The Oregonian feature editorial for Jan. 5, 2010

The election for council president in 2010 could be the most thoughtful and provocative in the history of the regional government

This year, the Metro regional government will make a momentous decision, perhaps the most important in its history. But the principle behind it is surprisingly simple: Minimize waste.

Oregonians detest waste. Increasingly, they understand that land can be wasted as surely as money can be wasted - and, in fact, that wasting land is a form of wasting money.

This year, along with Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties, Metro will distinguish land that it would be smarter to develop eventually, called urban reserves, from land that it would be smarter to set aside for generations, called rural reserves.

The Metro Council on Dec. 17 voted to approve the Regional Transportation Plan and to submit a draft intergovernmental agreement on urban and rural reserves for public comment in January 2010. Together, the Regional Transportation Plan and the reserves process represent unprecedented regional efforts to integrate land use and transportation decisions and weigh the impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, regional equity and the kinds of communities we live in.