the current morning shit-show on Grand and MLK). But tell that to the nagging aunties of the PBA who will simply not shut up about it. Here's their latest whine-fest, from the PBA site:

The “Better Naito” project converts an entire vehicle lane through downtown to a bicycle lane. The result is not surprising: increased traffic congestion and delays. In a city already cluttered with construction projects that impede travel, this lane closure makes no sense.

Is the PBA complaining about the lane blockage on Grand Avenue near the atrocities rising at the foot Burnside Bridge? NOPE. Are they complaining about the multiple screw-ups that resulted in the Morrison Bridge being mostly taken out of commission for the summer? NOPE. Are they actually encouraging people to take other modes of transportation to get downtown other than traffic-glutting cars? NOPE, NOPE, NOPE. Just like our Dirk Vanderhart reported a month ago, the PBA's unreasonable obsession with the "Better Naito" project is based on flawed data—yet instead of coming to their senses, they've decided to double down.

Have you been stuck in downtown gridlock lately? Take action now: https://t.co/oGuXnzoYji pic.twitter.com/zA9CDxx8wD

— PDXBusinessAlliance (@PDX_BizAlliance) June 22, 2017

Now they're asking for you to fill out their online form to "tell city council to reconsider 'Better Naito,' and take a more balanced approach to Portland’s transportation system that considers the needs of all travelers and the economy." They even filled in your response for you, because apparently they already know how you feel about the subject.

If you're a supporter of "Better Naito," by all means, use their form (and change the language, of course) to show city council your support, and remind them to ignore the selfish greed of the PBA. (I did! It was fun.)

One thing the PBA perhaps didn't count on was the backlash they would receive from banging their continual "anti-Better Naito" drum.

.@thestreettrust - Bike advocates, you can hack the PBA's anti-bike lane feedback tool to show your support for it. https://t.co/R4NrqDHcvO

— Jeremy O. Simer (@jeremy_orhan) June 22, 2017

Thanks for the handy way to give feedback to council! Just a few wording tweaks, aaaaand done. pic.twitter.com/0pA2BpSpyP

— howrad (@howrad) June 22, 2017

Thank you for giving us patrons this opportunity to acknowledge how much we appreciate modern non-car-centric downtown infrastructure! pic.twitter.com/RbYi8pDeL5

— Pudge Muffin (@DonovanCaylor) June 22, 2017

And there are many, many more responses here. (Psst! In case you're wondering, here's my submission.)



Create your own here! Plenty of people already have, as Transportation Commissioner Dan Saltzman noted on Twitter.

BTW, that email alert has generated 10-1 emails in support of @PBOTinfo #BetterNaito https://t.co/yWt7x2tx99

— Dan Saltzman (@dansaltzman) June 22, 2017