Why Portlanders love their streetcar

This great video, featured on Cincinnati websites this week, captures the essence of what the streetcar line does for Portland, Oregon, without getting immersed in numbers.

As New Urban Network reported earlier this week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has threatened to yank promised state funding from Cincinnati's long-planned streetcar line, saying at one point: "We're not living in Portland. And by the way, I don't want to live in Portland."

Urban Cincy, where I saw the video, quotes from the dialog:

“It [streetcar] definitely spikes business in the neighborhoods it goes through,” said restaurant owner Aaron Sweet. “Our restaurant is based right on the streetcar line and right on one of the streetcar’s stops. So we have a huge amount of business that comes in to our restaurant because of that streetcar stop. Without that stop this restaurant wouldn’t be half as successful.”

Here are some other quotes, interspersed in the video with good streetcar footage:

"It's a no-brainer when it comes to quality of living."

"It's just another means of getting around when perhaps the train doesn't go there or the bus isn't convenient."

"It's reliable."

"As a visitor, you can get around really easily and you get a chance to meet people. We got some great restaurant recommendations. We had a chance to bring our dog with us, which is a real bonus. Love it."

"If I'm working, I ride it once or twice a day. It's very quiet. I live right by the tracks and I don't hear it."

"People take it to go to 23rd Street, which is a tourist area. They take it to go to school."