oh cool, thanks for the tip on the starbucks thing...I love stuff like that. I was registering to vote in city hall a few months back and they too have a gigantic aerial of portland on the second floor.
On the parking issue: it really is not that bad on the street level experience...walking around the heart of downtown leaves one feeling as if they are in a much larger city. who cares if there are parking lots in bayside or on the fringes of the old port, really? Especially when this fact is balanced by the fact that the west end, small as it may be, is more densely settled than any neighborhood in providence, RI. We have our strengths, and our weaknesses, but I would say our strengths propel us to a better status than nearly any city in america in terms of livability. Its almost scary how good it is to live here. And with all the anticipated growth, it will only get better. we have a pretty good starting point, I'd say.
Also, some of those parking lots are not big enough to build anything on...like the ones on the streets jutting north off of congress street, let alone big enough to build a parking garage along with them, which would be needed for any new human traffic. We have three large parking lots that need to be developed, and they are earmarked for exactly that: large scale development, we just need to see things through to assure it happens.
Portland is by far one of the nicest cities in the northeast, parking lots or not.
