Metro safety report highlights risk on arterial streets

The high risk on arterial streets is a key finding of a new Metro report that takes the first look at the special needs of transportation safety in urban areas, as opposed to rural areas that often are the focus of state transportation efforts.

Since Oregon’s Paint Stewardship program began in 2009, Oregonians now have close to 100 sites around the state to recycle unwanted paint products

Back in the old days after a painting project, people poured leftover paint or paint thinner down the street drain. Hard to imagine. Now we know better about the damage this causes to waterways and wildlife. And, with 99 places in Oregon to recycle paint, it’s convenient to hand off unwanted products responsibly. But the huge variety of paint and coating products can confuse even avid recyclers. Here’s a quick primer on what can be recycled, where and when.

East Portland's Glendoveer Golf Course is moving closer towards a new operations contract as Metro prepares to ask for proposals from prospective course operators.

Leaders from Metro are leaning on a mandate from state government to lend legitimacy to the Climate Smart Communities program, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles by 70 percent per capita before 2035. But they'd like to do that by making it so people don't have to do as much driving, by improving access to jobs, stores and restaurants in the suburbs where driving is prevalent.

The Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission approved Metro's most recent urban growth boundary expansion on Thursday, ending one chapter in a years-long process to add more land for development in the region.

In his opinion, Appeals Court Justice Timothy Sercombe said the extension did not violate a 2007 statewide moratorium on new construction taxes, in place until 2018. Homebuilders argued that the extension of the construction tax was in fact a new tax, because Metro changed what the money from the tax would be spent on.

Representatives from ODOT, Washington County, Hillsboro, Beaverton and Metro have been studying the highway since last year, part of a broader effort to plan for economic and residential growth in the area.

The Community Investment Initiative's Leadership Council has been meeting for more than a year as part of a Metro-funded effort to look at the region's funding future. The council is adamant that the region's economy will stall without better infrastructure, free-flowing transportation corridors and solid school buildings.

Can you believe it's almost summer? Now's your chance to catch spring before it's sprung.