Some of you may have already read this, but I've a bit of an announcement to make. Chris and Bob over at portlandtransport.com, a blog I've participated in quite a bit over the years, have invited me to become a contributor there--and to become a director of the nonprofit which operates portlandtransport.com. My inaugural post there is here; it pretty much makes the same announcement--and then briefly discusses the Oregonian's opposition to measure 26-119, a tax levy which would provide TriMet with $125 million to improve operations.
So what does this mean for DHT? To tell you the truth, I'm not sure yet. When this blog started, it wasn't intended as a transit blog, but that's what it turned into. I'll probably continue to write about transit topics here, especially when it gets overly speculative, political, or disconnected from the Portland, OR context. As portlandtransport.com is a 501(c) nonprofit corporation, a few sorts of political commentary are out of bounds there--particularly where endorsement of candidates is concerned. OTOH, I may resume more blogging on general political topics--some of which, such as the current state of the US economy and the direction of the political winds, cast a long shadow over technical issues such as transit. (I can imagine a future in which the US invests greatly in transit in response to rising petroleum prices and temperatures; I can also imagine a future in which an austerity consensus takes hold, and little investment is done on anything. And I can imagine a few other scenarios even less pleasant than that).
Most of the regular readers here are also readers of PT; but if you aren't, come on over! There's a much livelier peanut gallery over there than here, but it's still a place where the comments are frequently as interesting as the content. One longstanding disadvantage of the blog format is that as blogs get popular, the comments section tends to decline in quality; some of the best political blogs either employ a small army of moderators (538 at the NYT), have useless comment sections (i.e Yglesias or 538 prior to the NYT move) or have disabled them altogether (i.e. Sullivan).
At any rate, portlandtransport is a great place to talk transit, and it's an extremely well-run site. I just hope that I can uphold the high standards that it has exhibited over the years.
Wish me luck!
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Personally, I prefer the blogs with limited comments.
ReplyDeleteI read blogs to hear the author's point of view, maybe engage with a few intelligent people about the topic.
I liked your point of view and giving yourself over to Portland Transport will probably mean less of that.
My POV is unlikely change--at least for this reason. Other than the general requirement to stay on topic, not be a potty-mouth, and avoid politicking which is contrary to PT's nonprofit status, the move won't alter my opinion on the issues. (My opinions do evolve over time, when confronted with new information, but that's regardless of where I write).
ReplyDeleteI can assure you that I have NOT been asked to muzzle any opinions I may have. I can think of a few places where Chris and I disagree--I tend to be a bit skeptical about the Streetcar; he's a Portland Streetcar director and one of the system's more prominent advocates--but that's OK. I'm also not terribly interested in the "lifestyle" aspects of contemporary urbanism. That said, I respect Chris and Bob's opinions on the issues, even if I disagree; and they respect mine--and we all share the same overall goals.
Besides, Al... This blog was never as dangerous as yours. :)
Hey, send me an email, willya, Scotty? I'm michael@portlandafoot.org.
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