Tram Safety Plan Poorly Received

No sooner did the Sunday Oregonian do a story on tram safety than a bunch of Portland-haters made fun of the plan. They claim that exiting a tram car on a rope from 175 feet up sounds a little crazy, especially if it's at night in bad weather. They bellyache that a project this expensive should have a better method of dealing with one of the cars getting stuck. After all it did happen on the Roosevelt Island Tram, didn't it? I say this is a knee-jerk reaction and these whiners haven't given our plan much of a chance. How would it really look?

Okay, let's imagine you're going out to dinner from one of those nifty million-dollar condos in the South Waterfront district, but you want to make a quick trip up to OHSU to check on one of your patients. On the way there, the tram gets stuck. Something goes mechanically wrong with the actual car so all the backup motors don't matter. Relax! The operator just throws the rope out the door and you're on your way. Okay, you might be a few minutes late for your dinner reservation, but you'll sure have a fun story to tell when you get there.