Part 4: What If Something Goes Wrong?

This is where we are now. The tram gondola cars have arrived with much fanfare:

The opening date is later this month for OHSU and next month for the Public. Of course, a few cynical types are still wondering what happens if something goes wrong. Not to worry. Our city council has come up with an emergency system we can all be thrilled by. Rather than approaching the car with a smaller rescue vehicle, our system gets you - the citizen - involved. In the event of a tram-stopping emergency, you would descend down a rope as shown in the picture below.

At this point, a blogger - who shall remain nameless - suggested that the city council demonstrate the rescue system themselves. They approved the tram - shouldn't they show us that the emergency system works? It was picked up in the papers, and Commissioner Sam Adams volunteered for next Friday, December the 8th. Incidentally, the blogger - feeling a little guilty - has agreed to give the Salvation Army, 100 bucks if Sam goes through with it. Nothing should affect confidence in this project more than watching one of our city leaders pull a stunt like this. The rest of the council declined but they are hard at work training with Sam for the Big Day. We end with a shot from their training sessions. Here's a group photo of the people who brought us the aerial tram: Your city council.
This is the Portland Freelancer signing out.