March 03, 2003
A Matter of Indifference
When I went to the first lecture in the series of tram design finalist talks, I was surprised to see a standing room only crowd. Having missed the second in the series, I have no idea if it followed suit.
Today, a security guard was turning people away -- myself included -- from OMSI because there was no more room.
Now, in one respect, that's good news. People are definitely interested enough to spend part of their Monday evenings getting a look at the finalists and their views on architecture.
But, on the other hand, given the experience of the first talk in the series, perhaps it would have made sense for someone behind the scenes to have realized there was an intense demand to see these talks, and a better venue should be selected, even though it would have meant a change late in the game.
As it stands, many, many people were told they couldn't go in to see Ben van Berkel. Ironically, the Randy Gragg profile of van Berkel and his UN Studio included the following:
Van Berkel said none of UN's projects has faced the brand of opposition that the Lair Hill neighbors have mounted against the tram, but he added, "Indifference is a lot worse."
A not small number of people attempted to live up to the opposite of indifference this evening, and were told to go home.
So, in the end, it's the people behind these talks who are demonstrating the true indifference here. And when it comes to issues of design and planning here in Portland, sadly, this is pretty much par for the course.