Movin' on up

One of only two commuter trams in the US, our little Marquam Hill tram was originally sold to the public with a price tag of a little more than $15 million. By the time it was opened, the project had racked up a cost of $57 million, according to KATU. People were not happy. Is it too soon to recall the Lair Hill protests as a matter of historic curiosity? The vehement rooftop banners, the more vehement lawsuits... To be fair, the bloated costs, the confusing tangle of OHSU and city funds, and the imposition into a historic neighborhood all seem like pretty valid reasons for public conversation, if not outrage.







Let's just take a moment to look at the visual design, though (not that it negates any of the above concerns). Those sleek silver pods, the gigantic, exposed machinery in the upper station: it's like a tiny bit of an early 20th-century idea of technological utopia (or would it be a dystopia?) has landed in South Portland. There's a terrific and detailed discussion of the tram's design and possible roles in the public consciousness here.






















Wikipedia tells us that funiculars were considered an early alternative option to the tram. Don't you kind of wish we had those in our fair town as well, be it trotting up and down Pill Hill or elsewhere?